SEO
1 way link - A one way link is where Site A links to Site B without the other site linking back. These links are typically just for the benefit of your visitor.
see also: one way link The Truth About One Way Links
2 way link - A two way link is where Site A links to Site B and in return Site B links back to Site A. This is also known as reciprocal linking which is what the internet is built on.
see also: reciprocal link, two way links
Need help managing your 2 way link campaign?
3 way link - A three way link is where Site A links to Site B, Site B links to Site C, and Site C links to Site A. 3 way linking can be done successfully; however, it is frequently abused by black hat webmasters.
see also: triangular linking, three way links 3 Way Link: Traffic Builder Or Search-Engine Suicide
A
anchor tag - This is the HTML tag that will "link" to another site. Visitors clicking on the link will be directed to the other site. There are many options and opportunities to optimize this HTML tag.This is the opposite of a relative link.This is the opposite of an absolute link.
see also: HTML link, hyperlink
absolute link - An absolute link is an anchor tag where the href= or src= a full url.
I.e.
add link form - A page on your site where visitors and potential link partners are able to submit their site to you for a possible link exchange. Using an add link form will help other webmasters in linking to your site.
affiliate link - These links are typically provided to you by the company you are an affiliate of. These links typically have some type of identifier that indicates anyone clicking that link came from you.
Can I add affiliate links to my LinksManager-powered links pages?
anchor text - This is the information between the anchor tags that users click to get to your site. This is commonly referred to as your Link Title or Site Name.
see also: link text
auto-rotation - This is the practice of rotating your links so that all will get an opportunity to be on the front page of their category.
see also: link rotation
more information on LinksManager's Auto Rotation feature
B
backlinks - A link from another site that is pointing to your site. Many search engines have options to find how many backlinks you have to your site.
see also: inbound links
more information on how to track your backlinks with our link checker
bad links - Any link to a site that is irrelevant, not beneficial to your end user and/or only intended to boost search engine rankings. Such links can have negative effects on your search engine rankings.
see also: irrelevant link
black hat - The term that describes companies, individuals or programs that engage linking in unethical ways or using unethical practices.
Blacklist - In your LinksManager account this is the feature that blocks specific webmasters from submitting links to your add link page based on information such as specific keywords, sitename, URL, description and email address.
See a sample of the LinksManager Blacklist Here
blacklisted - To be removed from a directory or search engine. Blacklisting will occur for violating a site's terms and conditions.
blog - A website or section of a website where entries are written in chronological order and then displayed with the most recent entries showing first.
see also: LinkBlogs
more information on linking and blogging here
C
chicanery - Deception of an individual or company by trickery.
see also: gamesmanship
click tracking - A method of tracking how many visitors click on a specific link on your site or tracking how many visitors came to your site from an online advertisement.
see also: Top Links List
What are Top Links Lists? more information on click tracking
cloaking - Cloaking is a black hat technique in which the content presented to search engine spiders or link checkers is different from that presented to the user via their browser.
CMS content management system - A Content Management System (CMS) is a software system used for managing the content of your website. CMS is deployed primarily for interactive use by defined users and/or visitors.
CNAME - A CNAME record or canonical name record is an alias of one domain to another. This is useful when your hosting company doesn't offer FTP. A CNAME record would allow your links pages to be displayed at an address like: http://resources.yourdomain.com.
We can help you setup CNAME and/or FTP
D
dead link - A dead link or broken link is a link that points to a web page that is permanently unavailable. The most common result of a dead link is a 404 error, which indicates that the web server responded, but the specific page could not be found.
see also: link rot
Automatically remove dead links from your links pages with LinksManager
deep link - Deep linking is making a hyperlink that points to a specific page on another website, instead of that website's home page. This in turn results in multiple hyperlinks pointing to different pages of your site.
Why Deep Linking Equals Deeper Pockets
directory - An organized set of web pages or links displayed by category and subcategory. This is different from a search engine, as a directory is not displayed as a list of sites by keyword search.
see also: LinkPartners.com
dynamic link - A dynamic link is generated at the time the page is requested. Typically cgi and other scripts generate links from a database dynamically upon request. These types of links are difficult for the search engines and web spiders to find.
E
editor-based - Requiring human interaction in that link requests are approved one at a time by a human in order to facilitate ethical and thoughtful linking
View our Code of Ethics for more information
external link - Any link that is pointed outside of your site.
F
FFA free for all - A Web site that consists of pages with long lists of Web sites, and allows anyone to add their own link automatically regardless of relevance.
see also: link farm
LinksManager cannot be used for FFA linking
FTP file transfer protocol - used to transfer data from one computer to another over the Internet, or through a network.
What are the benefits to using FTP?
full duplex linking - A fully automated system where links are exchanged between sites without the editorial discretion and action of a human.
see also: black hat
The Fantasy World of Full Duplex Linking
G
gamesmanship - The use of dubious (although not technically illegal) methods to attempt to inflate search engine rankings.
see also: chicanery
A Guide to How Relevant Linking for the End User Will Benefit Your Website
Googlebot - A Googlebot is a search bot used by Google. It collects documents from the web to build a searchable index for the Google search engine.
