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The search engine market is extremely competitive and
as the Internet grows bigger and bigger, the search
engines are looking for new ways to provide quality
links to visitors... link popularity. The concept is
actually quite simple. There is a common belief that
Web sites with more inbound links will be of greater
quality. Since the search engines want to provide quality
results, Web sites which can show a large number of
inbound links are given a 'boost' in their rankings
by some search engines when a web surfer is searching
for a term closely related to that site.
By Robin R. Nobles
One thing that rang loud and clear from the Search Engine
Strategies 2001 Conference (http://seminars.internet.com/sew/sf01/index.html)
in San Francisco in August was the importance of building
a good, solid link popularity for your Web site.
However, there are no free rides when it comes to building
link popularity. It takes hard work and dedication,
but it certainly is worth the effort. After all, how
many ill optimized sites have you seen that are in the
top 10 rankings, when the only thing going for the site
is a strong link popularity?
So, let's look at some do's and don'ts to consider when
trying to build your link popularity.
- Concentrate on related and important links only.
Sheer numbers are no longer important. What's important
is that the more popular sites on the Web link to
your site, as well as making sure that the links pointing
to your site are relevant to your topic area.
- Make sure that your site is listed in all of the
major directories: Yahoo!, the Open Directory Project,
and LookSmart. Also, see if your site is relevant
to a particular About.com area, and submit it to the
guide.
- Visit Search Engine Guide (http://www.searchengineguide.com/searchengines.html)
and search for vertical engines or directories in
your focus area. Search Engine Guide features a listing
of over 3,700 engines and directories, so it's an
excellent resource for finding focused engines or
directories to submit to.
- Visit Link Popularity Check (http://www.linkpopularitycheck.com/)
and search for your competitors. Start visiting the
sites that are linked to your competitors, and write
to see if they'll consider linking to your site.
- Create a list of links before you ever contact sites
for linking purposes. If the company sees that you've
already added their URL to your list of links, they'll
be more apt to add your link on their site in return.
Again, concentrate on related links only.
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