This document provides an overview of link building strategies and how to measure link popularity and PageRank. It discusses how inbound links from relevant, authoritative sites are important for search engine rankings. It recommends tools for finding backlinks and PageRank, such as the Google Toolbar, Yahoo Site Explorer, and SEOChat. The document warns against low-quality link building practices like link farms, hidden links, and unnatural link structures. It also offers suggestions for getting links through blogs, RSS, directories, and more creative approaches like tools, content partnerships, and sponsorships. The key lessons are that links should come from relevant, topically-related sites to pass PageRank effectively.
Link building Services from TheSeoPortal SEO Company
1. Google in the Real World:
How Links Boost Your Ranking
Presented by : TheSeoPortal Link Building Services Company
Website : http://www.theseoportal.com
2. Link Popularity
Inbound links play a key role in determining rankings
It’s not just about quantity (“link popularity”); it’s about
quality (importance of the page, topically
relevant/authoritative)
This has been the cornerstone of Google’s ranking
algorithm since Day 1
Comes from the Google founders’ fascination with
citation analysis
3. Checking Link Popularity
To a page
– Google’s and MSN Search’s link: query operator
To your site
– Yahoo’s linkdomain: query operator
Subtract your site from the results (MSN & Yahoo only)
– E.g. link:www.yoursite.com -site:yoursite.com
Google displays only a sampling of backlinks (to foil
SEOs)
4. Checking Link Popularity
Free tools
– Yahoo’s Site Explorer (siteexplorer.search.yahoo.com)
– Netconcepts’ Link Checker (www.netconcepts.com/linkcheck)
– WeBuildPages’ Neat-o Tool (www.webuildpages.com/neat-o/)
– SEO-Links Firefox extension (www.webmasterbrain.com/seo-
tools/firefox-extensions/seo-links/)
– Thumbshots Ranking tool (ranking.thumbshots.com)
– TouchGraph GoogleBrowser
(www.touchgraph.com/TGGoogleBrowser.html)
9. PageRank
PageRank™ – Google’s algorithm for measuring a
page’s importance; Yahoo & MSN have similar
measures
Each web page (not site) has its own PageRank score
PageRank scores from 0 to 10; logarithmic scale
Who’s at the top of the PageRank food chain?
– 10: Google, Apple, NSF, FirstGov; 9: Yahoo, MSN, Stanford
Sites with higher PageRank get crawled earlier, faster,
and deeper by Googlebot
10. Checking PageRank
Google Toolbar for IE or Firefox
– Download it from toolbar.google.com
Google Directory (directory.google.com)
– Only works for pages that are listed in DMOZ (e.g. your home
page)
– Listings are ranked in order of PageRank
– Makes it possible to see your site make small PageRank
shifts relative to other sites in your category
– Get historical PageRank scores w/ Wayback Machine
(www.archive.org)
12. Problems with the PageRank Meter
Take the PageRank scores with a grain of salt
PageRank scores are merely indicative
Scores displayed in the PageRank meter are:
– Months old
– Imprecise
– Not the same as the PageRank as what is used in Google’s
ranking algorithm
– Not representative of the home page PageRank when a
redirect is present
18. Find Link Targets
Review links of competitive sites, sites in your keyword
market
– Use the tools just mentioned
– Check sites with high rankings for relevant keywords
– The fewer the number of links on their page, the better
Review links to your site; look for opportunities to get
the link text revised
19. Competitive Intelligence
These tools aren’t just good for finding link targets
They’re invaluable for uncovering competitors’ dodgy
practices
– E.g. Unraveling the mystery of Findgiftcards.com
commanding the #1 spot for “gift certificates”
It’s also just good to know where they’re getting the bulk
of their PageRank from
20. Watch Out For…
Types of links that are likely to get discounted:
– Reciprocal links
– Affiliated sites (on the same IP range or hostname)
– Footer links (at the bottom of the page)
– Site-wide links
– Links contained on a page called links.htm / links.asp
– Remember: the more links on the linking page, the less
PageRank you’ll get
21. “Google Bombing”
Inbound contextual links alone can drive a site to the top
of Google (e.g. “miserable failure”)
Also works on Yahoo, MSN Search, etc.
