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- Link Building for Top Placement
Strategies for getting the best links by Dave Davies
For many, the idea of optimizing a website for top search engine placement means entering some
Meta tags, maybe titling the page appropriately, and then you're done. A long time ago, in an SEO
galaxy far, FAR away, this tactic worked. Unfortunately for those optimizing their websites, and
fortunately for those using search engines to find information, this is no longer the case.
There are now some 80+ factors of your website that are taken into consideration when
determining the ranking of your website. Everything from titles and meta's to content and alt tags
are weighed and analyzed when your placement on the search engines is determined.
A factor which has to be taken very seriously is the external links to your website. Links to your site
are not the most important factor in determining your ranking and you will have to have a well-
optimized site to rank well, however, when all else is equal (i.e. when your competitors also have
well-optimized sites) this can be the determining factor between being found and being buried in
the search engine rankings.
Links that work
The first consideration you have to make in your link-building efforts is who should be linking to
you, and whom you should link to. These are two separate considerations and despite that fact
that you will be working on both at the same time, they must be considered independently.
Who should link to you? (Incoming links)
When you are looking for sites to link to you there are five questions that you must ask yourself:
1. Do they compete with you? While you can try to request a link from a site that provides the
same or similar products and services that you do, this is generally a waste of time that could be
spent finding legitimate links from sites that would like to promote your product or service.
2. Does their site relate to your content? If you have a site promoting carpet cleaning
products, a link from a hair salon will not be of much benefit. Google and the other major search
engines look for content relationship when determining the value of a link. If the content of the
two sites is totally unrelated the link is given very little weight if any. Focus only on attaining links
from sites relevant to your own.
3. How does Google rate the site? Google has come out with a fantastic tool called the Google
Toolbar. The advanced version of the toolbar includes the PageRank of the site you are currently
visiting. Without getting into a long description of PageRank, the higher the number, the better. (It
is a ranking out of 10 where traditionally anything above 4 is good and anything above 6 is
excellent.) If Google rates the site well then the link will be more valued than from a site that
Google rates poorly. When looking for links, give more time and attention to those with
PageRanks of 4 or higher. The Google Toolbar is a free download available from Google at http:
//toolbar.google.com/.
4. Will they require a reciprocal link? Whether the site will require a reciprocal link or not is a
serious consideration. The more links to your site that you have that are not reciprocated the
better. These links are given added weight. This area will be addressed further below.
5. How many links on the page? How many links are on the page that will link to you, and
where your link will be placed is another serious consideration. If your link from their site will be on
a page with 100 other links then the value of the link itself is greatly reduced. Also, whether your
link will be on the top of the page or the bottom will also determine the value of the link.
This may be a lot to consider, however it can save you enormous amounts of time and frustration.
People will often work for hours to attain a link from a site they like when in reality the site has a
low PageRank and the link won't even carry much weight as far as search engine placement is
concerned.
It is only responsible to note that as a general rule any relevant inbound link will help somewhat.
If, in your travels, you find a related site with a PageRank of 2 that is very simple to get a link
from, it's well worth your time to do so given that that time taken is only about 5 minutes. Not all
link building is this simple and it's in the more advanced efforts (email communications with the
webmaster for example) that you will want to apply the above noted "rules."
Who should you link to? (Outgoing links)
The question “Who should you link to?” is a very serious one and can have significant
repercussions on your search engine placement. If you are linking to sites this is your way of
saying, "This site is highly relevant to mine and that my visitors will enjoy the content on it." For
this reason there are a number of considerations that have to be made when determining whether
reciprocal links are in your best interest. Factors of the website that should be considered when
determining whether to link to that website are:
1. Is the site's content related to yours? Like incoming links (sites linking to you), the
relevancy of the content on both sites should be high. If you have a number of links from your site
to websites that are completely unrelated to you're the value of these links is negligible and
further, will reduce the perceived value of your site.
2. Does the site compete with you? In this case it is your interests, not those of the other
webmaster, which must be taken into account. Do you want to link to a site that provides the same
or similar products/services as you? Unless the site is willing to reciprocate the link and they have a
very high PageRank, it is probably not wise to give your visitors the opportunity to go to the site of
a competitor.
3. What is their PageRank? Many people falsely believe that any outbound link will hurt your
placement. This is simply not the case. Poor link-building is the cause of this misconception, not
the link itself. When you are determining whether to link to another site, take a look at the
PageRank it has been assigned by Google. Like the boost this gives to your site in the incoming
links, so too can this have a positive effect on your outbound links. If all of your outbound links
are to highly regarded sites (by the search engines) and whose content is relevant to yours then
these links will help, not hinder, your rankings.
