Link Popularity

Link Popularity is based on the number of links to your site and is an important component in the ranking algorithms of the major search engines. Not only is your website ranked by keywords and content, but by the over-all popularity of your site as well.

Google was the first to introduce this algorithm, calling it PageRank™. Link popularity is an integral part of search engine optimization. Search engines also rank your site according to the Popularity of the sites linking to you. Your ranking will be higher if popular sites like Microsoft.com link to your site, than it would be if less popular sites link to you.

Link Relevancy is also considered, so you need links from sites that are closely related to the same topic. For instance, if your website deals with online marketing, being listed on other sites that focus on online marketing will increase your website ranking on web marketing terms. You need to focus on getting quality links pointing to your site, from popular websites, that are related to your topic.

Download the Google PageRank Toolbar to see how much popularity your site has.
This browser add on displays a zero to ten rating scale for the "PR" of each site you visit. The more competitive your keywords are, the more you need PageRank! Even with the best search engine optimization on your site, you will have a hard time competing with established high PR websites unless your site has a PageRank of at least 4. PageRank isn't the only factor that Google uses to rank pages, but it is an important one! If you want to compete with established, popular sites, you must start a link building campaign NOW!
How to Improve Your Link Popularity
Submit to Yahoo and Dmoz
One of the best ways to start building quality links is to get listed in Yahoo and the Dmoz Open Directory. DMOZ and Yahoo are a Very Important Listings. Google prefers these two human edited directories, so they have a lot of influence over ranking!

Submit to Popular Directories
Directory listings in Popular Directories with good PageRank are Valuable Links that will dramatically increase your website ranking. Low cost submissions to quality directories like GoGuides, JoeAnt, Gimpsy, and About.com go a long way toward building link popularity. You can find more in Google's Full list of Directories, and Yahoo's list of Directories.

Submit to specific niche directories
It's important that you also get links from industry-specific or niche directories that have information directly related to what you provide on your site. Excellent places to find these specific niche directories would be Google's list of Special Interest Directories, the Isedb List of Specialty Directories, and the Niche Directory List. Start by finding your industry category, then look for the best category for your site.

Use the Seo Friendly List
This great resource ONLY lists Directories that DO pass PageRank. Directories with tricks to horde PR are not allowed on this list, so you can be sure that submissions to these will Increase your Link Popularity.

Important Tip - Make sure your titles and descriptions are full of strategic keyword phrases.

Use the "Strongest Links Directory List"
This excellent list of directories gives you a detailed breakdown by PageRank, and fees charged. You can find directories with very high PR values, and very low fees! And even some high PR directories that are Free! Submit to as many of these as possible. Remember, the higher the PageRank, the more valuable the link is to you.

Use our Free ADD URL Link Development Tool
Use this tool armed with your list of keywords and you will get a long list of niche directories, relevant portals, vortals and related websites where you can submit your link!

WARNING: Avoid FFA "Free-for-All" sites, and Link Farms. These can possibly hurt your ranking. It's a good idea to install the Google Toolbar before you submit anywhere. Do not add your URL to any site that does not have good PageRank themselves!

Ask your Friends, Business Partners, Clients, and Vendors
One of the most overlooked ways to build link popularity is links from your business partners and vendors. Because you already have a good relationship with them, you are more likely to get a link from their site.

For Great Website Ranking, Structure Your Links Properly!
This is one of the most important SEO Tips in this website, so READ IT CAREFULLY!

Search engines give a lot of weight to the text contained in the links that are pointing to your website. What links "say" about your site is known as your "Link Reputation". This is a major factor search engines use to determine website ranking, so links containing your key phrases have a profound effect on search results. It's important to show the webmaster linking to you EXACTLY how to construct your link.

The keywords in the hyperlink portion are extremely important, so when you send another webmaster your link, make sure you construct it wisely! Always give them the HTML link code just like this:

Your Keyword Phrase

Remember, If you have your keywords in the hyperlink search engines will rank you higher for those words!

Ask your visitors to link to you
Make linking to you as easy as possible. Create a page on your web site that includes the HTML code, with your keywords in the text link, as explained above. Then create a button to this page that says "Link to Us".

Provide a valuable service
Give your visitors a good reason to link to your web site. If you provide a valuable service free, you can be sure your visitors will link to you, then their visitors will link to you, and so on. If you can create enough interest from something free, it will spread like wildfire and you will rapidly improve your link popularity, and search engine placement.

This is called "Viral Marketing". Give away a free service to attract attention, and your visitors will buy all the other products or services you are selling. HotMail.com is a perfect example of viral marketing. It's founder, Sabeer Bhatia made $400 million dollars by giving away free e-mail addresses!