Link Popularity: ROCK The Rankings Without Breaking The Rules

Why don’t most link popularity schemes work? Simple. Because they break the rules. Here’s how it usually goes: a) Webmasters scour the net to find quick and dirty ways to build link popularity, b) They discover a method that works causing everyone to jump on the bandwagon, which c) forces Google to come up with new ways to curtail the outrageous amount of link spam, so d) Webmasters start looking for another quick and dirty scheme, etc.

Ignoring common sense and Google’s rules is an exercise in futility. Why? Because the search engines hold all the cards. It’s their game. That’s why the above method only works for a very short while if at all.

But there are strategies you can use to get genuine, legal links that will rock your rankings for a long time. I’ll explain in a moment.

The Old Way

First let’s look at how most webmasters and SEOs still approach link popularity and why these methods are so five minutes ago:

1. Reciprocal linking: Not bad in and of itself IF you are linking to sites you would truly do business with or refer people to. However in today’s frenzied linking environment, the majority of sites that offer reciprocal links have an automated process void of any sort of human decision-making:
    
   First you add their link to your site. Then you fill out their form. Their software runs a check to see if you are linking to them and if you are, well maybe they will link to you. And then you have to remember to check their site in a week or so to ensure they added your link. And if they didn’t, you send them a polite reminder, and then another and another. And when they don’t, you have to go back to your site, find their link and remove it.
    
   All that to secure one link. Now repeat the process 500 times. No wonder SEOs and site owners get frustrated. This is NOT what Google had in mind when it factored link popularity into its algorithm.
    
2. Text Link Ads: Why not just take five minutes and a few dollars to purchase 5,000 text link ads? Instant link pop, right? Actually it’s instant link spam, according to Google. Instead of getting top rankings, you’ll risk getting booted from the index. Ouch! Better get approval from finance to kick up more cash on your already over-budget PPC campaign.
    
3. Splogs: Never heard of a splog? It’s short for spam blog. Ever since free blogs became popular, they have been used to create pages and pages of useless (or zero) information with the sole purpose of hosting links pointing to other sites. Why doesn’t this help your link popularity? Because in order to work, the blog linking to your site has to have high quality links pointing to it. Without that indicator of a blog’s popularity, search engines consider any link from the blog to your website as all but useless. And how many webmasters are going to link to your blog if you don’t have anything useful to say on it?
    
   Of course if you actually have tons of valuable information that other sites in your industry want to link to, that’s great. But that takes time. And energy. And ideas. It doesn’t meet the criteria for “overnight SEO success” that most site owners demand from their web designer or SEO.

The New Way

Clearly, the way we conducted link building last year or the year before is no longer viable. So what are the new success guidelines that you and your webmaster or SEO should follow?

The answer is twofold:

1. Learn exactly what Google considers quality link popularity.
2. And learn how to create it.

1. What Google Considers Quality Linking

No big mystery here. Google’s webmaster guidelines tell you to:

• Have other relevant sites link to yours.
• Make sure all the sites that should know about you are aware of your site.
• Submit your site to relevant directories such as the Open Directory Project and Yahoo!, as well as to industry-specific expert sites.

2. How To Give Google What It Wants

• Have other relevant sites link to yours. The keyword here is “relevant”, which means: “Having a bearing on or connection with the matter at hand.” This is different from being “related”. Many sites are related to yours… they are your competitors! Who wants to give them a free plug!? What you want to do is make logical connections. For example, if you are a reseller/affiliate, the manufacturer of the product you sell may have a webpage for links to their authorized sellers. That link could actually generate a clickthrough from an interested buyer, which is what Googlebot wants to see: targeted link popularity.
   
• Make sure all the sites that should know about you are aware of your site. This means contacting sites such as non-profits, training sites, and information-based sites with a connection to your type of business. This can be time consuming but the results over the long haul will far exceed any of the current link popularity schemes being used.
   
• Submit your site to relevant directories such as the Open Directory Project and Yahoo! as well as to industry-specific expert sites. This is probably the easiest method (thank goodness) of all. Research a list of directories or have your SEO compile and submit them to you for review. Some directories may charge an annual fee for inclusion. Don’t be stingy about investing the money. If the directory is perceived as an expert site by Google, it will be money well spent.

In Conclusion

It all boils down to one question: “What sites should know about mine but don’t yet?” A bit of legwork to determine the answer to that question is a great way to launch a link popularity campaign that delivers lasting results.

In other words, rocking the rankings without breaking the rules.