Link and Grow Rich

You may have heard of the term "Linking" and how important it is to search engines. Links or hyperlinks are text or images that you click to open another Web page. Underlined and/or coloured text on a Web page generally indicate an hyperlink.

Why are Links important?
Links are vital to your site if you want your site to get high search engine rankings. If search engines find several Web sites linking to your Web site, it will indicate to them that your site is important and deserves a high ranking for certain keywords.

Using Anchor Text for your keyphrase
Anchor text is the visible text in a hyperlink. Let's take for example: "Web design articles." Here the words "Web design articles" are hyperlinked to the URL http://www.interdream-designs.com/articles.html. The words "Web design articles" within the hyperlink are called anchor text. Instead of using "click here" in your anchor text as a link, use your keyphrase instead which in the above example is "Web design articles".

Reciprocal and one-way links
There are two types of links: reciprocal and one-way links. Many sites get links to their site by exchanging links with other sites i.e. the two sites agree to link to each other. This is called "reciprocal linking" or "link exchange" A one-way link is just one site linking to another without linking back.

Having one-way links is more important than reciprocal links. Getting a large amount of one-way links will a make a difference in your ranking. However, you will want quality links from popular Web sites. Also, make sure the sites you link to are relevant to your site. Getting a link from a very popular site can help you more than one from an unpopular site.

When supplying your text link to another site, include your keywords in your text. For example, if your site is about "web design", the hyperlinked text should contain the keywords "web design." Having text links rather than an image link is more beneficial.

Internal and External Links
Internal links are links whereby clicking on the text or picture takes you to a new page within your Web site. You may also want to have a site map with links to other pages on your site. External links are links to another Web site. Search engines look at both internal and external links when considering the importance of a Web page.

Link Popularity
Link popularity refers to the number of incoming links that point to your Web site. It is a measure of the overall visibility of your Website and is a factor in determining your Web site ranking.

How do you go about getting links?
Having good content ensures that other sites link to your site because they will consider your site a valuable resource. Here are some ways you can get links:

• Send out articles with your Web site link on it.
• Use your Web site link in your blog, if you have one .
• Submit your Web site to directories like Open Directory and Yahoo.
• Ask other Web sites to link to you. However, be selective about the sites you ask. Make sure they are quality sites.
• If you don't have the time, you may wish to purchase links or have a Search Engine Optimization expert do it for you.

If you'd like to know how many sites are linking to your site, go to any search engine and type "link:http://www.yourdomain.com".

Link building takes time. Consider it as a long-term investment in your Web site. Getting links from other sites will increase traffic to your site and of course, increase your search engine rankings too!

To learn more about how to increase links to your Web site, contact us at nina@interdream-designs.com.

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