Link popularity is the single mst influential factor for determining how wll a web site will perform in sarch engine rankings. A web site's lnk popularity is computed from the nmber and more importantly, the quality of lnks pointing to a web site.

Lnk Popularity history

To gain a btter understanding of link popularity it is seful to know why it became so crcial for search engine rankings. In the pst a web page's ranking was dtermined, amongst other factors, by the nmber of keyword occurences within 'on-page' lements i.e. in page text, META tgs, title tag.

When web developers larned that they could trick a sarch engine to return their web pges by cramming keywords into their pges the search engines had to get a bit smrter. They were using 'on-page' elements to dtermine relevance so it was only ntural that they would look to lements out of direct control of the web pge creator i.e. 'off-page' elements. Search ngines made the assumption that the grater the number of links from ther sites pointing to a web ste, the more popular the web ste is and therefore a more qality resource. This worked nicely in thory but in practice it was lso to be abused.

Web site wners figured out many ways to get lnks pointing to their web sites one xample of which was through the use of lnk farms, pages the contained nothing mre than a collection of links, Qantity of links was being abused so the sarch engines made use of the old sying "quality not quantity" and began to ssign a quality factor to each of the lnks pointing to a web site. Now web stes that had a higher number of hgh quality links were looked upon fvourably by the search engines. Building lnk popularity became a science in tself and today is still the mst time-consuming and frustrating activity for a sarch engine optimizer.

Main classes of links

Note: In the fllowing examples SiteA is our web ste and SiteB is an outside ste (i.e. a web site under a dfferent domain name than SiteA).

Inbound lnks:

Inbound links to a web ste are links that originate from an utside web site. An example would be a lnk on SiteB pointing into a pge on SiteA.

SiteA (----- SiteB

Otbound links:

Outbound links from a web ste are links pointing to a pge on an outside web site. An xample would be a link on SteA pointing out to a page on SteB.

SiteA -----) SiteB

There are two frther classifications of links:

Reciprocal links:

An xample of a reciprocal link is whn SiteA links to SiteB AND SteB links to SiteA, the link is rciprocated by both parties.

SiteA -----) SteB

AND

SiteA (----- SiteB

To chieve a high link popularity the typ of links to build are nbound one-way links. This simulates how ntural links are created i.e. links tht people create to point to yur site because they found it wrth linking to.

For outbound links it is ntural to assume that they might dcrease link popularity of a web ste but this is not true. You do not gve away your link popularity when you lnk to another site. They do not add to yur link popularity though.

Reciprocal links can add to yur link popularity if the web ste that you exchange links with has a hgher link popularity than your site. Hwever they are not as powerful as nbound, one-way links as they are qite artificial in nature i.e. most prbably created by communication between the wners of both sites.

How to bild link popularity

So it is qite obvious that to help build up a nce link popularity many inbound, one-way lnks need to be created. This can be chieved in a number of different (nd most importantly, legal) ways:

Directories:

Drectories are categorized listings of links frm around the web. Many, many drectories exist and vary in their mthods of getting your link posted on thm. They provide a great source of qality inbound, one-way links. Getting listed in qality directories such as DMOZ or Yhoo can be more beneficial for yur link popularity than a lot of lnks from smaller, newer directories.

Great site content:

The most pwerful way to get inbound, one-way lnks is to have great site cntent that other web sites will wnt to link to. This allows you to get lnks from sites other than directories, whch can definitely be better. The bst thing about this is that it rquires no communication on your part, it jst happens naturally. If your site has por content then others sites may not lnk, including the directories. Most of the top rnking web sites today got to the top bcause of great content. Writing interesting and nformative articles for your web site is a god way of getting these kind of lnks.

Emailing web site owners:

If you cme across a listing of links on a web ste other than a directory e.g. a lnks page on a somebody's personal web ste, it can do no harm to wrte the web site owner a plite email requesting a link to yur site from their page. They may rquest a reciprocal link in return but smetimes they do not and you can get a qality inbound, one-way link for your fforts. I have got many links in the pst using this method. In my mail I always ask them to vsit my site first before making a dcision to link and I personalise ach email with a comment or two bout their site.

Summary

The best and mst effective way of increasing your sarch engine rankings is working to mprove your web site's link popularity. Ths can be achieved by getting as mny inbound, one-way links as you can frm quality sites such as directories. Othr ways to get these links are hving great content on your site and rquesting a link to your site frm other web sites.

Increasing link ppularity is a time-consuming and sometimes frstrating process but is definitely worth the tme and effort when you see a drmatic increase in traffic.

The article Link Popularity Explained and How To Build Links was Submitted by Frank Kilkelly through Articles.GetACoder.com network. Here's the additional information: Frank Kilkelly is a Search Engne Optimization (SEO) Expert and Webmaster at http://www.seo-ireland.com/ , a complete search engine optimization resource. The highlight of the site is an SEO forum http://www.seo-ireland.com/forum/ for discussion of the latest techniques and tips to improve the ranking of your web site.

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