THE LESSON: Link text is your secret weapon!
27. PageRank Dilution
Careful about having multiple URLs serving up the same content
– Multiple homes for your content
– Multiple domains registered and resolving to your site
– abccompany.com vs. www.abccompany.com
– https:// version of your site
– Session IDs or User IDs in the URL
– 301 redirect them all to the definitive version of the page
Removed pages
– 301 redirect rather than 404
29. Best Practices
Try to get good keywords in the hyperlink text
Offer link-worthy content. Keep it fresh.
Provide RSS feeds
Simple keyword-rich links encourage deep linking
When you redesign your site, keep your old URLs or
301 redirect them to the new URLs
“Nofollow” any links you don’t vouch for
– <a href=“/privacy-policy.htm” rel=“nofollow”>
30. Worst Practices
Participating in “link farms” or FFA (“Free For All”) sites
– Hallmarks of a link farm = more urls per page & less
organization
Splogging, comment spamming, guestbook spamming
Linking to “bad neighborhoods”
Hiding links
Hoarding all your PageRank
Unnatural link structures
31. Link Hiding Example 1
SubscriberMail.com embeds an invisible image linked to
their home page into their customers’ enewsletter
signup forms
– E.g. on www.ocharleydavidson.com/guest.html look for:
<a href="http://www.subscribermail.com"><img
src="http://tr1.subscribermail.com/bt/wbtr.cfm?
ppid=ORANADFE6858" alt="Email Marketing" border=0></a>
32. Link Hiding Example 2
PRNewswire.co.uk embeds keyword-rich text links
within a <noframes> tag on their home page that not
visible to ordinary users:
– <a href="http://www.icrossing.com">Search Engine
Marketing</a>
<a href="http://sev.prnewswire.com">Search Engine News
Release Optimization</a>
33. Unnatural Link Structures
Google suspects unnatural-looking neighborhoods
Don’t link to every single node in your network of sites;
it’ll get flagged.
Naturally occurring neighborhoods
on the Web aren’t perfect
Google is looking for “cliques”
(graph theory)
34. Submit to Directories
Yahoo!
Open Directory (DMOZ)
GoGuides
JoeAnt
SearchHippo
Skaffe
RubberStamped
BlueFind
Gigablast
WebSavvy
Zeal
etc.
35. Submit to Directories
Do your homework:
– www.stuntdubl.com/2005/09/26/directories/
– www.searchengineguide.com/wallace/2005/0407_dw1.html
– www.searchengineguide.com/searchengines.html
– forums.searchenginewatch.com/showthread.php?t=6505
36. Submit to Verticals, Topical Guides
e.g. Yahooligans if it’s of interest to kids
e.g. BestHistorySites.net if you’ve got good historical
content
e.g. FMLink.com if it’s relevant to facilities managers
etc.
Lots of work here to uncover the niche sites!
Create a linking plan
37. Blogs
Search engines – and Google in particular – love blogs
Inherently link-rich
– “Hat tips” – part of blog etiquette
– Blogrolls
– RSS feeds
– Trackbacks
– Comments
The dark side of the blogosphere:
– Blog comment spam
– Splogs (spam blogs)
38. RSS Feeds
Not only an unspammable content delivery channel to
your consumers, but also…
A powerful way to syndicate your content to other web
sites
– Propagate deep links that drive traffic and PageRank
– Careful! Some spammers lift your content from your RSS
feeds, strip out the links, and use as keyword-rich content
42. RSS Feeds
Facilitate propagation of your feeds across the web:
– Set up feed “autodiscovery”
• e.g. <link rel="alternate" type="application/atom+xml" title="Atom 0.3"
href="http://feeds.stephanspencer.com/scatterings" />
– Make your search listings in Yahoo! display the “Add to My Yahoo!” link
• Instructions here: http://my.yahoo.com/s/publishers.html
– Send out “pings” (to Technorati, My Yahoo, Pingomatic, etc.)
