Do you  want to know how to find links to your website? You might have recently read about the problem with JCPenney and their SEO company. If you haven’t, here is a link to the New York Times article.

If you understand the basics of SEO, you grasp the significance of links to your website. Because of the importance of linking, people can go to great measures to get better results with more links! These mis-happenings occur every day with websites. JCPenney is a well known retail store so it hit the news quickly! So let’s examine link building a little closer.

There is much more of a fine line between good and bad SEO in reference to linking.  Google approves of SEO but is much more vague about the SEO rules then people understand. Let’s create two hypothetical scenarios:

How to Find Links to Your Website
Here are two examples:

1. You write and place a great article on a website and the following week 100K people link to your article.

2. JCPenney pays an SEO company to get links and in one week 100K links appear.

 

The power of linking is incredible! At one time if you searched for “failure” in Google you got Michael Moore’s site and George Bush’s bio. This happened only because people from each side linked to each of those sites with the word “failure” in the link. Google fixed this, but search for “failure” now and you will see references to it.

All good SEO companies encourage linking but the difference between good and bad (according to Google) is that it should be slow and natural (sincere) vs. instant, paid or unrelated links.  SEO Does Matter declines linking requests all the time because they are not relevant to what our clients’ content is about. JCPenney was being linked to, from any website possible.

So does pursuing links imply bad SEO tactics? No, it doesn’t. You should work hard to follow what Google wants and recommends. (When you have some time, read about it in Google Webmaster Guidelines.) Referring back to my second example, imagine you wrote that article and had a bunch of people linked to it and none of their sites were relevant to the website that you placed your article on. This lack of relevancy could cause this site to be penalized from this innocent action.

Here are 5 ways to find links to your website!

  1. Use theme based relevant links
  2. Manually add each link instead of paying for automated links
  3. Find websites that have good page rank and appear in good standing
  4. Use permanent links from websites that are relevant to your website
  5. Use links that are search engine friendly (based off of Google Webmaster Guidelines)

Use quality link building techniques! Keep good standards with Google and all search engines. Then, continue to work hard and enjoy SEO benefits from your search engine results!

 

Finding Quality Relevant LinksFinding quality, relevant links is an important aspect of the linking process! We get emails asking to trade links with us. Many people don’t have an understanding of what valuable back-linking is.

When another website adds your website link to their site, Google and other search engines take note of that and assumes you have an important website. The more links that point to your site, the more search engines believe your site is important.

Here are a couple of linking tips:

  1. As you look for other websites to link with you, look for websites that are relevant to your website. For example: If you have a plumbing company, link with other plumbers! I find that many times the “other plumbers” reject linking with you. I guess it’s because each other plumbers are considered competition. But look a little deeper. If you are a plumber in California, will you be competing with a plumber from Indiana? I don’t think so! Linking to someone in the same niche field is very helpful to you!
  2. Find quality websites and don’t link with a website that has a lower pagerank. Websites that look “spammy” probably are just that. And it won’t help you. Here is an example: If the newspaper is linking to you, it would be great for you, correct? The newspaper would be a quality website. If a website with ads and a hidden agenda links to you, it wouldn’t help you and could possibly hinder you if Google learns that the website is doing anything to violate Google’s policies.

Don’t forget to add good keyword anchor text to your link since search engines will pick up on these relevant words.  If you need help with good keywords,  take a look at some of our other blog posts about keywords and SEO practices.

Finding quality, relevant links is an important process in the SEO world. Your website should be considered “popular” as newspaper websites. Look for other quality, relevant websites and consider writing a blog post for them in exchange for a link! There are many linking opportunities out there. The possibilities are endless!

 

how do i get links to my siteWhen other sites link to your own site it tells search engines that your site is probably important. Once you know the importance of links to your site (also known as backlinks) you’ll be asking,

“How do I get links to my site?”

Here are a five suggestions to get backlinks:

  1. Exchange links with your clients
  2. Add news releases and/or article to these type of websites.
  3. Take advantage of social media. On Facebook, make sure to create a business page!
  4. Join a free link exchange website or relevant directory
  5. Add your business profile to search engines.

Here are three important SEO tips in reference to links:

  1. Make sure to use good anchor text. Do not use words like “click here.”
  2. Link with relevant websites. Many times I see sites avoid their competition. Don’ t think of them as the enemy! If they are willing, link with them and HELP your website rank better in search engines. For example, if your hair salon is in New York, link with other hair salons in other states!
  3. If possible, find sites with page rank better then your own.

If you are still asking the question, “How do I get links to my site?” Contact us!

 

Blog Post Exchanges and DeeplinkingYou can trade blog posts with other bloggers to have quality backlinks. In exchange, the other blogger will write a post for your website with a backlink to their website.

Here are 5 steps to blog post exchanges:

  1. Find relevant websites that blog. You can search for Google blogs at: http://blogsearch.google.com/
  2. Find websites that have a higher page rank (PR) then your blog.
  3. Find websites that are free, indexed and relevant.
  4. Send an email to the blogger to request a blog post exchange.
  5. Write a blog post and deeplink within the blog post.