Google Patent Bears a Bit of Its Soul
Google SiteMaps - a google webmaster tool to inform Google about URLs on your website that are available for crawling. A Sitemap is an XML file that lists the URLs for a site that you want Google to index.
see also: sitemap
H
HTML link - A link in your website that points to another page of your site or points to another page on a different site.
see also: anchor tag, hyperlink
hyperlink - A reference or navigation element in a document that points to either another section of the same document or on another document that may be on a different website.
see also: anchor tag, HTML link
I
iframe - or inline frame, is an HTML element which makes it possible to embed another web page inside the main web page.
see also: include, SSI server side includes
inbound links - An inbound link would be a link to your site from another site. Inbound links were the primary means of web navigation prior to the emergence of search engines. Inbound links are still one of the factors in search engine rankings.
see also: backlinks
include - An include is used to insert the code from one web page inside the main web page. This is done on the server side before the page is shown to the visitor.
see also: iframe, SSI server side includes
irrelevant link - A link to another site that has nothing to do with your site's theme, focus, genre or visitors. Irrelevant linking is practiced by black hat webmasters and will negatively affect your site's search engine rankings. Even Google states clearly in their guidelines - "have relevant sites link to yours."
see also: bad link
A Guide to How Relevant Linking for the End User Will Benefit Your Website
J
K
L
link activation - The process of sending an email to a submitting webmaster to verify that they used a valid email address and that this person requested a link exchange.
link baiting - creating content or features within a website that somehow baits visitors to place links to it from their websites.
LinkBlogs - Combining the power of reciprocal linking and blogging, the LinkBlogs feature supercharges your links pages with dynamic, automatically updated content never before seen on the Internet!
see also: blog
LinkBlogs - Combining the Power of Linking and Blogging
link building - One of many optimization processes in which you build a directory of relevant sites for the benefit of your end user.
link checkers - Spiders and robots that crawl the Internet and store all the links they find per site in order to compile those urls and report back to the user the status of any inbound links on other sites.
What is the Reciprocal Link Checker and how does it work?
link expiration - The practice of expiring a link after a certain period of time. Links will display until that date and then be removed from the links pages.
link farm - any group of web sites that all hyperlink to every other page in the group without regard for relevancy. Although some link farms can be created by hand, most are created through automated programs and services.
see also: FFA free for all
more information on why LinksManager is not a link farm here
LinkLets - a powerful method for displaying links from your LinksManager account. Linklets allow for alternative publishing methods other than the standard "Yahoo"-style, categorized search engine directory including full customization and exciting new design possibilities.
Linklets are a powerful method for displaying links from your LinksManager account.
LMS link management system - A Link Management System (LMS) is a software system used for managing the links to and from your website. LMS is deployed primarily to help manage the time consuming process of linking with other sites.
LinksManager is the ONLY patented LMS system on the Internet
link partner - A link partner is any webmaster that you have an agreement to exchange reciprocal links.
LinkPartners.com - a categorized directory of websites that are actively engaged in exchanging reciprocal links, link swapping, and link exchange with other relevant sites. LinkPartners provides you with an exclusive, editor-based resource for easily locating like-minded sites.
see also: directory
more information on LinkPartners.com here
link popularity - a measure of the quantity and quality of other web sites that link to a specific site. It is an example of the move by search engines towards off-the-page-criteria to determine quality content and is used by most all search engines today.
see also: PageRank, PR
link relevance - A measure of how another site's content compliments your site's content. Sites with similar themes and visitors are encouraged to swap links.
A Guide On How to Find Relevant Quality Link Partners
link request - An email from one webmaster asking another webmaster if they are interested in exchanging links.
see also:
Step Four - Write an Effective Link Exchange Request Letter/Mailer
link rot - the process by which links on a website gradually become irrelevant or broken as time passes, because websites that they link to disappear, change their content or redirect to new locations.
see also: dead link
Automatically prevent link rot on your links pages with LinksManager
link rotation - rotating your links on your links pages so each link has an equal opportunity to be displayed on the first page of it's category.
see also: auto rotation
more information on LinksManager's link rotation feature
link strategy - an overall plan or goal for your link exchange campaign. Knowing in advance how you are going to perform and solicit link exchanges is important.
Setting Proper Link Strategy Goals For Your Links Pages
link swapping - a mutual agreement between webmasters for their sites to link with each other.
link text - This is the information between the anchor tags that users click to get to your site. This is commonly referred to as your Link Title or Site Name.
see also: anchor text
M
meta tag - is a meta element used to provide information about a web page. These elements must be placed as tags in the head section of an HTML or XHTML document and are used to further describe the specific page.
"Silver Bullet Points" To Enhance Your LinksManager Experience
N
natural linking - building a link campaign over a period of time where the linking occurs at a natural rate. Search engines look at the rate which you obtain links and unnatural increases in your site linking will be noticed by the search engines.
see also: organic linking
Google And LinksManager Agree, Linking Should Be Done Naturally
natural search results - these are the results that are produced when searching any search engine that are not "sponsored" or paid for.
nofollow attribute - nofollow is a non-standard HTML attribute value used to instruct search engines that a hyperlink should not influence the link target's ranking in the search engine's index. This is used by many blogging programs to avoid spamming the search engines.
Does LinksManager let me know if one of my link partners is employing "nofollow" in any way?
O
oblique linking - linking with other sites in your industry's vertical markets. They may not be directly relevant to your business or visitor but would be vertically relevant.
The Fine Art Of Oblique Linking
one way links - A 1 way link is where Site A links to Site B without the other site linking back. These links are typically just for the benefit of your visitor.
see also: 1 way links
The Truth About One Way Links
optimization - improving your site for the benefit of your visitors and the search engines.
see also: SEO search engine optimization
"Silver Bullet Points" To Enhance Your LinksManager Experience
organic linking - building a link campaign over a period of time where the linking occurs at a natural or organic rate. Search engines look at the rate which you obtain links and unnatural increases in your site linking will be noticed by the search engines.
see also: natural linking
Google And LinksManager Agree, Linking Should Be Done Naturally
outbound links - Any link on your web site that points to a different website.
