Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)
SEO part 1 - How to get a better search engine ranking: Link Building
There are a couple of methods to get a better search engine ranking for your website, and this article will cover the most important - link building.
In terms of search engine optimisation (SEO), what exactly is a link?
All of the leading search engines use methods to try and determine the relevance and reputation status of websites. What this means is that search engines want to show websites on their search results page that have been useful to other users as there is a good chance that if this website was useful to them, it will be useful to future users searching for the same information. Remember that a search engines goal is to enable the user to find the information they are looking for as fast as possible so that the user will be pleased, and will use that search engine again.
Link building is all about increasing your reputation through recommendations. How it works is that other websites find your website useful to their users and therefore place a link to your website in there web pages. Search engines are continually scanning virtually every website and count these links to your website. If your website has a large number of links to it, then the search engine recognises that other people have found your site very useful and are essence recommending it, and therefore will give your site priority over another site with less links, placing you above them in their search results. The higher you are in the search engines results page, the more people are likely to visit your site.
How many links do I need?
It is recommended that you aim for at least 50, but always try to get as many as possible. The more links, the more traffic you will receive from search engines.
Beware of linking with link farms, or link holding websites, these are websites that any webmaster can get a link to their website posted on. Search engines are aware of this and count it as an attempt to fake ones popularity or reputation, and some give the site a negative reputation and a lower their position in their search results, while others take no action, ignoring the link. So don't waste your time!
Also remember to try to link with established sites that are at least as developed and popular as yours or higher. This can be identified using Googles "page rank" in the Google Toolbar. Think of your links as the people you would like to be associated with. I'm sure you would choose a hardworking businessman over a lazy student. (No offence to all the lazy students out there, I was once one myself.) Remember that sites that are already ranked highly, will have the biggest increase in your sites rank. It's like the word of a scientist having a greater value than the average Joe when expressing theories on particle physics.
There is another added bonus that you can gain from exchanging a link, which is that visitors from a linking website can use that link to come to your website, increasing your traffic.
How to start building links
The first step is to search for websites that are similar to yours, and that you would happily be associated with. Next, you will need to locate their contact details. Most webmasters have a "contact details" link that is usually located at the bottom of their site. Exploring that link should give you their email address.
Write them an email explaining you desire to exchange links with them. Here is an example email:
Dear webmaster at "theirwebsitehere".com
Upon exploring your site I have identified a mutual benefit that we could obtain if we exchanged website links. Both of our websites have a similar target audience, therefore a link exchange would bring both of us more targeted traffic, not to mention a higher search engine ranking.
Please have a look at my website to see if you share my observation: "yourwebsite".com
Please take your time to consider my recommendation and feel free to email me with any questions.
I look forward to hearing from you, thank you for your time.
Your name
Your website URL
Your profession in relation to website i.e. CEO, Marketing Manager, Webmaster.
On a final note, most websites will obviously want a link to their website from yours in return for them linking to you. It is therefore worth more in terms of search engine positioning, if a website is linking to you, and you are not linking back to that website. Search engines see this as your site being so relevant and popular that other webmasters are linking to you because your website has very useful information for their visitors.
Good luck, and remember to be patient.
The Online Career Team.
Summary:
- Aim to exchange links with at least 50 sites.
- Choose your sites carefully.
- Do NOT give your url to Link farms.
- Only link to sites that you are happy to be associated with.
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© 2006 Online Career - Search Engine Optimisation
