Incoming Links to your Website

While it is very important to optimize your website for the search engines, that is only half of the story. Let’s suppose that there are 2 different websites, and each one of them has EXACTLY the same number of keywords in EXACTLY the same locations – how would the search engine rank them?

The answer lies in incoming links. Search engines conduct somewhat of a “popularity contest” for each website, and incoming links – links from other websites into your website – count as votes in this “popularity contest”. Not only would the number of incoming links act as a tiebreaker for identically optimized websites, but some search engines – like Google – consider incoming links as more important to the ‘ranking’ of one website against others than even the number and placement of keywords. Inviting links from other websites - or 'planting' them yourself - is something that you yourself can do which will make a huge difference in the search engine ranking of your website.

In the world of incoming links, it is not purely a race to get the highest number of incoming links – different links carry a different amount of weight – or points – than other links. For example:

A link from a ‘popular’ or more highly ranked website counts more than a link from a new, low ranking website.

A link from a relevant website – one which is in the same field as your own website – counts more than a link from a website that has nothing to do with the subject matter of your website.

A link containing keywords counts more than a link from irrelevant words or images. For example, “Click here for discount shoes and accessories in Pennsylvania” (where the linking text is underlined) is a more valuable link than “Click here for discount shoes and accessories in Pennsylvania”. Unfortunately, you don’t always have control over what linking text is used by an outside website, but if you do, be sure to include keywords in your linking text, and not just “Click Here” – which accounts for a majority of links on the internet today!

So, if incoming links are so important to increasing your search engine rankings, just how can you get more incoming links?

  • Make sure that everyone you know (who has a website) has a link to your website - even your young niece's "MySpace" page can link to your website.
  • Be sure that any organizations you belong to which carry your listing (Chamber of Commerce, professional organizations, etc.) have a link to your website.
  • Consider a "link exchange" with other businesses (in your area or field of expertise) where each of you 'swap' links, and put a link to the other business on your website.
  • Create a "Favorite Links" page on your website to feature other businesses you have exchanged links with.
  • Submit your website and business information to local listings, such as www.Local.com, www.MerchantCircle.com, www.YellowPages.com, www.TrueLocal.com, www.listings.local.yahoo.com, and www.google.com/local/add/lookup.
  • Answer questions or provide expert advice on message boards and bulletin boards pertaining to your area of expertise, and leave a link to your website in your response. (To find message boards and bulletin boards, type "Dog Training Bulletin Board" or "Party Planning Bulletin Board" -or whatever pertains to your business - into the Google search bar)