Three Ways to Get Non-Reciprocal Links
Dr. Ralph F. Wilson,
Wilson Internet, Rocklin, CA
Jun 21, 2006, 20:45
Just like you, I'm working to get higher rankings for my websites. While my WilsonWeb.com site is near the top for keywords, another of my sites, JesusWalk Bible Study Series (www.jesuswalk.com), is floundering in the doldrums, buried among thousands of sites that show up for the keyword "Bible study." At last count I had more than 853 links to the domain -- only 134 of which are counted by Google (which is typical). My top competitors for this keyword have many more incoming links in Google: crosswalk.com (10,1000 backlinks), bible.org (2,210), biblestudy.org (339), ccel.org (17,600), e-sword.net (2,160), etc. The Alexa rank for JesusWalk.com is 332,220th, so I've got a long way to go! Rankings as of today:
| |
Google |
Yahoo |
MSN |
| "bible study" |
40 |
>50 |
6 |
| "bible studies" |
37 |
>50 |
45 |
How can I raise rankings? In Dr. Wilson's Plain-Spoken Guide to Search Engine Optimization I mention 12 linking strategies. Here are three strategies that I'm pursuing to obtain non-reciprocal links:
1. Develop Depth of Content Worthy of Incoming Links. I have good content depth with about 500 webpages, and keep adding about one webpage per week.
2. Search for Sites to "Add URL." This is a technique I learned from Bill Hartzer, "Linking Campaigns Lead to Increased Online Visibility - Part 2," Search Engine Guide, May 5, 2006 (www.searchengineguide.com/hartzer/007471.html). He suggests searching using two phrases in quotation marks: "Suggest link" +"keyword". (Note the plus sign in front of the keyword in quotations, which forces it to be considered in the query.) Other phrases to include along with your keyword might be: Suggest a link, Suggest site, Suggest a site, Suggest URL, Suggest a URL, Add link, Suggest an URL, Add a link, Add site, Add a site, Add URL, Add a URL, Add an URL, Submit link, Submit a link, Submit site, Submit a site, Submit URL, Submit a URL, Submit an URL, favorite links, cool sites, cool places, directory, directorys, directories, etc. To begin I set up the query:
"Suggest link" +"Bible study"
I found many sites asking for a reciprocal link, but also some true directories that did not. (a) It's the true directories I'm targeting at this point, but (b) I could go back and contact reciprocal linking partners. Task (a) could take several hours to several days, if I can find enough appropriate directories.
3. Write a "Give Away" Article. I've begun an article which will be intentionally titled, "How to Improve Your Personal Bible Study." I'm designing it carefully -- from the title, description meta tag, headings, body text, hyperlinked keywords, and links to my own site -- so that it will be clearly indexed for the keyphrases "bible study" and "bible studies." For years I've been developing an opt-in e-mail list numbering 29,000 subscribers to which I'll send the article, explaining that recipients are welcome to post a copy on their church site, non-profit organization site, or personal site at no charge. I expect that scores, if not hundreds, will do so. This will produce links to JesusWalk.com from sites with the right context, the right keywords hyperlinked, and the right links to my own site. A similarly designed "give away" article on "The Six Simple Principles of Viral Marketing" from the year 2000 produced a #1 ranking for the keyword "viral marketing" that still persists to this day.
I won't climb to the top 5 or 10 overnight, but if I keep at it relentlessly.... someday!