P
PageRank - A method developed and patented by Stanford University and Larry Page (cofounder of Google) to rank search engine results. PageRank gives a unique ranking to every page on the internet. The ranking number is based on the number and quality of inbound links pointing at a page.
see also: PR, link popularity
Google Page Rank and Linking - An Alternative View
paid links - Any link that you pay another webmaster to post on their site. These links are discredited by the search engines and can result in your site being blacklisted.
see also: bad links, black hat
Hard Times For Paid Link Hucksters
PPC pay per click - search engine marketing where the search engine charges your web site on a per click basis for advertising. Often, an auction is held to see who is willing to pay the most for users and win the advertisement until someone is willing to pay more.
LinkPartners Forum: Let's discuss PPC (pay per click)
PR - The abbreviation for Google's PageRank. This is typically followed by a number from 0-10. I.e. The official white house web site has a PR10 which is the highest possible.
see also: PageRank, link popularity
Is Google Really Planning To Put PageRank Out To Pasture?
Q
R
reciprocal link - a link on another person's site that is pointing back to your site in exchange for you linking to their site.
see also: 2 way link, two way link
Why Reciprocal Linking Works
reciprocal link ratio - the ratio of reciprocating links to the total number of your active links. This ratio varies greatly based on industry and relevancy of the links. Anywhere from 30%-70% is a good ratio depending on your link strategy.
Interpreting Your Reciprocal Link Ratio
relative links - A relative link has an anchor tag where the href= or src= a partial url.
I.e.
relevant links - A link to another site that has compliments your site's theme, focus, genre or visitors. Relevant linking is practiced by white hat webmasters and will positively affect your site's search engine rankings. Even Google states clearly in their guidelines - "have relevant sites link to yours."
Insider Information On Search Engines And Reciprocal Linking
ResponseRank - Our system for monitoring the time between when a link exchange request is sent to you, and when you respond either by reciprocating the link, or politely declining the link request. The faster the response the higher the ResponseRank number will be. Only LinksManager users can initiate the requests and have the request tracked with the ResponseRank qualifications.
Introducing the latest innovation in relevant link exchange...ResponseRank
robots.txt - A file on a web site in the root directory that is used to control which spiders have access to which pages within a website. When a spider or robot connects to a website, it checks for the presence of a robots.txt file. Only spiders that adhere to the Robots Exclusion Standard will obey a robots.txt command file.
more information on how our link checker obeys robots.txt here
S
SEM search engine marketing - a form of Internet Marketing that seeks to promote websites by increasing their visibility in the Search Engine Result Pages (SERPs).
see also: SEO search engine optimization, SERP search engine results page
SEO search engine optimization - is the process of improving the volume and quality of traffic to a web site from search engines via "natural" search results.
see also: SEO search engine marketing, SERP search engine results page
SERP search engine results page - pages returned by a search engine in response to a search term. The results normally include a list of web sites with titles, a link to the page, and a short description showing where the keywords have matched content within the page.
see also: SEO search engine optimization, SEM search engine marketing search term - The keyword terms used in a search engine to find sites relevant to that term.
sitemap - a graphical representation of the architecture of a web site. Either a document in any form used as a planning tool for web design, or a web page that lists all the other pages on a web site. This helps visitors and search engine bots find pages on the site.
see also: Google SiteMaps
spidering - the process in which a program or automated script browses the Internet in a methodical, automated manner.
SSI server side includes - used to insert the code from one web page inside the main web page. This is done on the server side before the page is shown to the visitor.
see also: iframe, include
subdomain - a domain that is part of a larger domain. In the URL http://blog.linksmanager.com the 'blog' part is the subdomain of the domain linksmanager.com. 'www' is the most common subdomain on the Internet.
T
text link - A hyperlink that is comprised of text, in comparison to an image link. Clicking the text will take you to the specified link's target.
three way links - A 3 way link is where Site A links to Site B, Site B links to Site C, and Site C links to Site A. 3 way linking can be done successfully; however, it is frequently abused by black hat webmasters.
see also: 3 way link, triangular linking
Three Way Links: Traffic Builder Or Search-Engine Suicide
three click rule - The principle that it should take no more than 3 clicks to access any feature or page of your web site.
toolbar - Toolbars for browsers are best known for adding functionality and ease-of-use options to the end user. The browser still handles basic navigation, and toolbars often add additional functionality to browsers depending on the toolbar programming.
Request Link Exchanges Directly to your LinksManager Account from your Internet Explorer browser window!
Top Links List - lists of the most popular links on your links pages. Link popularity is based on how frequently a link is clicked on by users visiting your links pages.
see also: click tracking
What are Top Links Lists? more information on click tracking
triangular linking - A three way link is where Site A links to Site B, Site B links to Site C, and Site C links to Site A. 3 way linking can be done successfully; however, it is frequently abused by black hat webmasters.
see also: 3 way link, three way links
Triangular Linking: Traffic Builder Or Search-Engine Suicide
two way links - A two way link is where Site A links to Site B and in return Site B links back to Site A. This is also known as reciprocal linking which is what the internet is built on. see also: 2 way links, reciprocal links How LinksManager helps you manage two way links
U
URL uniform resource locator - Your web site's address. URL's not only contain http:// for displaying websites but also include ftp, mailto and other web communication methods.
V
W
W3C World Wide Web Consortium - The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) is the main international standards organization for the World Wide Web and develops interoperable technologies (specifications, guidelines, software, and tools) to lead the Web to its full potential.
