Web Traffic: Getting Non-Reciprocal Links For Your Site
I got a great email today from web marketing consultant Dr. Ralph F. Wilson about getting non-reciprocal links onto your website. (If you are not famililar with Dr. Wilson, I recommend checking out his website and signing up for his newsletter.) He mentioned three ways to get folks linking in:
- Write Great Content
- Write ‘Give Away Articles’
- Use Search Engines To Find Sites and Directories To Submit a Link
I’ve written about the first two topics before, but I have not written about the last one. So, how do you use search engines to find places to submit your site links?
The Value of Inbound Links
First, let’s back up a little and talk about the value of links to your web traffic. Search engines (Google in particular) view the links to your website as an indicator of how valuable the content is. This helps them to prioritized which search results to place on the top of the page (each engine has a complex formula for deciding which results are most relevant – links are one factor.) If other people think your content is great and link to it, it creates the equivalent to a community endorsement. Plus, if you have relevant links coming from substantive websites, the visitors from those sites might come to yours too.
All endorsements are not the same. Who would you trust: the crazy lady who argues with the pigeons in the park or your best friend from childhood who has never steered you wrong? Search engines like Google think the same way. A link from a spam Free For All (FFA) links page is a ‘pigeon lady’ recommendation in their eyes. It will actually hurt your rankings if links to your site show up in these places. (Who trusts a person who spends all their time hanging out with crazy people – unless you are a psychiatrist!)
How do you get good links?
Writing great content and releasing some ‘give away articles’ are great techniques. You can also trade links with other relevant sites.
In this article we will discuss the technique of using search engines to help you find relevant websites that will accept link submissions and don’t require reciprocal links. The technique will take a few hours, but you will end up with a good new collection of links to your site.
What is the technique?
Use boolean searches. These are you search for combinations of things – sites containing ‘A and B’ (the and is called a boolean operator.) A search might look like this:
“Add a link” + “Relevant Keyword Phrase”
Using quotes around a phrase will force the search engine to look for pages with that exact phrase not just those words scattered around the page. The + sign is the symbol used be search engines to indicate the boolean and operator. So this search will return results that contain both the phrase “Add a link” and “Relevant Keyword Phrase”.
Now the work begins. Identify the keyword phrases that are most relevant for your site and begin searching for valuable websites to submit your links to. Protect your reputation. Take the time to explore the sites you find before deciding whether a link from them would be valuable. Don’t submit links to places you wouldn’t visit. Also, try a number of phrases: add a link, submit a link, add a site, submit a URL, favorites, suggest a site, directory, cool places, etc.
The technique is simple, but the process will take a little time. Be patient, do the work, and watch your traffic grow. If you want more information about linking campaigns check out Linking Campaigns Lead to Increased Online Visibility – Part 2 by Bill Hartzer over at www.SearchEngineGuide.com.
Do you have any great techniques for getting high quality inbound links? Leave a comment and let me know.
The Go-To Guy!
