(i) Link popularity is a magic trick
The basic concept of link popularity is simple. If someone links to your site, you get a point. If you link to another site they get a point.
But not all sites are equal and therefore not all links are equal. A link from a high traffic industry portal is worth infinitely more that a link from a low-traffic free-for-all site. So the birth of Google�s PageRank and other search engine algorithms.
PageRank is a measure of how 'useful' Google believes a site to be. PageRank influences the value of each link and it has a multiplier effect. A link from a site with a PageRank of 7 will be highly valuable; a link from a site with a PageRank of 0 will be worthless.
"A link from a high traffic industry portal is worth infinitely more that a link from a low-traffic free-for-all site."
PageRank influences the value of each link and it has a multiplier effect. A link from a site with a PageRank of 7 will be highly valuable; a link from a site with a PageRank of 0 will be worthless.
Google, Altavista, Excite and Hotbot all use variations on link popularity when ordering their results.
(ii) The more inbound links to your site the better
This sounds plausible. The more links to your site, surely the greater the chance that new people will find it?
But if people never see these links, they might as well not exist - they are not worth even minimal effort. Developing an effective linking strategy is not about getting as many links as possible: it is about putting your resources into getting quality links that will drive traffic to your site.
(iii) You can always fool search engines
A great deal of time is spent by many people trying to fool search engines. Their efforts may be successful for a time but search engines are on constant alert against dubious practices and will take action against them. So a type of arms race develops where the weapons and defences against them get ever more sophisticated.
History has seen the rise and fall of keyword spamming, free-for-alls, link farms, hidden links and others. The effort involved is huge and the success if any is transitory.
It is much better to concentrate on giving the search engines what they really want - great content, well-organised, well-published and linked to other relevant material. Concentrate on that and you will be rewarded.
(iv) You can get away without great content
Suppose you were the greatest search engine marketer that ever lived. You could use every tool at your disposal to its maximum potential and drive huge amounts of traffic to any client site that paid you.
But these huge numbers of people are looking for something - they want their needs to be addressed and their wishes fulfilled.
They need to have the content or functionality that they are looking for - if they don't find it, their experience will be empty and meaningless. If you can't give people what they want, you are wasting your time and theirs.
(v) The main benefit of link popularity is in search engine optimisation
Link popularity will certainly affect your search engine performance but that is only part of the story.
By implementing a linking strategy you attract more visitors, provide additional content and resources for them, you learn more about your industry online and your competitive position within it, you build trust and you become part of an online community.
These benefits can bring much greater reward that search engine ranking.
(vi) Once you�ve done your campaign you can leave it
An effective linking strategy demands an ongoing commitment. Not only must you maintain your links, you must add to them. Once you have covered the basics, a natural momentum will be created whereby new sites will link to you without being asked. But this alone is not enough.
You should continue to provide content and resources for the sites that already link to you and you should spend some time every week looking for new links.
As your knowledge and experience grow you will be able to further develop and expand your linking strategy.
(vii) Software can do the job
Software will not automate the process of human interaction process that is at the heart of an effective linking strategy. No amount of artificial intelligence will produce possible link partners as accurately as you can yourself with some thought and methodology.
This goes doubly for the link request email. Internet users have become very savvy when it comes to bulk emailing; anything without their name in the body of the email will go straight to the trash can.
By picking a few good sites, emailing them individually with details of exactly what you can offer and where you think a link might fit in with their existing content, you will not only get a greater response rate, but the links you get are sure to be far more valuable.
However, there are a number of software options that can greatly support if not automate the link-request process. These are primarily Arelis and Zeus, both of which have similar functionality. They find relevant sites using your chosen keywords and save them in a database from which you may automatically send out link requests. They also automatically create a reciprocal links page if you wish.