– Make sure “trackbacks” are enabled
Submit to RSS directories & search engines
– List at www.masternewmedia.org/rss/top55/
Pay attention to each item title; it’ll become link text
43. Buying Text Links
What is a Yahoo directory listing but a paid text link!
– Ok by Google because of the “editorial review”
Brokers like Text-Link-Ads.com and can help
Google’s perspective:
– “Selling links muddies the quality of the web and makes it
harder for many search engines (not just Google) to return
relevant results. The rel=nofollow attribute is the correct
answer: any site can sell links, but a search engine will be
able to tell that the source site is not vouching for the
destination page” -- Matt Cutts, Google engineer
44. Buying Text Links
Google discounts the voting power of sites that it knows
are selling text links:
– “…parts of perl.com, xml.com, etc. have not been trusted in
terms of linkage for months and months. Remember that just
because a site shows up for a “link:” command on Google
does not mean that it passes PageRank, reputation, or
anchortext” -- Matt Cutts, Google engineer
45. Evaluating a Text Ad Opportunity
Good
– High rankings for the search terms targeted with the existing ads’ link text
– Stats showing the page you’ll be on gets good traffic numbers
– Stats showing a respectable amount of traffic is sent to the advertisers
– Site is topically relevant to your business
– Site is likely to be considered an authority site
– Inbound links from .gov, .edu, .mil sites
– Good Alexa rank
– Extra good if the site you’re placed on is a .gov, .edu, or .mil
– Reasonably good PageRank score on the page you’ll be on
– Reasonably few other links on the page you’ll be on
– Link is within the main body of the page
47. Evaluating a Text Ad Opportunity
Bad
– Sitewide link
– Site has been greybarred (i.e. banned)
– Neighboring ads are of dubious nature (casinos, Hoodia, Viagra, etc.)
– Acquired PageRank through dubious means (e.g. hidden or obscured
links)
– Advertisers have left in droves (evidenced by Wayback Machine archives)
– “Advertisers”, “Sponsors”, or “Sponsored” closely associated with the ads
– No visibility in top 10 pages in Google for advertisers’ targeted keywords
52. Get Creative
Give awards / recognition
– Badges with link text underneath
Allow webmasters to republish your articles
– Require a link in your byline
Publish unique content
– Podcasts (e.g. SteveSpangler.com)
– Screencasts (use TechSmith’s Camtasia Studio)
– Wikis (e.g. SEOGlossary.com)
53. Get Creative
Offer useful tools for webmasters, such as…
– Hit counters
• E.g. NOT 123counters.com
– Weather stickers
• E.g. Wunderground.com, SuperPages.com
– RSS feeds
• Lottery winning numbers from SuperPages.com
54. Get Creative
Start a blog
Give testimonials
– E.g. www.wordpress.org/about/testimonials
– E.g. www.keyworddiscovery.com/testimonials.html
Sponsor a nonprofit
– E.g. Kohl’s supports the Eastern Pennsylvania Youth Soccer Association
Leverage your affiliates
– Get a straight link (e.g. from Legal Notices page)
– 301 redirect
55. In Summary
Best links are:
– Topically relevant
– One way (not reciprocated)
– Not in footer and not site-wide
– Earned by merit, rather than bought, bartered or stolen
– Not crowded with many other links on the page
– On a high PageRank-endowed, high Alexa-ranked,
.edu/.gov/.mil authority site
57. In Summary
Get creative
– With your content, functionality, free tools, your budget
– Think “Web 2.0” (blogs, RSS, tagging, etc.)
Measure success not by fixating on the PageRank
meter, but by measuring the rankings lift
Don’t hamper the PageRank flow within your site
58. Q&A
Thank You!
Time now for some Q & A!
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