Search engine success #3: Off Page factors
Links to your website from other quality websites are worth their weight in gold.
This is Part 3 of a 3-part series. Missed Part 2?
It’s currently considered that 80% of Google’s ranking formula is now based on ‘off-page factors’. Essentially, this means links on other people’s websites to your website.
Why does Google place so much importance on links from other websites? It’s simple: if another website is willing to link to yours, Google figures that that is a vote of confidence for you, and will thus increase your ranking.
So the key to gaining a high search engine ranking is to get other websites to link to you. Here are 10 key hints and tips on making that happen:
1. Quality not quantity
Will any old links from any old websites do? Absolutely not. Google will promote your ranking only if the sites linking to you…
- have similar content to your website (relevance)
- are highly ranked themselves for similar keyword phrases
In fact, having inappropriate or irrelevant sites to link to you can often decrease your ranking!
2. So how do I sort the wheat from the chaff?
Finding quality sites to link to you is the tricky part, and is something that a requires a consistent strategy over time. Do a search yourself for your target keyword phrases. Find out which sites rank highly and contact them to ask for a link to your site.
This highly-ranked competition must have some good incoming links too, right? Right. Try to get links from the same sites who link to your competition. How do you find out who links to your competition? Here’s one method: let’s say one of the competition is http://www.widgets.com. Type link:www.widgets.com into Google. Voila! A list of sites that link to your competitor. Approach these sites and ask them for a link too.
3. How do I get these other sites to link to me?
Simple: ask. Send a polite, personal email politely asking for a link, giving your website URL and making a complementary comment or two about their website. They may ask for a reciprocal link in return.
4. Can I get links from any other sources?
Directories are a great source of incoming links. There are many general purpose directories on the Web – Yahoo and the Open Directory are the main two, and a link from either of these is immensely valuable for search engine rankings.
There are also plenty of niche directories, dedicated to specific industries or market sectors. These are well worth hunting out too – they’re targetted directly at your business, and thus rank well for relevance in Google’s eyes.
5. Should I pay for a link?
It depends. The Yahoo directory actually charges £200 per year for a listing in their directory (for commercial websites) and we feel that this is well worth it, considering the relative value of a link from them. There are, sadly, many directories out there who charge for a link who could actually damage your search engine ranking. Be careful out there…
6. Create compelling content
The number one strategy for gaining high-quality, valuable links from other websites is to create great content that folks will want to link to. It’s that simple. Keep your content exciting, updated and fresh, and you’ll have no difficulty in having people wanting to link to you, with no further persuasion required.
7. Text of links
When asking for a link from another site, try to make sure they use some of your targetted keywords in the actual text of the link itself. Google places a fair bit of importance on this text so it pays to try to make it relevant.
8. Don’t link just to home
When asking for links to your site, it’s tempting to ask for them all to link to your home page. After all, that’s your main website address. However, try to ask for links pointing to a variety of pages on your site. This not only helps Google to see the value of a range of pages on your site, but also increases interest from actual human website visitors too.
9. Don’t go link crazy!
Basically, don’t try to get links at all costs. Remember, the bottom line is that any links you acquire have got to be from relevant, popular, highly-ranked websites. This is not only good for search engine rankings but seriously increases satisfaction for your human visitors too. Often, other sites will require a reciprocal link in return, so it’s crucial that these sites remain highly relevant to your loyal visitors and customers.
10. Slow and steady wins the race
Don’t become obsessed with gaining links to your site at the expense of everything else – believe us, we’ve seen it happen and it’s not pretty…
Concentrate on producing fresh, quality, relevant content, and take a small amount of time just once a month to acquire one or two fresh external links. Trust us: the benefits will soon add up.
This concludes our series on ‘Search Engine Success‘. Good luck!
Don’t forget to check out part 1 and part 2 if you missed them.
What next?
- Check out Part 1 of this 3 part series
- See all our resources and articles
- Contact us today and let us help you measurably improve your search engine ranking
Grab our Articles RSS feed