Why W3C Compliance is Important
web 2.0 - refers to a perceived second generation of web-based communities and hosted services to facilitate creativity, collaboration and sharing between users in a more simplified and organized format.
white hat - The term that describes companies, individuals or programs that engage linking in ethical ways or using ethical practices.
X
XML - Extensible Markup Language (XML) is a general-purpose markup language that allows its users to define their own tags. Its primary purpose is to facilitate the sharing of structured data across different information systems, particularly via the Internet.
Xlinks - The XML Linking Language is an XML markup language used for creating hyperlinks in XML documents. XLink is a W3C specification that outlines methods of describing links between resources in XML docum
Saturday, June 19, 2010
Standard Linking Policies
The members of LinkExhcangeHQ.com have several standards that they must abide by, and other standards that are optional depending on each website. Please read these requirements carefully to ensure that any problems are avoided before they become major issues.
Required Standards
1. Reciprocal Linking - A return link must be given BEFORE you want to have a link on one of our member sites. If you are not willing to give a return link, do not request one from our members.
2. One-Way Linking - This is also 3-way linking, etc. One-Way links are available and encouraged, however the site that links to our members site must be of the same ranking in PR and visitor traffic as the site that our member is linking to. This ensures that the exchange is even.
3. Accessibility - Your links section must be connected directly to your web sites home page so that visitors can find our links. This also means that links pages that are more then 3 clicks from your home page are not going to be acceptable.
4. Robots - Your links section must be able to be crawled by search engine robots and not blocked by "nofollow" tags, robots.txt directives or the use of Javascript links.
5. Home Page Links Only - We do not link to internal pages, subdomains or landing pages. Any redirections will be refused immediately.
6. Valid Contact Details - If your contact details are not correct, your links will be rejected immediately.
Optional Standards
1. Quality - Your site must be of a reasonable standard as we don't want our members visitors sent off to second-rate websites.
2. Relevant Links - Be realistic here. Some sites are selective in the links that they will accept, and usually this is reflected in the categories that the webmaster has set up. If you are unsure that your website may not be suitable, contact the webmaster first before requesting a link. The main areas that will cause problems with some members are gambling, pharmaceutical and adult sites. It's up to each individual webmaster to decide if they will or will not link with sites outside of their own areas.
3.Organization - Your links pages should be organized into sections and not in just one long list or in sections such as "Links 22", "Links 23", etc.
Required Standards
1. Reciprocal Linking - A return link must be given BEFORE you want to have a link on one of our member sites. If you are not willing to give a return link, do not request one from our members.
2. One-Way Linking - This is also 3-way linking, etc. One-Way links are available and encouraged, however the site that links to our members site must be of the same ranking in PR and visitor traffic as the site that our member is linking to. This ensures that the exchange is even.
3. Accessibility - Your links section must be connected directly to your web sites home page so that visitors can find our links. This also means that links pages that are more then 3 clicks from your home page are not going to be acceptable.
4. Robots - Your links section must be able to be crawled by search engine robots and not blocked by "nofollow" tags, robots.txt directives or the use of Javascript links.
5. Home Page Links Only - We do not link to internal pages, subdomains or landing pages. Any redirections will be refused immediately.
6. Valid Contact Details - If your contact details are not correct, your links will be rejected immediately.
Optional Standards
1. Quality - Your site must be of a reasonable standard as we don't want our members visitors sent off to second-rate websites.
2. Relevant Links - Be realistic here. Some sites are selective in the links that they will accept, and usually this is reflected in the categories that the webmaster has set up. If you are unsure that your website may not be suitable, contact the webmaster first before requesting a link. The main areas that will cause problems with some members are gambling, pharmaceutical and adult sites. It's up to each individual webmaster to decide if they will or will not link with sites outside of their own areas.
3.Organization - Your links pages should be organized into sections and not in just one long list or in sections such as "Links 22", "Links 23", etc.
One Page - One SEO Campaign
Every individual page on your site should be treated as a separate potential SEO campaign. By establishing a single campaign per page you can ensure that each page is properly optimized. The consequence of attempting to promote an entire site with one SEO campaign is that different pages should target different keywords and different visitors.
Not only does this help to ensure a more effective SEO marketing campaign for your site as a whole, it also enables easier tracking of performance and monitoring of ROI. Most pages will have different requirements according to the competitiveness of keywords and the return per lead for each page. Tailoring an SEO campaign to meet these individual requirements helps to ensure its effectiveness.
Building A Link Profile
Gone are the days of cramming a page with keywords and subsequently seeing it ranked highly in the SERPs (Search Engine Result Pages). One of the most important facets of an SEO campaign is the building of a powerful link profile. Search engines use the number of links pointing to your site as a guide to its value. Not only do they consider the sheer weight of links, though, they also take into account the value of the page where the link is found. The most effective link profile should consist of a combination of directory links and website links, single page links and site-wide links, even inbound and reciprocal links. However, all of these links need to be relevant and from good quality sites. Some marketers and webmasters opt for paid linking because it enables them to effectively select the pages where there link will appear.
While paid linking does offer greater control over the pages that link to you, it can prove very costly. Paying for links in high quality directories should provide more than a link profile boost, though, and this should also be taken into consideration. The same is also true of links placed in prominent positions on busy and relevant pages.
Ongoing SEO Work
SEO is not a one-off marketing package. Everything about an SEO campaign should be regularly monitored and optimized according to results and other figures. Keyword popularity and the number of sites competing for the top positions can make some keywords less competitive while others become more appealing.
