SEO Basics - Link Building

After the role of content in SEO, it is now time to focus on the other equally important SEO tactics. The second most important strategy is link building. As the name suggests, link building is all about building back links to your website. More the number of links to a website, the better it is considered to be by search engines. If you are new to the concept of link building, then here are a few pointers for you to get started.

What is link building?

Every website is rated by search engines using several parameters before it is listed on the results pages. The position at which the website is listed depends on a lot of factors and the number of quality links that come into the website is one of these factors. So, as part of search engine optimization, SEO experts will create a network of back links to your website using legitimate link building methods. This will help your website achieve a much stronger position in search results pages.

Illegitimate link building methods

When link building became one of the key factors affecting the position and ranking of a website in search results pages, then some 'smart' websites started to offer link exchange services. As the name suggests link exchange services worked by exchanging links. Website A would link to website B in exchange for a link back to A. This method worked initially and this prompted some people to go one step ahead and start link farming. A link farm is a huge database of one way links. When you join a link farm, your website will immediately get 10000 back links causing your ranking to surge.

When link farms came into the picture, the quality of search results started to suffer. Websites that had little or no relevance to the term searched for by the users started to gain top positions in search engines, courtesy these illegitimate SEO techniques. So, search engine developers went back to the drawing board and modified their search algorithms. Link farming is now considered to be spam and any website that participates or joins a link farm is banned for three years from leading search engines. So you see, you'll end up doing more harm than good.

Legitimate Link Building Methods

Alright, so how do you build back links using legitimate techniques? There are many ways to do it. But they all lead you back to the same old tried and tested method.

1. Build a quality website: There is no denying the fact that quality always helps. If you have a superbly designed website or have the best content in the website, then other webmasters will automatically link to your website.
2. Article Marketing: Most people undermine the effectiveness of Article marketing. But for me, it is the most powerful form of free internet marketing. You write articles or get them written by a content writer and then distribute it over the internet. Everybody needs quality content on their website and when they get it for free, they will never hesitate to give you a link back to your website. Do ensure that the resource box at the end of the article contains a link back to your website.
3. Forums: Once again, you can do this yourself with a fair amount of ease or hire a professional who can do it for you. Online forums are like a professional beehive seeming with contacts. All that you have to do is start interacting with people. So how do you build the links? Well, the forum board will let you create your own signature which will show up at the bottom of every post that you make. This signature can contain a coupe of lines about you or your business and a link to your website. Start making quality posts and you will have quality links building up.
4. Blog: If you don't know what a blog is, then you have probably woken up after a decade in suspended animation or were away hibernating in a cave. Nevertheless, a blog is one of the best ways to build back links. Keep updating the blog frequently and you will have a network of links in some time.

The key is to build quality links from quality websites. Remember, the link popularity of the website that is linking to your website also matters. So accept incoming links only from quality websites that will help you.

Sanjay is a freelance content writer. He likes to twiddle around with words and ends up weaving out readable, compelling articles ! To peek into his world of articles, visit http://www.sanjaynair.com now!

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How to Increase Page Rank and Build Link Popularity

Every website needs to have a high page rank in search engine results and to achieve this result; a website not only needs to contain good and creative content, but also needs to build link popularity. In any search engine submission, one of the most important factors is your link popularity, which may be achieved through directory submission.

The latest concept in the field of directory submission for increasing page ranking is bid directory. To increase traffic to your website, you can employ bid directories, which enables you to bid for a high page ranking in search engine submission. The entire concept of bid link directories has brought a new trend throughout the SEO industry.

The method is quite useful and the popularity if the link increases tremendously. But one has to be really careful and thoughtful while using the method of web directory. The major difference between traditional web directories and bid directories lies in the fact that, the earlier had listing criteria that used to involve listing date, alphabetical order etc. However, the latter gives lesser priority to the above mentioned points. To get a high position in page ranking one has to bid and the highest bid is located at the top.

The home page of the web directory consists of the highest bidding web links and thus, the benefit to any business website listed on the same is obvious. The advantages of bidding for a place in a web directory are:

o The search engines regard such websites which have a link from any other website to your home page much more. It shows that your website has been chosen by many. Another important feature to remember is that if the page rank of that website which connects to your home page is higher, then your web page's significance will automatically increase. Link popularity plays a major role in search engine submission and optimization.

o A bid directory has the upper hand from the web directory as many users may just follow the link and come to your web site. Better visible links always have higher bids. The traditional method of linking the links on the other hand is normally almost hidden in various categories, and their visibility diminishes.

In today's world which is constantly evolving and becoming competitive with each passing day, it's really important to have the upper hand in the competitive market. By employing bid link directories along with keyword search and article directories, one can actually increase page ranks and build link popularity.

http://www.sfive.org provides a complete detail of building link popularity and increasing page ranking.

For better information on SEO by page ranking and link popularity, visit the website http://www.sfive.org

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