Hiding Behind Links
In this tutorial we'll have a look at how your links are letting you down in terms of Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) and how to remedy this problem.
Lets first consider what we're trying to achieve with our inbound links.
This is quite simple right, we're trying to get additional traffic to our sites, what else would we be doing?
Start with an easy question.
What else are we trying to do with our links?
We're trying to convince the likes of Google that we are a really popular/important website that should be right up there.
This last point is referred to as link popularity and loosely translates to 'how many people are linking to site x'.
Before moving on it is important to understand that there are two different types of links and both have slightly different implications when talking about SEO.
1. Reciprical Links
2.
Inbound only Links
A link is said to be reciprical when two web sites 'swap' a link, so for example if site A links to site B and site B links back to Site A in return then the link is reciprical.
In the case of an inbound only link site B links to Site A but site A does not link back to site B.
Both methods will increase your sites link popularity, BUT....
Although both will increase you link popularity both are not considered to have the same value by the likes of Google, that is an inbound only link is worth more than a recirpical link.
The thinking on this subject is that if a site links to your site without you linking to them in return then potentially your site contains something of interest that is link worthy.
So now we have a basic understanding of what types of links are available lets look at how a link can help us or lets us down.
For the purposes of example we will use this site (www.HelpmeBuilda.Com) as the subject.
If you remember the main page of this site look something like the image shown below:
To link to this url we use the following link:
www.HelpmeBuilda.Com
The code for this is:
<a href="http://www.helpmebuilda.com">www.HelpmeBuilda.Com</a>
As you can see this is quite simple, it will be picked up by the search engines and will increase link popularity (purely because it's yet another link to the site).
However it could be doing more for us.
One of the key things to know about links are that they can also increase your page rank (see the Google tool bar for a graphical representation of this figure).
So how do we get a sites links to increase a site page rank as well as it's link popularity?
This is really quite simple and is typically something that people just don't think of.
Ensure that your link contains your keywords.
Is that simple or what?
Example:
Build a .Com and find SEO or site analytics techniques
the code for this is:
<a href="http://www.helpmebuilda.com">Build a .Com and find SEO or site analytics techniques</a>
As you can see this is not rocket science.
Ideally you should be including keywords from your title tag to have the best chance of increasing your ranking.
I am of course aware that I have not mentioned how to check your sites link popularity, this is also quite simple as there are a few sites out there that allow you to do this (at no cost), I suggest www.widexl.com, the free link popularity function is on the right.
|
