Top Rankings on Google

Repetition truly is the mother of skill. For those of you who have been reading my blog on a regular basis, you know how focused I am on Google and the benefits of a proper link building campaign. In this post, you'll hear much of the same tips I've provided for succeeding on Google - but they only work if you apply them. If you want to improve Google rankings, begin here...

Google is by far the most important search engine on the net. To rise to the top of their search engine, you need to improve your link popularity and you need to understand how they measure your link popularity (over 50% of all search engine traffic comes from Google, and if you can rise to the top, you will likely rise to the top of all the other search engines as well).

Link popularity is defined as the number of sites that are linking to your site. Some websites have thousands or even millions of sites linking to them, while others might have only a few. The search engines use the number of inbound links your site has as a measure of how important your site is, which translates into your search engine ranking.

The actual number of links to your site is not the only variable used to calculate your link popularity. The search engines also examine the relevance of the links to the subject matter of your site. For example, if a website that sells vitamins has 4,000 inbound links, but the source of most of the links are websites that have nothing to do with vitamins, then the algorithm that search engines use to determine link popularity will take that into account, and the link popularity score will not be very good.

It is possible for a website with a relatively small number of quality inbound links to be ranked higher than a site with a bunch of irrelevant or insignificant links. If I have a website that offers quotes for auto insurance, and I have 800 quality inbound links, then I might receive a much higher search engine ranking than another mortgage site that has 3,000 links that stem from link farms or Free For All (FFA) pages.

If you try to acquire inbound by using link farms or FFA pages, not only will it hurt your search engine ranking, but you might get permanently removed from the search engine listings. Links farms are sites where you can instantly exchange links with all the sites listed in that directory. FFA pages are pointless link directories. The search engines usually discount any links that come from either of these sources.

Now that we understand what link popularity is and how it works, we need to look specifically at how Google measures it. They use a number of variables in their algorithm to calculate your overall link score. The higher your score, the higher you will be ranked in the search listings.

One factor that Google uses in their algorithm, obviously, is the total number of sites linking to you. The more links you have, the higher your score will be. However, their algorithm is a little more complicated than that, and it is possible for a website with fewer links to be ranked higher than a website that has more links.

The reason for this is because Google also measures the quality of your links. If your website is about vitamins, and the site linking to you is a video game site, then that is not considered a quality link. The link still helps your score, but the link would help your score much more if it were from a website whose subject matter is the same as yours.

Also, Google gives a higher score to a link if it comes from a page that has actual content that relates to your keywords. For example, if your site is about jewelry, and another jewelry website has posted a link to your site on their links page, that link is not as valuable as a link to your site coming from a blog or a message board where a lot of information about jewelry is being written or discussed.

Also, they give an even higher score to a link if it contains anchor text that matches one of the keywords that describes your site. For example, if I have a site that sells lawnmowers, and a blog about lawnmowers has posted a link to my site, it helps my score even more if the link text (also known as anchor text) is LAWNMOWERS. To learn more about anchor text, go to a search engine and look up ANCHOR TEXT and you will be able to learn about it.

Another factor used by Google to score your link popularity is the diversity of keywords contained on sites linking to you. For example, if you have a site that sells handbags, and all the links to your site are from other sites that contain nothing but the keyword HANDBAGS, Google considers that to be abnormal. To get a higher score, you need to have links coming from sites that contain a variety of keywords related to handbags, such as BUY HANDBAGS, LEATHER HANDBAGS, etc.

It is difficult to increase your link popularity, but now that you understand how your score is calculated, you can devise a plan to improve your score. You might want to consider posting to forums and blogs that contain information that is related to your site, and when you post, include a link to your site.

Not sure these tips will work for you? I've applied them to my own websites including MarketingScoop.com and The Marketing Blog over the last 3 years and currently rank #1 on Google for "Marketing Services Directory", "Marketing Blog Directory", "Free Marketing Articles", and #2 for "Marketing Expert" and "Marketing Blog".

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About the Author: Jim Pretin is the owner of http://www.forms4free.com, a service that helps programmers make an HTML form.

Generate One-Way Links to Your Website

I often receive GREAT comments and feedback from the readers of The Marketing Blog. In a recent comment, Sharon wrote me regarding reciprocal linking. It is true that reciprocal links do not hold as much weight as one way links, but do create some value. To that end, she pointed me to a post by Saptarshi Roy Chaudhury on his blog at http://seo-kolkata.blogspot.com/2007/07/free-back-links-how-to-get-links-for.html. I've posted the highlights here... thank you Sharon.

There are actually more than one ways to get good quality free back links to your website.

a) Directory Submission : Submit your website to good quality directories.

b) Blog & Social Media: Create a blog of your own.

c)RSS Feeds: Generate a RSS feed and submit it to the RSS directories.

d) Article Marketing: Write short articles about your product / service / industry and submit it to the various article directories.

e) Press Release: A press release would always contain a link back to the website.

f) Website Review: There are various websites and forums that conducts review of website/product/services.

g)Freebies: For those webmasters who can afford or are technically very strong; offer free widgets, templates and other freebies.

