Moe Tamani's Internet Marketing and SEO Blog, Articles and Search Engine Optimization Tips » Link Building

Getting One-Way Links: 2 Strategies to Avoid

Seomul Evans — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 12:45:55 +0000

Getting One-Way Links: 2 Strategies to Avoid

internet marketing Articles from Moe Tamani, the SEO Services Consultant.

SEO experts know that the most important way to get to the top of the search engines, particularly Google, is to build high-quality, relevant links. While good links can get you noticed by Google, bad links can work against you and can even result in Google banning your site. So it’s important that you use legitimate, quality strategies for building your links. Here are two temptations to avoid in the process of link building.

•Link Farms

Links farms are websites containing tons of links. Their sole purpose is to get spiders to index pages, and they are of absolutely no use at all.

If you think you’ve come across a link farm, note whether it contains more links than a typical website. See if there’s an explanation of the site’s purpose. Link farm URLs are often very long and contain lots of hyphens. Of course, there are plenty of legitimate sites with URLs that have lots of hyphens, but make sure you research them thoroughly before adding a link. Also note if the extension is .info or .biz. Many link farms use these extensions.

Next, determine whether the potential link farm looks like other links farms, meaning that it looks like a generic template without any alterations or personalization. Does the website look like someone takes care of it and updates it frequently? Is there a way to contact the site owner via e-mail? Beware of any site that doesn’t provide contact information.

Last of all, are there more links crammed on the page than really makes sense?

A good rule of thumb is to avoid at all costs any site that gives the appearance of being a link farm. You’re better off missing a good link that linking to a link farm and risking adverse consequences for your search engine rankings.

•Irrelevant Links

Every site that you link to should have something to do with your product or service. Online business owners who link to pages that are not relevant to their own market niche do so to either increase page rank or to get a website indexed. Even if another site is a legitimate one, don’t link to it unless has something to do with your product or service. The same is true for asking another person to link to you. A link to your site from one that is completely unrelated to your field does no good either for you or for the person who is linking to you.

Thoroughly research any site to which you link or links to you. Make sure it’s relevant. Furthermore, if you choose to submit your site to directories, or if you’re submitting articles you’ve written to article directories, send your information to the most pertinent sections and topic headings.

Remember that you can be identified as a link spammer even if you had no intention of collecting links in a shady way. Listen to your gut as you’re trying to decide who to link to and who to ask to link to you. If you have any doubts, stay away. It’s hard work, but the only way you’re going to get high-quality, relevant links is to do lots of work.

Many online business owners choose to do the hard work of obtaining inbound links on their own. If you feel that you have the time and energy to do this without neglecting other crucial aspects of your business then you’ll find that it’s interesting and rewarding work. If you don’t have the time to put into collecting inbound links for your site, or if you’re just not interested in doing it yourself, you may want to consider contacting an internet marketing company or SEO expert. These professionals have years of experience getting good inbound links for their customers. They have more strategies than you can ever imagine, and they can get the job done for you at a reasonable price.

9 Keys to Quality Link Exchanges

Seomul Evans — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 10:30:50 +0000

9 Keys to Quality Link Exchanges

internet marketing Articles from Moe Tamani, the SEO Services Consultant.

There is some debate within the world of SEO about the wisdom of using link exchanges. While it’s true that one-way links are valued much higher by search engines than are reciprocal links, there’s no need to avoid link exchanges completely. Here are 9 keys to creating quality link exchanges.

1. Has the page been cached by Google? This is the most important criterion for determining whether or not it’s worth exchanging links. If Google doesn’t know it exists, then there’s no sense in exchanging links, because if Google hasn’t cached it then it’s likely completely useless to both humans and search engines. And you don’t want to be associated with that.

2. Relevance. This is another key question. If you discover that it isn’t relevant to your topic, then it had better have a lot of other things going for it before you offer your link. The same goes for relevance to your search phrases. If it’s not, then it had better stand out in every other way.

3. How it is optimized? Believe it or not, some websites out there are actually optimized for the words “reciprocal links” and “link exchanges.” Talk about showing your hand. Don’t bother with these sites.

4. Is it part of an automated script? If so, you might as well just tell the search engines that your site is so bad that you can’t get your own links from other quality websites.

5. Prominence. Let’s say that the website you’d like to exchange links with isn’t guilty of any of the four previous issues. Now it’s time to start looking at the nitty-gritty, like how easy it is to find the page. How many clicks does it take to get there from a directory? If it’s two or more, it’s time to find another page to exchange with.

6. How many clicks deep is it? The further away it is from the homepage, the more you’re losing value from the link.

7. Quality. Overall website quality is definitely a consideration. Does it look like a site that you and potential customers would trust? Does it look professional? How does it rank for keywords that are similar to the ones you hope to rank for? Are the categories contained in the directory at least remotely related or are they completely random?

8. What kind of page is it? A link from a page full of content might compel you to look past many other egregious issues, particularly if the content is well-written, relevant, and helpful to visitors.

9. How many links are on the page? A good rule of thumb is to only use pages with 50 or fewer links. If there are more than 50, at least make sure that your link is close to the top of the page.

If you’re new to SEO and internet marketing, learning your way around inbound link building can be tricky at best. If you’re unclear about the best ways to build inbound links, consult with an SEO expert or internet marketing professional. They can help you determine how and when to go about building your links, and they can help you create an internet marketing plan that will take advantage not only of link building, but of a number of SEO strategies that can increase your search engine ranking and help you turn visitors into loyal customers.

The only real mistake you can make is trying to solve the SEO riddle by yourself. Your competitors are using a whole bag of tricks to optimize their websites. If you’re not, then you’re losing potential customers, potential revenue, and the chance to make your business the best it can possibly be.