Sites that are especially caught up in highly competitive markets will find that they need to build a particularly powerful link profile. This will take time, especially if the link profile is to appear natural to the search engines. Less competitive pages will also need to keep their profile updated and will need to ensure that they are still targeting appropriate keywords.
Not only does this help to ensure a more effective SEO marketing campaign for your site as a whole, it also enables easier tracking of performance and monitoring of ROI. Most pages will have different requirements according to the competitiveness of keywords and the return per lead for each page. Tailoring an SEO campaign to meet these individual requirements helps to ensure its effectiveness.
Building A Link Profile
Gone are the days of cramming a page with keywords and subsequently seeing it ranked highly in the SERPs (Search Engine Result Pages). One of the most important facets of an SEO campaign is the building of a powerful link profile. Search engines use the number of links pointing to your site as a guide to its value. Not only do they consider the sheer weight of links, though, they also take into account the value of the page where the link is found. The most effective link profile should consist of a combination of directory links and website links, single page links and site-wide links, even inbound and reciprocal links. However, all of these links need to be relevant and from good quality sites. Some marketers and webmasters opt for paid linking because it enables them to effectively select the pages where there link will appear.
While paid linking does offer greater control over the pages that link to you, it can prove very costly. Paying for links in high quality directories should provide more than a link profile boost, though, and this should also be taken into consideration. The same is also true of links placed in prominent positions on busy and relevant pages.
Ongoing SEO Work
SEO is not a one-off marketing package. Everything about an SEO campaign should be regularly monitored and optimized according to results and other figures. Keyword popularity and the number of sites competing for the top positions can make some keywords less competitive while others become more appealing.
Sites that are especially caught up in highly competitive markets will find that they need to build a particularly powerful link profile. This will take time, especially if the link profile is to appear natural to the search engines. Less competitive pages will also need to keep their profile updated and will need to ensure that they are still targeting appropriate keywords.
Search engine position
Search engine positioning makes sure that you get those top rankings and is the most cost effective means of web site promotion. We'll get you listed on the top search engines and help increase traffic to your site using a variety of time-tested guerrilla marketing techniques.
Most of your customers will find you by using a search engine or a directory and we will help you position your web site and improve your ranking because that's how you'll get the most traffic. We will also monitor your site's effectiveness and re-list you again when necessary.
We can also help you create an online advertising campaign based on chosen keywords and phrases which appear as small text ads in the margins of the major search engine results. This exciting new trend offers the most bang for your buck and yields results we think are better than traditional ads such as Yellow Pages and print ads.
We know what it takes to get noticed on the Internet. Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, is often lauded as being one of the more affordable and cost effective forms of online advertising. While this can be true, it is important to remember that an SEO campaign should be an ongoing process to ensure the best results. It is also true that the more competitive the keywords you target, the more costly a campaign will prove and the less cost effective it will be. There are methods to help ensure that an SEO campaign proves both effective and cost effective.
Most of your customers will find you by using a search engine or a directory and we will help you position your web site and improve your ranking because that's how you'll get the most traffic. We will also monitor your site's effectiveness and re-list you again when necessary.
We can also help you create an online advertising campaign based on chosen keywords and phrases which appear as small text ads in the margins of the major search engine results. This exciting new trend offers the most bang for your buck and yields results we think are better than traditional ads such as Yellow Pages and print ads.
We know what it takes to get noticed on the Internet. Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, is often lauded as being one of the more affordable and cost effective forms of online advertising. While this can be true, it is important to remember that an SEO campaign should be an ongoing process to ensure the best results. It is also true that the more competitive the keywords you target, the more costly a campaign will prove and the less cost effective it will be. There are methods to help ensure that an SEO campaign proves both effective and cost effective.
Dealing with Non-Reciprocal Links
It is common to have outgoing links that are for the benefit of your customers and that you don’t expect reciprocal links back to your site for. A good example are links that go to specific book pages on Amazon.com. Clearly such links can benefit your visitors, but clearly also Amazon.com is not going to reciprocate by placing links on their site back to your site!
There are two methods you can use to prevent “leakage” of PageRank from non- reciprocating links on your site - the first of which is recommended.
There are two methods you can use to prevent “leakage” of PageRank from non- reciprocating links on your site - the first of which is recommended.
Maintaining a “Related Links” Page
Since you must have external links that point to your site to increase your ranking with Google, other website owners will likely ask you to reciprocate as well by asking you to put links on your site that point to their sites. For this reason, you need to create and maintain a “Related Links” page.
In general, you should only link to other sites that offer similar or complementary products and services to your own. Don’t clutter your Related Links page with links to your aunt’s personal page for example (unless your aunt is in a similar line of work!). Remember that Google is analyzing what the theme of your site is, so you need to use keywords on your Related Links page that are related to your site’s keywords. This includes using keywords in the text of links that point to other sites if possible.
You should also include some actual content on your Related Links page. Simply don’t create a long list of links with no text. deally, all outgoing links to other sites should be located on single Related Links page on your site. This is because outgoing links can “leak” some your site’s total PageRank. There are two methods that can be used to counter this effect: Make sure that each outgoing link is reciprocated with a link back to
your site, otherwise don’t add it to your main Links page.
Add a second Links page that contains only non-reciprocating links and then prevent Google from crawling (and hence calculating PR for) that page.
Tip: For every search directory and portal you submit your site to and get listed on, you should also add a link pointing to it on your Related Links page. Make sure that you point to the specific category or sub-category page that you are listed in.
