Linking Strategies -- Doctor Ebiz Q&A

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Link Quality and Search Engine Ranking

"What is the difference between reciprocal links and a link farm? Isn't it better to have a few incoming 'high profile' links?" -- Doug Rybarczyk

As you are aware, links to your website are one of the important criteria that search engines use to determine relevance and higher ranking for your keywords. Look at links as individual recommendations of your site. Sites that are often recommended are likely to be more relevant and important than those with just a few recommendations (or links). Sites that come highly recommended, that is, with links from industry experts and information hubs, are more likely to be relevant than sites with links from less prestigious sites. Using links to a site as a way to determine relevancy does have an inherit logic to it.

PageRank

Google has popularized a linking score known as PageRank (www.google.com/technology/). The higher the PageRank of the sites that link to you, the more effect these links will have to increase your own site's PageRank. But the Google algorithm is much more sophisticated these days than mere PageRank. It also considers factors such as:

• Context. If links to your site are from sites in a similar field, they help your PageRank more than links from widely different fields than your own.
• Hyperlinked keywords. If hyperlinks to your site contain keywords that appear on your site, your site is likely to rank higher for those particular keywords.

Reciprocal Links and Link Farms

Website owners naturally link to other sites that might be of interest to their site visitors. Since links help PageRank, hundreds of thousands of site owners have tried to manipulate PageRank by getting more links. But Google can spot manipulation easily.

• A "link farm" is an automated system of adding links to a webpage without thought to context, topic, quality, or relevance. To Google, this makes them stand out like a sore thumb. If your site links to a link farm, Google could penalize you by lowering your site's PageRank.
• Reciprocal links, on the other hand, are links to and from partnering websites. The more partners, the more links for both. It's difficult to get reciprocal links from higher PageRank sites, with the result that most reciprocal linkers have a low PageRank. At worst, many reciprocal linkers are indiscriminate about what sites they trade links with so their jumble of link pages might even be viewed in the future by Google as a link farm -- and your link to it could cost you big time. But for many small businesses, a careful reciprocal linking campaign is the only realistic strategy.

Incoming Linking Strategies

Though reciprocal links can help, I encourage you to pursue one-way links to your site. Consider these approaches:

• Write an article in your field, use it in your e-zine, then offer it to others as content for their websites with the proviso that they maintain a link to your site with the article. Use care as you select the keywords contained in the article title, article text, and particularly in the hyperlink to your website.
• Issue press releases with appropriate links to your site, with the hope that they will be archived for a while, at least, by higher ranked news sites.
• Seek placement in directories such as Yahoo! Directory ($299 annually), Open Directory Project (free), and others. Quality directories often have a higher PageRank.
• Provide an abundance of content on your site. Give people a reason to link to you because of the quality and sheer depth of your content. Deep content will inspire many links to your site without the necessity of a reciprocal link. If you are a content provider, why don't you ask for a link to your site; it can't hurt. Good content deserves a link.
• Paid text links on higher ranking sites in your industry can help your PageRank, but be careful that the webpage on which your link appears is both relevant and has a PageRank that will help your site. (Note: Paid text links are currently available to carefully selected companies on this site.)