If you have additional ideas and creative ways to generate one-way links, let us know about them. We're always looking to share the best Internet marketing ideas, tips, and strategies on the Internet!

The Importance of Links

Link Exchanging is the process of exchanging text links between websites. Webmasters exchange links to improve traffic through numerous inbound links or link popularity. Exchanging links is normally a free process (unless you choose to a fee-based link exchange program), making link exchanges cost effective. Another benefit of using a link exchange program is that it helps improve search engine result placements.

There are various ways to initiate a link exchange with other websites. The most popular method of initiating a link exchange is to email the webmaster of a targeted site and ask to exchange links. You can also find websites looking to exchange links by visiting discussion boards hosted by webmasters. These websites might have link exchange forums or link exchange directories where you can request link exchanges from a specific category or select potential link partners based on other factors such as Google PR or content relevance.

Recently some webmasters have stated that search engines like Google are no longer placing significance importance on reciprocal links. The consensus is that popularity of a website is now measured by the number and value of incoming one way links. Relevance is also a key factor. Webmasters do not have to link directly with competitors, but should link with websites that have industry relevance. Having a link from a website with no relevance could potentially negatively affect Search Engine Result Pages.

Types of Link Exchanges

There are essentially 3 types of link exchange; reciprocal, one-way, and 3-way links. Each has its merits, but one-way links are ideal.

1. Reciprocal Links: When you place a link on your website to another's website, and they provide a link back, it is referred to as reciprocal linking. This is a basic link exchange and a great way to get started with your link building efforts. Just make sure that you are linking with an industry-relevant website.

2. One Way Links: Receiving a link to your website from a third party site is referred to as a one-way link. This is the most beneficial link you can receive, especially if its from a site that has an adequate Google PR and is relevant to your website.

3. 3-Way Links: Providing a link exchange between multiple sites, but not directly to the two primary sites is referred to as a 3-way link exchange. To illustrate, imagine sites A, B, and C. In a three-way link exchange, site A would place a link to site C, and site C would place a link to B. Sites A and B are owned by the same webmaster.

Regardless of which method you use, reciprocal linking provides value to your website. Websites that have completed many link exchanges will usually experience increased traffic through direct clicks and improved search engine rankings. There are various ways for webmasters to find linking websites through direct contact with Webmasters or link exchange directories. The use of link exchanges by webmasters will continue to be an important and useful means of marketing websites and improving search engine placement for many years to come.

The Most Powerful Link Building Strategies

If you're doing business on the Web, then getting your Website to the top of Google and other major search engines should be your top priority. To reach the top of Google, your website will need to offer something of value, provide quality content, and build a lot of inbound links.

Inbound links are a key factor for improving Google rankings. How do you build links to your website? There are a number of strategies that have proven effective time and again. Use these seven strategies for building links and improving search engine rankings.

1. Identify the right websites for link targeting. Getting links from other websites is beneficial, but not if you don't have a plan. Trying to acquire links from just any old website won't generate the type of return you're looking for. To determine the best sites for link targeting purposese, simply visit Google and type the keyword or keyword phrase you're trying to optimize for. Record the #1 Google ranked website for that keyword and see who's linking to that website. By targeting the same sites, you can mirror the acheivements of the #1 ranked website. There are many tools that can help you do this. One is to type in "link:" into the Google search box and the name of the top ranked website. This will list all of the sites that link to the top ranked site.

2. Build a links page. Before starting any link building program, I strongly encourages those I consult for to build their own Partner page. A partner page or links page is where you can post links from your website to those who may be placing your link on their own website. This is referred to as reciprocal linking and is a great way to start building valuable links to your website. This links page can also be used for other types of link exchanges like 3-way linking. The key is to have some real estate on your own website that you can use to barter for links on other sites.

3. Contacting other websites. Once you've identified the sites you should be getting links from, the next step is to begin contacting them and asking for a link exchange or post. There are a variety of ways to acquire links from these sites but one of the best, and most simple ways, is to ask with a contextual email. This is simply an email you send to the websmaster of the site revealing your intentions. The key is to spend some time on the website you're targeting and to reference something on the site and the fact that a link exchange would be beneficial for both parties.

4. Directory submissions. Getting links from quality directories is a great way to start building links to your website. There are many free directories, and some paid, that can provide one-way links to your site. One-way links are the most valuable kinds of links because each serves as a vote from another website to yours. These are even more valuable if the site that is linking to yours has a high Google PR and only a few other links present on the page where your link is placed.

5. Article Submission. Distributing valuable content in the form of article marketing is a great way to build valuable one-way links. When you create article content and distribute the content via article directories or submissions, you benefit by the links which are present in the "About the Author" section of your article. As others post your articles to their own websites, they include your author box and links back to your website. Article marketing is one of the quickest and most powerful way to build meaningful links.