In general, you should only link to other sites that offer similar or complementary products and services to your own. Don’t clutter your Related Links page with links to your aunt’s personal page for example (unless your aunt is in a similar line of work!). Remember that Google is analyzing what the theme of your site is, so you need to use keywords on your Related Links page that are related to your site’s keywords. This includes using keywords in the text of links that point to other sites if possible.
You should also include some actual content on your Related Links page. Simply don’t create a long list of links with no text. deally, all outgoing links to other sites should be located on single Related Links page on your site. This is because outgoing links can “leak” some your site’s total PageRank. There are two methods that can be used to counter this effect: Make sure that each outgoing link is reciprocated with a link back to
your site, otherwise don’t add it to your main Links page.
Add a second Links page that contains only non-reciprocating links and then prevent Google from crawling (and hence calculating PR for) that page.
Tip: For every search directory and portal you submit your site to and get listed on, you should also add a link pointing to it on your Related Links page. Make sure that you point to the specific category or sub-category page that you are listed in.
Creating a “Link to Us” Page
Google places importance on what the text of links are that it finds on other sites. Google analyzes the text of a link and compares it to text found on the linked-to page. You want other website owners to put your best keywords in the text of links that point to your site, and then you want to make sure those same keywords appear prominently on your linked-to page.
One way to help ensure this to create a “Link to Us” page that contains an example of actual link code that other website owners can copy and use on their websites. This helps you control what the text of the link says that is placed on other sites.
Using a site about house plans as an example, here is representative link code on a “Link To Us” page:
Link to the Best House Plans Site!
Link to one of the fastest-growing sites for house plans on the Web today!
Adding our link to your site is very easy. Simply copy the code between the dotted lines and add it to your web page:
DTP Learn Easily - DTP it means Desktop Publishing - Prepress and HTML - Internet - Hyper Text Markup Language, free perl cgi scripts etc.
If you would like a link back to your site, please contact us at…
Note how the keyword phrase house plans is used both in the link text AND in the description that follows (as well as in the page heading, first sentence, etc)
One way to help ensure this to create a “Link to Us” page that contains an example of actual link code that other website owners can copy and use on their websites. This helps you control what the text of the link says that is placed on other sites.
Using a site about house plans as an example, here is representative link code on a “Link To Us” page:
Link to the Best House Plans Site!
Link to one of the fastest-growing sites for house plans on the Web today!
Adding our link to your site is very easy. Simply copy the code between the dotted lines and add it to your web page:
DTP Learn Easily - DTP it means Desktop Publishing - Prepress and HTML - Internet - Hyper Text Markup Language, free perl cgi scripts etc.
If you would like a link back to your site, please contact us at…
Note how the keyword phrase house plans is used both in the link text AND in the description that follows (as well as in the page heading, first sentence, etc)
The PageRank Equation
OK, I know you’ve waiting for it, so here is the official PageRank equation. Although impressive looking, it’s not really that complicated:
PR(your page) = 0.15 + 0.85 [(PR(page A) / total links (page A) ) + (PR(page B) / total links (page B) ) + «]
There are a couple of observations to note about the PR equation:
PR values for based on individual web pages.
The PR value of each page that links to your site in turn is dependent on the
PR of the pages that link to it, and so on backwards.
A link’s value (amount of PageRank or “voting power” forwarded to the linked- to page) is only 85% of the linking page’s PageRank value, and this value is diluted (decreased) by the number of other links on that page.
PR has nothing to do with keywords - it is purely dependent on link quantity and link strength, as discussed previously.
After playing around with the equation, some may incorrectly conclude that a link from a page with a PR=4 with only a few outgoing links is worth a more than a link from a page with a PR=7 with 100 outgoing links because for the latter, the “voting power” or value is divided up among 99 other links.
However, you must remember the logarithmic nature of the true PageRank. This means that a link from a PR=7 page that has lots of outbound links may be worth more than a link from a PR=4 page that has only a few outbound links. Whether this is true is dependent on the log base used for the PR equation, which is a secret.
Do not get caught up in the minutiae of determining whether a site is worth exchanging links with. Barring link farms, Free-For-All (FFA) sites, sites with a PR of 0 (which either aren’t indexed or have been “blacklisted” by Google), and sites that have nothing to do with your theme, you should strive to get more links that point to your site - period.
Note: Google performs from 20 - 40 iterations of the PageRank equation for each page in it’s entire index to determine the new PageRank value each month. This process takes up to a week to accomplish and is the primary cause of the “Google Dance” each month. For more information, see Deep Crawl and the Google Dance.
In most cases, when you want a link to your site placed on another site, the other site owner will want to have a link to their site put on your site as well. This is called "reciprocal linking". It is for this reason that you should create and maintain a "Related Links" page on your site.
In addition, you should also create a “Link to Us” page where other site owners can simply copy your HTML link code to their Links page. In this way, you control the use of keywords in the text of such links that point to your site.
Note: If you won’t be using different graphic banner ads, you can combine these two pages into one. In this case, simply list your “link to us” code at the top of your Related Links page.
PR(your page) = 0.15 + 0.85 [(PR(page A) / total links (page A) ) + (PR(page B) / total links (page B) ) + «]
There are a couple of observations to note about the PR equation:
PR values for based on individual web pages.
The PR value of each page that links to your site in turn is dependent on the
PR of the pages that link to it, and so on backwards.
A link’s value (amount of PageRank or “voting power” forwarded to the linked- to page) is only 85% of the linking page’s PageRank value, and this value is diluted (decreased) by the number of other links on that page.
PR has nothing to do with keywords - it is purely dependent on link quantity and link strength, as discussed previously.
