How Link Pop Affects Your Website's Page Rank

Jumat, 25 Desember 2009

What is Link Pop?

Link popularity, sometimes referred to as "Link Pop," plays a very important role in determining a website's visibility among the top returned search results. Your site's link pop will be determined by the quality, quantity, and relevance of the other websites that link to your page.

What is Page Rank?

"Page Rank," sometimes abbreviated PR, was developed by Google's founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin. Here is how Google describes the "Page Rank" system:
Page Rank relies on the uniquely democratic nature of the web by using its vast link structure as an indicator of an individual page's value. In essence, Google interprets a link from page A to page B as a vote, by page A, for page B. But, Google looks at more than the sheer volume of votes, or links a page receives; it also analyzes the page that casts the vote. Votes cast by pages that are themselves "important" weigh more heavily and help to make other pages "important."
Important, high-quality sites receive a higher Page Rank, which Google remembers each time it conducts a search. Of course, important pages mean nothing to you if they don't match your query. So, Google combines Page Rank with sophisticated text-matching techniques to find pages that are both important and relevant to your search. Google goes far beyond the number of times a term appears on a page and examines all aspects of the page's content (and the content of the pages linking to it) to determine if it's a good match for your query.
Page Rank is rated on a scale of PR-0 to PR-10. A site with a ranking of PR-10 is much higher than one rated PR-0. When a site has a high page ranking, there will be more opportunities for search engine users to locate and view the site. Thus, more traffic will be routed to that site because it is viewed by the web community as a valuable resource.

What Does This Mean For You?

In theory, the more "popular" a website is, the higher its PR will be. Here's a quick recap on how to sustain strong "link pop" and Google PR:

To Improve Your "Link Pop":

" Generate as many one-way, non-reciprocal links as possible. Make sure your link is listed by credible websites ONLY.
" Your "Link Pop" can be improved when the websites that link to yours have a higher Google PR than you do. This is considered a heavily weighted "vote" towards your site. However, do make sure to link to pages with various PR's.
" Create reciprocal links with websites that are relevant to yours. If your website sells cat toys, link to a pet lover's site, and cat-sitting service, etc.

It Doesn't Matter If:

" You provide one-way links to other sites that are relevant to yours. As long as you don't have too many uncategorized links, this will not hurt your site's "Link Pop"; however, it does not directly contribute to improving it.

Tips to Avoid Diminishing Your Site's PR:

" Do not submit your website to "Link Farms" or "Free-For-All" (FFA) directories. Google views these as spam sites and will thus lower your PR.
" Exchanging links with irrelevant websites can lower your PR. ONLY reciprocate links with similar credible sources. Just think: "Is this valuable to my readers?"
" Make sure to vary your links. A reciprocal-link campaign with no non-reciprocals tells Google your site isn't worthy of one-way links.

The bottom line: A strong "Link Pop" and "Page Rank" equals more visitors to your website!

And a great way to increase your websites link popularity is to submit your website to free link directories.
Submit your website to 300+ link directory fast and easy with the Directory Submitter

How Exchanging Links With Other Sites Improves Your Own

Kamis, 24 Desember 2009

Business websites are a necessity in today's society and the internet is only as good as its links. Without links, the internet simply would not be able to exist. To ensure a quality World Wide Web continues, you must provide links that your customers might be interested in. Linking to other sites helps tell the customers which products you use and trust. It also forms a bond of trust between you and other sites. Moreover, it can improve your own site by associating with other products that customers both know and trust and by giving you an increased level of visibility. There are two kinds of links you should include in your site. You should include a general links section for the benefit of your customers, and you should include a reciprocal links section to help you and other businesses as well as your customers.

There are several ways to decide which general links to include in your site. You might start by visiting competitor’s web sites. Check out their links section to understand what sites they provide links for. This might help you figure out what your customers are looking for. It might also provide you with a good base for a reciprocal linking system, which will be discussed in the next lesson.

Another way to decide what general links to include in your site is to consult with your customers. Internet-savvy customers will be able to tell you what they look for in a professional site and what they like and do not like about your links. This can help you control the quality of your links section. You could do this through a survey or by simply informally interviewing your clientele.

Be sure to provide general links that have a high page rank with internet search engines. This will increase your web traffic. You can do this by typing a key phrase in a search engine and look at the highest ranked pages that match your results.

General links are great, but reciprocal links are an essential part to the promotion of your website. You have a strong site that offers your quality product and you want people to know about your site. To make sure that you get the traffic you need, you must have other sites directed toward yours with links.

This process is fairly simply, but there are many ways to engage in reciprocal linking.

First, research the sites you might want to link to. You might start this process by making two lists. First, list the sites you think your customers might be interested in. For now, just write, you can consider narrowing your list down at a later time. Next, create a list of sites that would benefit your site. You can then compare the two lists and see what they have in common. Compile a list of common subjects, and list out three key words to fit with each subject.

After the research phase, it is time to go online. Find a Meta search engine and input all three words for each subject. Any site that comes back with all three keywords should be high on your priority list.

Once you've done that, it is time to start sifting through your results. Bookmark any sites that look promising.

When you've made your final choices, it is time to draft a letter to the webmaster of each site you're considering. Get to the point quickly and sell your site to them. Do not follow up if your original letter was not responded to.

The final step in this process is to negotiate the link and location in terms of both sites. As soon as possible, get their link on your site and send them a note letting them now you have a live link to their site. Check their site frequently to ensure they are upholding their promise to you as well.

The entire process of choosing links and reciprocal links increases your visibility to customers. Not only will they be able to find you through the use of a search engine, they will now be able to find you through the use of other websites. This can mean nothing but good things for you and your website.