This method of creating quality backlinks and deep links is preferred over exchanging links because it adds content. Many bloggers prefer this method so their website has relevant links with new content!

Write blog post exchanges and add deeplinking value to your website!

 

Ever asked yourself, “Why are backlinks important?” Today we will examine this question from an SEO perspective so you don’t make a common mistake!

Search Engines, (Such as Google, Bing, or Yahoo) use backlinks as a way to tell whether a website is popular.  Imagine trying to determine what websites should be in search results for the phrase someone just typed into their search bar! Let me give you an example we all can relate to about popularity.

Go back with me to your high school days. (Yes, I said your high school  days! :) ) Popularity contests occur all the time in high school.  If you had popular friends, it made you popular. If you had half of the freshman class like you, it really didn’t help you out. The popular friends (other well-known websites) you become friends with and get backlinks from, the more valuable your website appears to search engines! This is one way search engines measure your importance from the millions of sites on the internet.

♦ It’s good to build a website, but unless you create backlinks, your hard work building a site will be for nothing. ♦

Here are 5 areas you can start getting backlinks from:

  • Clients or Business Partners
  • Quality directories or backlink sites like Links Do Matter
  • Social Media profiles
  • Articles and Press Releases
  • Video sites

Don’t let this step of search engine optimization get lost in the scheme of work to be completed.  Need more information or direction? Contact us and get started today because backlinks are important!!

 

Have you wondered “What is external link for SEO?”  The subject of linking can get confusing especially when there are several different types to grasp in the SEO world.

An external link (Also called inbound linking or backlinking) is when you add a hyperlink to a web page on another website. The site you add the link to  can be a blog, social media, directory, or many other sites that can help market your site!

But in relation to search engines and it’s meaning, what is external link? When you use external websites to promote your own website, search engines will see your site valued.  One of the goals is for others to share the link and help increase the numbers of hyperlinks that are connected to your website.

If you are still reading this post you might be interested in knowing anyone can look to see how many external links exist to your site or any site. If you go to Yahoo, type in the search bar link:http://www.(yourwebsite) Yahoo will take you to Yahoo Site Explorer and you can view any external link to your site!

I hope this answers “What is external link for SEO.” This is part two of a three part series on linking and how links effect and promote your site! In the SEO realm, linking needs to be considered a main factor to any small business owner who wants to improve their results in search engines.

If you want us to glance at your site or help with the linking needs for your small business website, contact us today. I hope this post takes your website one step closer in search results and the huge possibilities of internet marketing!

 

One way to help with search engine optimization is to submit a RSS feed (free to everyone) to increase traffic to your site and create more backlinks.   I recommend everyone add their RSS feed to www.feedage.com This will help with SEO and is something you don’t want to let slip by the way side.

I personally like that this website is categorized by subject and is searchable.  You can also apply a Feedage plugin to your WordPress blog and add it to your social networking sites. (Like I did) Although this site is user friendly, you can email them if you need help.  Good customer service is important. And many websites don’t meet the need. Let me not go in that direction…I can save that topic for another post! lol Anyhow, I know Feedage will respond to your questions!

RSS feeds are growing and a big part of the internet community. If you haven’t jumped on the band wagon, it’s not too late to start.  Don’t you want to take advantage of all the free SEO opportunities that are on the web?

 

Do you notice that people add links to blogs, articles and other websites? Do you ever see a comment that has a link to a topic that is irrelevant? Why is that? Do links matter? Today I have an answer for you!

People add links (hyperlinks) all the time to blogs, comments and other places on the internet. The reason? Sometimes to share information and other times it’s related to internet marketing. Google values and looks at the links connected to your website!

One problem I see all the time is that people are trying to add a link to this blog but it is totally irrelevant to my posting. And I usually delete it! From a internet marketing perspective, search engines are looking for relevant links. In other words, if your website is selling car parts and you have links to jewelry, the two are not connected. Not good! The web site with car parts should be linked to another car website. Something such as car repair, car washes, car paint jobs, etc. You get the picture!

I wrote this post to encourage those of you who know the importance of linking (and try to link to this blog) to go to: Links Do Matter.

When you add a link to a blog, article, or website, try to use keywords in your anchor text.  Good anchor text is always beneficial. Sometimes a website will not give you the ability to do this.  If you are unable, you should still add the link.

We put together linksdomatter.com to help those trying to build PageRank for their sites.  All you have to do is add a comment on the site explaining what type of backlink you are looking for and what you have to offer. When others with a relevant site see your comment, you can email each other and work out the link strategy. You can also request to post a link on this site if there is no other significant website that will help you out.  So check it out today…links do matter!

 

Backlinks or inbound links are links pointing at a particular web page.

The amount and value of inbound links are a primary way that Google places value on your site.

Google measures this value as PageRank.  A web site’s PageRank can bee seen using the free Google toolbar.

The better the inbound links (determined by Google) the higher the PageRank. The higher your PageRank, the easier it is to improve your ranking in Google.

 

Here is one fast way to get indexed in Google. Submit your rss feed to feedage.com. Google visits Feedage.com everyday and if you have an rss feed in their index, it will most likely get indexed by google within a day or two. Read more about it on the feedage.com blog