After playing around with the equation, some may incorrectly conclude that a link from a page with a PR=4 with only a few outgoing links is worth a more than a link from a page with a PR=7 with 100 outgoing links because for the latter, the “voting power” or value is divided up among 99 other links.
However, you must remember the logarithmic nature of the true PageRank. This means that a link from a PR=7 page that has lots of outbound links may be worth more than a link from a PR=4 page that has only a few outbound links. Whether this is true is dependent on the log base used for the PR equation, which is a secret.
Do not get caught up in the minutiae of determining whether a site is worth exchanging links with. Barring link farms, Free-For-All (FFA) sites, sites with a PR of 0 (which either aren’t indexed or have been “blacklisted” by Google), and sites that have nothing to do with your theme, you should strive to get more links that point to your site - period.
Note: Google performs from 20 - 40 iterations of the PageRank equation for each page in it’s entire index to determine the new PageRank value each month. This process takes up to a week to accomplish and is the primary cause of the “Google Dance” each month. For more information, see Deep Crawl and the Google Dance.
In most cases, when you want a link to your site placed on another site, the other site owner will want to have a link to their site put on your site as well. This is called "reciprocal linking". It is for this reason that you should create and maintain a "Related Links" page on your site.
In addition, you should also create a “Link to Us” page where other site owners can simply copy your HTML link code to their Links page. In this way, you control the use of keywords in the text of such links that point to your site.
Note: If you won’t be using different graphic banner ads, you can combine these two pages into one. In this case, simply list your “link to us” code at the top of your Related Links page.
Increasing PageRank
Each page of your website has a PR value, and so does your website as a whole. Depending on how you structure your internal links will dictate to some extent what the PR value of a page will be, as will external links pointing to a page on your site. Although page PR value is important, you should really be trying to increase your overall site PR value.
There are only two ways to increase your site’s overall PageRank:
1. Get more incoming links that point to your site.
2. Add new pages to your site (which was discussed in a previous chapter).
The PR value of each page indexed by Google on the Web is in constant flux. New pages are added, old pages are removed, more links are added – all of which over time decrease the “value” of your incoming links.
As the number of websites (and web pages) in Google’s index increases, so does the total PageRank value of the entire Web, and so also does the high end of the overall scale used. This is kind of like the top student setting the “curve” for an exam at college. The top student gets 100% and everyone else gets correspondingly less. Therefore, the top-ranking site (or handful of sites in actuality) gets the maximum, perfect PageRank score (which is a 10 in the Google Toolbar) and everyone else is scaled down accordingly. As a result, some web pages may drop in PageRank value for no apparent reason. If a page's actual PR value was just above a division on the PR scale, the addition of new pages to the Web may cause the dividing line to move up the scale slightly and the page would end up just below the new division.
What this means is that you should always strive to get more links that point to your site, otherwise your site will naturally start slipping in rankings due to the “decay” of PageRank value for incoming links – both from other pages on your site as well as from other websites. This is also why you should add new pages to your site on a regular basis, as additional pages will increase your site’s overall PR score too.
There are only two ways to increase your site’s overall PageRank:
1. Get more incoming links that point to your site.
2. Add new pages to your site (which was discussed in a previous chapter).
The PR value of each page indexed by Google on the Web is in constant flux. New pages are added, old pages are removed, more links are added – all of which over time decrease the “value” of your incoming links.
As the number of websites (and web pages) in Google’s index increases, so does the total PageRank value of the entire Web, and so also does the high end of the overall scale used. This is kind of like the top student setting the “curve” for an exam at college. The top student gets 100% and everyone else gets correspondingly less. Therefore, the top-ranking site (or handful of sites in actuality) gets the maximum, perfect PageRank score (which is a 10 in the Google Toolbar) and everyone else is scaled down accordingly. As a result, some web pages may drop in PageRank value for no apparent reason. If a page's actual PR value was just above a division on the PR scale, the addition of new pages to the Web may cause the dividing line to move up the scale slightly and the page would end up just below the new division.
What this means is that you should always strive to get more links that point to your site, otherwise your site will naturally start slipping in rankings due to the “decay” of PageRank value for incoming links – both from other pages on your site as well as from other websites. This is also why you should add new pages to your site on a regular basis, as additional pages will increase your site’s overall PR score too.
How to Get a Top 10 Ranking…
What some fail to realize or account for is that the PageRank values shown in the Google Toolbar are not the actual PageRank values that Google uses to rank web pages. The Google Toolbar is divided up into 10 equal linear ranges from 0 - 10. These linear divisions correspond to a logarithmic scale that Google uses. The actual scale is estimated to be anywhere from log base 5 to log base 10. This public Toolbar PageRank is however what most people talk and agonize about.
The Toolbar PageRank value only indicates that a page is in a certain range of the overall scale. One PR=5 page could be just above the PR=5 division and another PR=5 page could be just below the PR=6 division, which is a really vast gulf between them.
Although the exact logarithmic base used for PageRank is a secret, the following table should give you an idea of how different the Toolbar PR is from the actual PR.
Toolbar PR (linear) Actual PR (log base 5) Actual PR (log base 10)
0 0.15 0.15
0 - 1 0.15 - 1 0.15 - 1
1 - 2 1 – 5 1 - 10
2 - 3 5 – 25 10 - 100
3- 4 25 - 125 100 - 1,000
4 - 5 125 – 625 1,000 – 10,000
5 - 6 625 – 3,125 10,000 – 100,000
6 - 7 3,125 – 15,625 100,000 – 1,000,000
7 - 8 15,625 – 78,125 1,000,000 – 10,000,000
8 - 9 78,125 – 390,625 10,000,000 – 100,000,000
9 - 10 390,625 + 100,000,000 +
What this means is that moving a page from a PageRank of 6 to a PageRank of 7 is
much harder than moving from a PageRank of 4 to a PageRank of 5.