The 4 Levels of Link Building

admin — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 00:14:06 +0000

The 4 Levels of Link Building

internet marketing Articles from Moe Tamani, the SEO Services Consultant.

SEO experts and internet marketing professionals know that the key to high search engine rankings is link building. They will also tell you that link building isn’t all that easy until you’ve done it for awhile, and that there are so many techniques for link building that it’s hard to sort them all out. Here are the 4 levels of link building to take you from novice to expert.

1. Do It Yourself, Quick and Easy. The easiest links to build are those for which you don’t have to rely on anyone but yourself. The easiest way to do this is to submit your site to directories. Simply submit your URL, the name of your company, and a short description of your company. Know before you begin that directories are managed by humans, so you may not see results right away. Also know that some directories require a small fee for your listing.

You should also use social media as a way to get links to your page. SEO experts don’t find these crucial to success, but they’re still a pretty simple and cheap way to target an audience that’s going to be using the sites anyway.

2. Do It Yourself, Not So Quick and Easy. Before you start on Level 2, make sure you’ve started a business blog. This is crucial if you want to have good content to which others can link. And the way you’re going to get these links is through press release optimization and article marketing.

When you’re writing your articles and your press releases, always keep your keyword strategy at the front of your mind. Links should coincide with your strategy. Before you send your press releases and articles into the ether, use a press release grader to see if they pass muster.

3. Networking Plus Significant Time. Networking is by far the most effective way to get links to your site. It’s time consuming and it can be frustrating, but it can also get you results that you never dreamed of. There are many ways to go about this type of networking, but the key is putting yourself amongst those who are potentially interested in what you have to say.

The best way to do this is to establish yourself as an expert in your niche. But never make people feel like they would be lost without your presence. Engage them. Show compassion. Share your own opinions and ideas and vulnerabilities. Start by reading industry-related blogs and commenting on them. Eventually you’ll want to establish a one-on-one relationship with bloggers, probably by casually mentioning third-party content that they might find interesting.

Ideally you’ll soon be asked to be a guest blogger on blogs that are related to your niche. In the process, you can link to yourself and let others in your niche know that you know what you’re talking about. If all goes well, they’ll start following you as well, which leads to the final level…

4. Links Resulting From Good Content. Once you’ve reached this level, you have established yourself as a knowledgeable resource within your field. Although you can probably never afford to abandon the strategies mentioned above, you are now generating most of your links from people who respect you and enjoy reading your excellent content. This kind of success doesn’t happen immediately. It takes a lot of time and effort, including effort in providing your followers with an array of high-quality, interesting, and relevant content. You may do his through your blog, through hosting webinars, or through publishing white papers.

The key to keep in mind as you’re starting out is that, while content is crucial, you’re going to have to start out doing more than creating great content. You’re going to have to go out and find followers, and then give them a reason to stick around. It’s not easy, but it’ll pay off in the end.

Free Directories or Paid Directories: The Pros and Cons

MoeTamani — Sun, 26 Oct 2008 07:59:00 +0000

Free Directories or Paid Directories: The Pros and Cons

internet marketing Articles from Moe Tamani, the SEO Services Consultant.

A web directory is nothing more than a list of websites categorized by subject. If an internet user wants information about a particular subject, she simply goes to a directory, searches for the information she needs, and she’s given a list of relevant websites. Web directories are managed by humans, so each directory submission is reviewed before the website is added to the directory. This means that website owners need to be very meticulous when submitting a site. Submission guidelines must be followed to a T.

Despite the potential tediousness of directory submissions, they are very valuable for driving traffic to your site and increasing your search engine ranking. Each link from a directory is viewed as a one-way link by the search engines, and search engines place much higher value on one-way links than on reciprocal links. The older the directory is, the more value it is assigned by search engines, too, so submitting to well-established directories can also increase traffic and search engine ranking.

There are two ways to go about submitting your site to web directories. The first is to use free directories, and the second is to use paid directories. Here are the differences:

Free Directories

The primary advantage to free directories is that they are just that—free. Beyond that, there isn’t much redeeming about them, particularly if you’re serious about using directory listings to build your business. The major drawbacks are that you’ll have to wait awhile between the time you submit your site and the time that it’s listed, your link will be lost in a sea of other links because free directories are often so crowded, and a general devaluing of your link since it will be listed with many lower-quality sites.

Owners of free directories have to make their money somehow, though, and that’s usually by using Adsense or selling advertising space. Both Adsense and paid advertising space distract a visitor from the actual free listings, which can cost you traffic and business.

Paid Directories

If you’ve decided that you want to use a paid directory, you need to make sure that you’re getting the most bang for your buck. Make sure that any directories you pay for are maintained by professionals and have a professional-quality layout. They should include a lot of content, including articles and high-quality resources. A paid directory should be able to guarantee you a turnaround time of 24 to 48 hours between the time you submit your site and the time your site is listed in the directory. It should offer the opportunity for deep linking as well.

Make sure that Adsense is not included in a paid directory, and a paid directory should have more features than just a sea of links. Look for a blog, articles, or other things that are there simply to enhance a visitor’s experience.

The next step is up to you. As a business owner, you have to decide whether paid directories are the right investment for you. After all, they are more well-respected by directory users, and links from paid directories are given more value by search engines than links from free directories.

If you’re not sure exactly how to proceed, consider consulting with an internet marketing professional or SEO expert. An internet marketing professional can sit down with you and help you decide how to make directory listings part of your overall internet marketing strategy. She can help you weigh the benefits of free directories and paid directories, and can ultimately help you pick out which directories will be most beneficial for your business. Don’t hesitate to get expert help from an experienced professional. When you see the increased traffic to your site and see all those sales, you’ll be glad you did!