In this article I show you how to find link
exchange partners to improve your link popularity rating, which in
turn will improve your search engine rankings.
Search engine
optimization experts agree that link popularity is now considered
by most search engines to be one of, if not, the most important
factors that determines a site's ranking in the search engines.
If you're not sure what your site's link popularity rating is,
then use this link popularity check tool to check your link
popularity rating in the top search engines.
Let's say we have two identical sites. One has thousands of
targeted sites linking to it. The other only has a few incoming
links. It's virtually guaranteed that the site with thousands of
incoming links will rank higher than the other site.
So how do you find reciprocal link partners?
First, you need to work out what type of web sites would link to your site. Here are some examples of sites and the types of sites that would link to them.
Your Site:
Links From:
Pet store
Pet lovers' sites
Site design service
Webmaster sites
Travel site
Local guides
PC store
Software/hardware review sites
Music store
Music fan sites
As you can see, you're looking for sites that are on the same
subject matter, but not necessarily similar.
So now you know what sites to look for, how do you find these
sites?
There are basically two methods:
In the following examples, we'll use "pet lovers'" sites as the
type of sites we're looking for.
1. Find targeted sites in the web directories, such as
Yahoo!, LookSmart, or the Open Directory Project.
Go to a directory's home page and search with the keywords,
"pet lover." Then click on the category the top listings belong
to. The sites listed in these and related categories are the types
of sites you need to contact.
If the category has a resources or directories sub-category,
then try the sites in those categories first. Resources typically
offer links to sites on the same subject.
2. Use the search engines to find sites that link to
your competitors' web sites.
Using the search engines is probably a more efficient method of
find reciprocal link partners, than searching the directories.
Go to your favorite search engine, such as Google, and search
for any of the following keyword phrases:
"pet directory" - Searches for pet directories.
"pet search engine" - Searches for pet search engines.
"pet lover" links.html - Searches for link pages in pet lover's
web sites.
"pet lover" resources.html - Searches for the resource page in a
pet lover's Web site.
Don't forget to include the quotation marks to narrow your
search.
Also try replacing the ".html" with other file extensions, such
as ".htm," ".shtm," ".shtml," ".cfm," and ".php."
Now make a list of the sites. Then create a links or resources
page and add links to the sites on that page.
After you've done that, link to that page from your home page.
If you have hundreds of links, split the pages into different
sub-categories. When you're done, upload the pages to your server.
Now contact each site by informing them that you have linked to
their site and request a link in return. Don't forget to be polite
and inform them of the benefits of exchanging links.
Some sites, such as web directories, will not require a
reciprocal link. So simply submit your link.
The most important tip I can give you with regards to
reciprocal linking is to only exchange links with targeted sites.
I highly recommend that you don't exchange links with sites that
bear no relation with your site. If you link to poor-quality or
spam sites, it could affect your search engine rankings.
WARNING
Under no circumstances should you link to, or add links from,
link farms. Link farms are considered as spam sites in the eyes of
the search engines.
If you want to save time and effort, you could use a reciprocal
link management tool, such as Arelis. It will help you find and
contact link exchange partners.
Good luck with improving your link popularity! |