Creating Link Popularity - Without Getting Banned by Dan Thies
By now, most webmasters know that link popularity is the single
most important factor in driving top search engine rankings. But
did you know that some some links can actually kill your search
engine rankings?
The importance of links has led to the creation of "links
programs" such as LinksToYou and others. If you're already in a
links program, hold on to your hat, because I've got bad news
for you.
How Links Programs Work: In a links program, every member of the
program uploads a page or pages to their website. These pages
carry links to the other program participants' websites.
Why They Don't Help Search Engine Rankings: All of the major
search engines are aware of these programs, and most of them use
automated processes to weed out "identical" pages. Even if a
search engine recognizes the link, they won't give it much
weight.
How Links Programs Can Kill Your Business: The most popular
search engine in the world today is Google. In late 2000, Google
began a systematic campaign of permanently removing links
program participants from their index. Altavista has begun a
similar program, although recent problems kept them from
executing it.
Don't the operators of links programs know all this? Of course
they do, yet they continue to operate and proliferate. Tobacco
companies know cigarettes kill people, yet they continue to sell
them. I'm sure both would tout the "benefits" of their product
as a justification.
What To Do If You're In A Links Program: First, immediately
remove all of the program's pages from your site. Second, remove
all the links they had you set up on your other pages. Third, if
possible, cancel your membership... then get to work creating
some legitimate link popularity.
Creating True Link Popularity If you want your site to have
lasting popularity and relevance with the search engines, you
need links from related sites. Dedicate 10 minutes a day to
locating and contacting other webmasters to swap links, adding
your site to directories, and publishing articles in your area
of expertise.
Create Multiple Layers Of Links For some search engines, links
to your home page are good enough. At least some of your links,
though, should be targeted at your internal pages. For example,
if your site sells tools for gardeners, get some links set up to
your "how to" and FAQ pages too. This will help you get more of
your site's content into the search engine, and increase
referrals significantly.
Get The Links Indexed! It doesn't do you any good to set up
links if the search engines never find them. You can submit the
pages that link to you, but most search engines nowadays won't
index them unless there are other links to those pages somewhere
on the web. Consider adding a "resources" page to your site,
linked from your home page, with links to all the individual
pages that link to you.
How To Make Sure Your Links Get Indexed In order to ensure that
the links pointing to your site get indexed, you really have to
take an additional step, and set up a second domain and website.
The gardening website in the above example might need a partner
site like "gardening-resources.com" with a single page pointing
to all the links pages you've set up.
Once you've set up the secondary domain, add a link to it from
your main site's home page, and wait for the search engines to
index it. Don't forget to link back to your primary site, of
course - not just your home page, but any content pages as well.
You should submit this additional site to the same directories
that you use to list your primary site.
It also helps to ask for an additional link to your secondary
domain when you set up links swaps. Just explain how the
secondary site helps both partners, by adding link popularity
and helping the links pages get indexed. Any sensible webmaster
will gladly add the second link.
What Happens Now? As the link popularity of both of your sites
grows, they begin to feed on each other. Don't neglect to track
any search engine referrals to your secondary site - if they
grow to a high level, you may want to turn it into more than
just a links page. If you've done a good job of optimizing your
primary site, though, chances are your secondary site will never
outrank your primary site on any search.
If you take these initial steps today, and commit to a program
of link building for ten minutes a day, your site's traffic will
begin to rise dramatically within just 2-3 months, and it should
only get better if you stick with the program.
I wish you success.
About the author:
Dan Thies has been helping his clients (and friends) promote
their websites since 1996. His latest book, "Search Engine Fast
Start," is available at http://www.cannedbooks.com
