Inbound Marketing Blog

Basic SEO Linking Strategies

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Linking Strategy Basics: Search Engine Optimization

Many businesses assume that the more links to your site, the higher your ranking in search engines such as Google, Yahoo & Bing. But it's not that simple. Google, as well as the other major search engines factors in the "value" of the links to your site using a considerable complex formula. Google uses these two factors, and more that they will never let see or understand:

1. Google considers the quality of the site on which the link to your site originates by examining the links pointing to that web site. If Google considers the originating site to be a "hub," then the sites that this hub-site links to can get a boost in significant popularity and "authority. A common sense example would be using a link from the Yahoo Directory or even HubSpot.com. A link from HubSpot has much more value than say, a link from your kid’s site at Geocities. This may seem like a no brainer but I see many developers making huge efforts to grab as many links as possible without stopping and considering the power of each.
   
2. Aside from a major directory like Yahoo, Google can also consider how many outbound links a hub has. The more outbound links a given site has, the lower the value each link provides to that site. Their worth is diluted. In theory you’d get the most value if the link to your site were the only link from a site that is considered a hub. There are several flaws to this logic, but that’s for another inbound marketing blog article.

Some believe that linking to certain other sites improves your own site’s popularity. But if you think it through, this makes no sense. People can link to whatever they want, which would defeat the purpose of what Google is trying to do. In fact, many search engine optimization and inbound marketing professionals will tell you that as we move through 2010, even a recipricol link holds minimum value. This is another common sense development as you should be able to see that Google and other serach engines are placing more value on a "vote" for a given site when that site isn't forced to vote in the other direction. It has more credibility.

Rule of thumb: At least as a "common sense" element of your link building strategies, try to attract your inbound links by way of great content. Not only will you get higher quality links but your efforts will be rewarded in so many other ways as well.

 VSS Twitter Follow: SEMSEO1

 
A great way to look at the amount of links you have already attracted to your web site, as well as other important metrics, just ask us to run a free Website Grader Report:

• Content evaluation
• Blog grade
• Twitter grade
• Number of pages indexed by Google
• Number of links pointing to your web site
• Readability level
• Meta tag condition
• Moz rank
• Conversion elements