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to success
Sites of Boston Tip of the Month
April 2003
Table
of Contents
-- Links, not submitting, is the key to success
-- What is
a link?
-- Where can I get links?
-- What do I do to get a link?
--
What should the link say?
-- Avoiding link farms
The Search Engine
Strategies Conference in Boston at the beginning of March attracted approximately
1,200 people including many large corporations.
Some companies are paying
$60,000+ a year for Web marketing consulting and some have signed two year contracts.
They must be getting a good return, but few want to let their competitors know
just how well.
Customers are moving to the Web to find services and products
and the companies that are there first are reaping the benefits. The "wait and
sees" will continue to see decreasing returns from traditional media advertising.
One thing that stood out at the conference was the new emphasis on links
to your website from other websites. The search engines are trying to improve
the relevance of the results they deliver, and they examine websites links to
see which websites have the most "credibility". Read more...
Links,
not submitting, is the key to success
As you know, the Google database
powers the Yahoo, Google and AOL search engine results. Google.com has a section
for Web masters and here is what it says: It is NOT necessary to submit your site
to Google. The best way to ensure Google finds your site is for your page to be
linked from lots of pages on other sites. In addition, links bring visitors directly
to your websites. A March 2003 study by Stat Market shows that, on the average,
21% of website traffic comes from links on other websites.
Google
for Web Masters
What is a link?
A link (or hyperlink,
or Web link), is a connection from one website to another. By clicking on a link
with the mouse (or through keyboard input, etc.) a visitor to one website can
quickly visit the page of another site without keying another address into the
Web browser. For a fuller definition of a link, visit The World Wide Web Consortium
(W3C)
Web
Consortium (W3C)
Where can I get links?
Here are examples
of websites that may provide links to your website for no charge:
o Alumni
organization
o Professional organizations
o Business associates
o
Chamber of Commerce
o Networking Groups
o Clients
o Non-profits where
you volunteer
o Parent companies
o Suppliers
What do I do to
get a link?
Send an e-mail (look for addresses on the target website)
and request a link. Tell them where you would like it to appear on their site
and what you would like it to say. Some sites have a dedicated link page or resources
page.
Offer a link back to their website in exchange. Tell them where
it will appear on your site and what it will say. Do not link to others without
their permission.
What should the link say?
You can boost
your search engine rankings for a key phrase (see Tip
of the Month September 2002) by including it in the link description.
Avoiding link farms
The search engines know all about link
farms (no surprise). Here is what Google says:
Fiction: Joining
a link exchange or "free-for-all" link program will boost my rankings.
Fact:
Linking schemes do not increase a given site's PageRank, and will often do a site
more harm than good. Many sites that advertise link-sharing programs not only
offer little value, but will distribute your email address without your permission,
resulting in an increased volume of unwanted mail to you.
What
Google says
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