SEO Learning Center >> Link Popularity

Building Website Link Popularity

In this SEO tutorial, I'm going to talk to you about website link popularity and what it has to do with search engine optimization. In particular, I'll show you how to increase your link popularity the right way.

Note: If you're looking for information on link-exchange schemes, blog spam, and other "tricks" for building bogus link popularity, you're on the wrong website. I won't be teaching you any of these crash-and-burn techniques. Instead, I'll show you how to build website link popularity the right way -- with superior content that attracts links naturally.

Link Popularity is a Simple Concept

Web content and link popularity make up about 90% of search engine optimization. If you were expecting a bunch of technical jargon or other complexities, you won't find them here. The fact is, most SEO firms want you to believe that search engine optimization is highly complex, when in fact it's quite simple. They want you to believe that SEO requires special skills, when in fact anyone can do it. They have to make a living somehow.

Link popularity simply refers to the quantity and quality of inbound links from other websites to your own website. If I were to link to your website from this article, I'd be contributing to the link popularity of your website. I told you it wasn't rocket science! Link popularity is one of many factors the search engines use to rank websites. Content relevance is another key factor.

For example, let's assume that I do a Google search for the phrase "small business CRM software." Google will then search its enormous database for web pages that include that phrase. Next, it will look at other factors (such as link popularity) to determine how to rank all of those results. It does this in the blink of an eye, but this is what happens behind the scenes.

The websites that show up on the first page of results will have the following things in common:

• They will be well optimized for search engines, including proper website structure and organization, proper use of HTML tags, etc.
• They will have plenty of content that matches the search phrase.
• They will have a relatively high degree of website popularity (i.e., links from other websites).

Technically speaking, each search engine has its own algorithm for ranking websites, and those algorithms might include hundreds of individual ranking factors. But we don t need to go that far into the technical weeds. The three things mentioned above -- proper website structure, keyword-rich content, and website link popularity -- are the most important factors for SEO success.

Link Building Companies are Dangerous

Because of the importance of link popularity as a ranking factor, a cottage industry of "link building" companies has emerged. There are hundreds of these companies who would be happy to take your money in exchange for this kind of service. But you don't need to pay for this service. In fact, it's best if you avoid these companies like the plague. Many of them resort to reciprocal linking networks as a lazy approach to building link popularity. They will plug you into this network (charging you a lot of money for it), and before you know it, you'll have links coming in from all kinds of websites -- mostly websites you wouldn't normally associate with.

For a while, things will seem great. Your rankings will improve. Your traffic will go up. And it seems like you've got your money's worth in terms of link popularity for your website. But then the worst possible thing happens. Your search engine rankings plummet. You were on the first page of Google for some of your key phrases, and then you wake up one day and you've dropped down to page 6 or 7, or even lower. What happened? You've just been hitting by a search engine penalty for a manipulative linking scheme. Google, in particular, is good at spotting this kind of thing.

• Google says the following: "Don't participate in link schemes designed to increase your site's ranking or PageRank ... as your own ranking may be affected adversely by those links.
• Yahoo echoes this guideline: "Some examples of the more common types of content that Yahoo! does not want include ... sites cross-linked excessively with other sites to inflate a site's apparent popularity (link schemes)."

Sure, there are some link building companies who know what they're doing. But in my experience working in the SEO industry, these companies are few and far between. I would say that 90% of the link building and SEO firms out there rely on manipulative / risky techniques. In other words, they only know enough to be dangerous.

I've known many webmasters who paid money to some shady SEO company for link popularity services, only to have their website "tank" in the search engines. They were victims of the aforementioned link building companies. On top of everything else, they were out hundreds or thousands of dollars in SEO fees. So they ended up paying to have their rankings lowered!

Do It Yourself - And Do It Better

Here's what it all boils down to. People who spend so much time building links to their website are missing the point entirely. They are compensating for a weak website that is unable to attract links naturally. This is where you should focus your energy. You should focus on building a useful website that people will gladly link to -- without being asked. In other words, you should build the type of website that naturally attracts links from other webmasters and bloggers.

To me, this is the important aspect of search engine optimization. It is the core principle of SEO, so I'm going to say it again. You should put your time, energy and money toward building a useful website that attracts link naturally. If you do this, and if you follow it up with a basic PR and networking program to promote your site, you'll never have to worry about building link popularity. It will happen automatically.

People who find the site useful will link to it as a resource and recommend it to others. This will increase your website's link popularity, which will improve your search engine rankings. Better rankings will bring more visitors to your site, and many of them will be bloggers and web publishers. Some of these new visitors will link to your website as well. This will boost your search engine rankings even more ... which means more traffic ... which means more links ... you get the idea.

It's a snowball effect, and I've seen it happen more times than I can count.

What Makes a Website Link Worthy?

The key to all of this, of course, is to build the kind of website that other people will link to as a recommended resource. How do you do this? By offering better content (and more of it) than other websites in your industry or niche. There are no big secrets. No smoke and mirrors. Just hard work and determination. That's what will take you to the top of the search engines.

Show me an industry or business niche, and I'll find an authority website within that segment. These are the websites that attract links naturally by offering a wealth of information and resources. WebMD is a good example of a dominant website in a certain niche, the kind of site that people link to naturally. I guarantee the folks who run that website spend more time on developing content than building link popularity -- and they might not spend any time on the latter.

Want another example? Check out HomeBuyingInstitute.com. This website strives to be "the place to go" for advice on buying a home. So a lot of people link to it naturally, without being asked to do so. Like I said, there are authority websites in every industry. You should strive to be one of them.

And here's the best part of all. This is more than just an SEO strategy. By increasing the value of your website, you're actually helping your business in many ways. You'll attract more visitors to the site. You'll keep them on the site longer. And you'll make them more inclined to contact you or buy your product. In other words, this is the kind of thing you should be doing anyway, regardless of search engine optimization.

So there you have it, the "secret" to building website link popularity for SEO success. This process should start on your site. If you don't have the kind of website that's worth linking to, you'll never achieve your full potential and search engine rankings. So forget about those risky link-building companies. Instead of paying them for their questionable services, put that money toward content development. Strive to build an authority website within your industry or nice, and then promote it through online PR and networking. Do this, and the link popularity will take care of itself.

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