Link building is the most important SEO strategy you can employ for improving search engine rankings. As we've discussed in this article, start by identifying the right sites to target. Contact other websites and ask for a link exchange. Submit to website and article directories and include links back to your website in the about the author section. Using these top SEO strategies are sure to improve your search engine rankings.

Michael Fleischner is an Internet marketing expert with more than 12 years of marketing experience. He has appeared on The TODAY Show, Bloomberg Radio, and other major media. For additional strategies to improve search engine rankings, visit The Marketing Blog.

Developing Links to Your Website

I'd like to take a moment today to discuss opportunities for building links to your website. We all know the power of inbound links, but many are still struggling with proven methods for building them. I've been marketing for over 7 years online and I have to say that building links can be difficult.

That said, there are some things to do and other things you should not do. Here's a quick list:

TO DO
1. Article marketing. Take time to write unique articles on your area of expertise. Once you've created valuable content, post it to your site. After a week of being posted (enough time to be crawled), distribute your article to article distribution sites.

2. Link exchange. Target other websites that are related to your subject area. Contact the webmaster and ask for a link exchange. You might be surprised with the result.

3. Provide valuable content or tools. If you have something of value on your site, whether its a page rank tool or ebook, others will link to your site. Make your content and tools easily accessible and watch the links build.

NOT TO DO
1. Placing links in forum posts or blog comments. Putting a shameless plug in a forum post or blog comment isn't a good strategy - it provides little or no value to the communities who seek information. Legitimate sites see this type of link plug as SPAM.

2. Paying for links from massive directories. Google is penalizing sites for purchasing links. Invest your time in submitting to the largest free directories like Google and DMOZ. This will ensure that your site is recognized and not penalized!

Follow these tips for getting your website noticed and developing valuable links. Doing so has a favorable impact on your search engine result placements.

The Power of Linking: 7 Strategies for Increasing In-bound Links

The popularity of your website can be directly correlated to the number of sites linking to you. In fact, search engines like Google have been built on the concept of link popularity. To win on the Internet, your website not only needs to be seen as popular, but also garner top search engine results for your identified search terms. In-bound links to your website tell the search engines what they will find when visiting your site.

So now that we've established the importance of inbound links, you should be asking yourself, "How do I get them?" and "Which links are valuable?". Focus on acquiring in-bound links that are from sites offering related content to your own website and that have an established Google PR. Sites from unrelated sites without a Google Page Rank do not provide any benefit.

Inbound links can be acquired in a number of ways. Here are the 7 most popular link strategies you can start using today:

1. Directory Submission. The web has hundreds, if not thousands of link directories. Search for the most popular directories and submit your site. Beware, some directories charge for submitting your link but offer very little value in return. If you are going to pay for a link submission, make sure the site has a high Google PR and garners a lot of traffic.

2. Reciprocal Linking. Exchange links with other popular sites to increase the number of inbound links you receive. There is a good deal of debate in Internet circles today about the validity of reciprocal linking strategies. As long as the link you are receiving is of equal or greater quality to the link your giving, than the concept of reciprocal linking is still valid.

3. Article Submission. Create quality content and distribute it across the web. There are many article directories that offer content to webmasters and allow for mass distribution. The benefit of article submission is that when you submit your article you include and "About the Author" section. This area of your article is posted each time your article appears on a distributed website automatically building links back to your site. The more valuable the article, the more distribution you receive.

4. Social Posting Tools. We all know the power of social networks. Use tools like SocialPoster and others whereby you register and submit your site or article to social networks. The benefit of posting to these sites is that others may recognize and acknowledge your submission, resulting in higher placement. With higher placement comes more links and more link popularity.

5. Gadgets. Develop something worth linking to. Many websites offer free tools that are valuable because they solve a problem. A great example of this is a widget that allows you to find out the Google PR of any site. There are dozens or hundreds of websites that offer this type of tool and users provide links to those sites. Again, find something of value and let others know about it.

6. Press Releases. Have some news to share? A new product? A website launch or perhaps the results of your latest online survey. Visit sites like PRweb and find a distribution option for you. Press releases are pushed out to hundreds if not thousands of site that might run your release. Of course, make sure that you imbed a link back to your website.

7. Blogging. If you have your own blog or post comments on someone else's blog, don't be afraid to mention something of value relating to your site. Perhaps you can point to a Gadget your offer, free services, or an ebook you're offering. Blogging is a powerful tool and easy to implement. If you don't have a blog, start one. You can have your own blog in just a few minutes with today's online providers like Blogger or WordPress.

No matter what strategy you use to improve your link popularity, one thing's for sure. Developing in-bound links to your website is a critical step in achieving website popularity. As your popularity grows, so does your search engine result placement and traffic.