Linking 123

Linking 123

By Doug Williams - January 2006

Search engine optimization today requires off page optimization in addition to optimizing for keywords on your web pages. Off page optimization is critical to get good rankings with the major search engines. Total incoming links or "backlinks" is the primary off page factor being used by the search engines today. This means each website needs to develop a linking strategy. This can be one-way linking, two-way linking (reciprocal) or three-way linking. Many times a website should plan a mix of these strategies.

Google actually places more weight on these off-page factors than the on-page factors. These are things that occur outside of your website that will affect your rankings. Off page factors include:

1. Total Quantity of incoming links.
2. Quality of the links to you. This is more than just PageRank.
3. Rate of link acquisition. Too fast is viewed as artificial.
4. Number of links on each referring page. Fewer links are better.
5. Position of link on the referring page. Near the top is better.
6. Anchor text of the inbound link should include your keywords.
7. Age of the incoming link. Older is better.
8. Site-wide linking. Not good. Viewed as ranking manipulation.
9. Age of your website. Older is better.
10. Domain registration time. Longer is better, consider renewing for at least 5 years.

There has been a tremendous amount of discussion about the type of link and which is better. Some feel that reciprocal linking ( 2-way linking) will hurt rankings. We have found this not to be true as long as the other linking factors mentioned above are followed. We do recommend a mix of linking strategies. Today we recommend 80% reciprocal linking and 20% of 1-way linking.

One-way links

These are incoming links where you don't link back to them. One-way inbound links are viewed to carry a higher weight and importance for link popularity. There are a number of strategies that will allow you to develop these one way links. In general you have to offer something of value that people will post on their websites that will contain a link back to your website. This can be great content, tools, informative articles, an affiliate program, etc.

This could be a good software tool. For example if you were a mortgage lender looking for links from real estate agents, you can develop a mortgage payment calculator that you could offer for free to realtors to post on their website. Your URL can be embedded in the tool.

If you have decent writing skills you can submit articles with your URL attached. Ezines, blogs and websites are hungry for good content. You can allow these other websites to post these articles as long as they leave the links back to your website intact. I have seen this method produce hundreds of incoming links in just one month from a single interesting article.

Another effective method is to set up an affiliate program where you pay a commission for each sale that is sent to your website. Set-up the affiliate tracking software on your website and have your affiliates post ads on their sites. You will generate a large number of one way links.

Other methods include actively participating in the many forums and blogs and posting your URL as part of your signature. You can do the same thing by leaving comments in the guestbook on a website along with your URL signature.

Two-way links (Reciprocal Linking)

Reciprocal linking is a basic link exchange where two websites agree to link to each other in an effort to boost each others rankings. This is the most often used linking strategy and is extremely effective as long as attention is paid the list of off page factors listed above.

I strongly encourage anyone setting up a link directory that they first consider the visitors to their website. Choose categories that are relevant and of interest to your visitors. Choose quality websites and you will create a good resource that people are likely to bookmark and return to. Select links because of their potential value in directing qualified traffic to your site, not just for the search engines. If you keep your focus on your visitors, you generally won’t have problems with the search engine penalties for artificially inflating your PageRank.

Paid linking services can be effective, but stay away from services that approach link building in a bulk or automated fashion. Certain companies are notorious for being and producing link farms

Three-way links

3 way linking is an alternative to reciprocal linking. This involves a series of three one way links between three websites. Search algorithms may be able to detect link trading and there is concern that the search engines may discount the value of these links.

Some webmasters own multiple websites and they will offer a link from one site in exchange for a link back to another of their sites. Most people engaging in 3 way link exchanges are doing it with the express intent to manipulate search results. Most of the three way link trades that I have seen are not ones that I would want to be involved with.

Conclusion

A good linking strategy is critical as part of a traffic building SEO program for your website. A website’s linking strategy needs to not just focus on the number of incoming links, but on the quality and relevance of the incoming links. A steady sustained approach of getting links works best. One way and reciprocal linking strategies work well and we recommend a mix of both of these two methods.