SEO Basics – Link Building

Link building is one of the ways to optimize your website for search engines. However, different types of links carry different value in the search engines. Overall, Google and other search engines want quality content. The theory is that quality content will lead to more quality links which will lead to a higher rank with the search engines. In other words, a link to your website is a vote of confidence for the content it provides. Types of Links That Don’t Work for SEO Paid links (i.e. advertisements) are not quality links. Many search engines dismiss this type of link since it was put in place by you. Reciprocal links, where you exchange links with other sites, also don’t hold a lot of weight with the search engines since the links may or may not have anything to do with the content on your site. Circular links are essentially non-direct reciprocal links. One site links to another, and that site links to the next, and so on until the last site links to the first. There is no direct reciprocal link, however the webmasters at Google have the technology to locate and break these links when found. How to Get High Quality Links for SEO Directory listings can offer good links if it is a niche directory. For example, if your webpage is on flower design, a link in a directory of florists will mean more than a general business directory. Think in terms of your keywords. Find directories that cater to those keyword niches. The search engines will recognize the link and associate it with your keyword rich content. Partnership or affiliate links can boost your SEO ranking when they link directly to your site without requiring a reciprocal link. Online communities and discussion forums can all provide quality links to your site. When posting to a forum don’t go in with a heavy sales pitch. Engage with the community first. After some time, if you have a solution to a problem that is being discussed on the site, casually direct them to where they can find the answer (i.e. your site). Keyword links are better than links provided in a list. Again, this all relates back to content. When blogging, make your links to a keyword in the post or article rather than providing it in a listing on the side. Find Out Who’s Linking to You Google provides a handy tool for you to see which sites they recognize as linking to you. Google doesn’t capture all links. Links from higher ranking pages will make their list easier. To find out which links Google recognizes type “link:webaddress” in a Google search box. For example, if your website is www.widgets.com, type in link:www.widgets.com. If a number of known links aren’t appearing on the list, it’s telling you that you need to find some better quality links if your goal is to make it to the top of the search engines. Cathy Yerges Partnering in Your Marketing Success