Some pages (such as new pages) that the Toolbar displays a PR value for may not have been indexed yet, and as such don't have any “real” PageRank of their own. What is happening is that one page on such a site may have already been indexed and as such PageRank has been estimated for the new page as a result. The new page generally is then ranked 1 point below an indexed page on the site, but this is
www.google-secrets.com
Google Secrets – How to Get a Top 10 Ranking… page 49 of 88
just an “estimate” PageRank that exists only in the Toolbar. Before exchanging links, search for the actual page on Google to make sure that it is indexed.
Whichever scale Google uses, keep in mind that a link from another site increases your site's total PageRank, as explained next.
Increasing PageRank
Each page of your website has a PR value, and so does your website as a whole. Depending on how you structure your internal links will dictate to some extent what the PR value of a page will be, as will external links pointing to a page on your site. Although page PR value is important, you should really be trying to increase your overall site PR value.
There are only two ways to increase your site’s overall PageRank:
1. Get more incoming links that point to your site.
2. Add new pages to your site (which was discussed in a previous chapter).
The PR value of each page indexed by Google on the Web is in constant flux. New pages are added, old pages are removed, more links are added – all of which over time decrease the “value” of your incoming links.
As the number of websites (and web pages) in Google’s index increases, so does the total PageRank value of the entire Web, and so also does the high end of the overall scale used. This is kind of like the top student setting the “curve” for an exam at college. The top student gets 100% and everyone else gets correspondingly less. Therefore, the top-ranking site (or handful of sites in actuality) gets the maximum, perfect PageRank score (which is a 10 in the Google Toolbar) and everyone else is scaled down accordingly. As a result, some web pages may drop in PageRank value for no apparent reason. If a page's actual PR value was just above a division on the PR scale, the addition of new pages to the Web may cause the dividing line to move up the scale slightly and the page would end up just below the new division.
What this means is that you should always strive to get more links that point to your site, otherwise your site will naturally start slipping in rankings due to the “decay” of PageRank value for incoming links – both from other pages on your site as well as from other websites. This is also why you should add new pages to your site on a regular basis, as additional pages will increase your site’s overall PR score too.
www.google-secrets.com
Google Secrets – How to Get a Top 10 Ranking… page 50 of 88
The PageRank Equation
OK, I know you’ve waiting for it, so here is the official PageRank equation. Although impressive looking, it’s not really that complicated:
PR(your page) = 0.15 + 0.85 [(PR(page A) / total links (page A) ) + (PR(page B) / total links (page B) ) + «]
There are a couple of observations to note about the PR equation:
PR values for based on individual web pages.
The PR value of each page that links to your site in turn is dependent on the
PR of the pages that link to it, and so on backwards.
A link’s value (amount of PageRank or “voting power” forwarded to the linked- to page) is only 85% of the linking page’s PageRank value, and this value is diluted (decreased) by the number of other links on that page.
PR has nothing to do with keywords - it is purely dependent on link quantity and link strength, as discussed previously.
After playing around with the equation, some may incorrectly conclude that a link from a page with a PR=4 with only a few outgoing links is worth a more than a link from a page with a PR=7 with 100 outgoing links because for the latter, the “voting power” or value is divided up among 99 other links.
However, you must remember the logarithmic nature of the true PageRank. This means that a link from a PR=7 page that has lots of outbound links may be worth more than a link from a PR=4 page that has only a few outbound links. Whether this is true is dependent on the log base used for the PR equation, which is a secret.
Do not get caught up in the minutiae of determining whether a site is worth exchanging links with. Barring link farms, Free-For-All (FFA) sites, sites with a PR of
0 (which either aren’t indexed or have been “blacklisted” by Google), and sites that have nothing to do with your theme, you should strive to get more links that point to your site - period.
Note: Google performs from 20 - 40 iterations of the PageRank equation for each page in it’s entire index to determine the new PageRank value each month. This process takes up to a week to accomplish and is the primary cause of the “Google Dance” each month. For more information, see Deep Crawl and the Google Dance.
In most cases, when you want a link to your site placed on another site, the other site owner will want to have a link to their site put on your site as well. This is called
"reciprocal linking". It is for this reason that you should create and maintain a
"Related Links" page on your site.
In addition, you should also create a “Link to Us” page where other site owners can simply copy your HTML link code to their Links page. In this way, you control the use of keywords in the text of such links that point to your site.
Note: If you won’t be using different graphic banner ads, you can combine these two pages into one. In this case, simply list your “link to us” code at the top of your Related Links page.
The Toolbar PageRank value only indicates that a page is in a certain range of the overall scale. One PR=5 page could be just above the PR=5 division and another PR=5 page could be just below the PR=6 division, which is a really vast gulf between them.
Although the exact logarithmic base used for PageRank is a secret, the following table should give you an idea of how different the Toolbar PR is from the actual PR.
Toolbar PR (linear) Actual PR (log base 5) Actual PR (log base 10)
0 0.15 0.15
0 - 1 0.15 - 1 0.15 - 1
1 - 2 1 – 5 1 - 10
2 - 3 5 – 25 10 - 100
3- 4 25 - 125 100 - 1,000
4 - 5 125 – 625 1,000 – 10,000
5 - 6 625 – 3,125 10,000 – 100,000
6 - 7 3,125 – 15,625 100,000 – 1,000,000
7 - 8 15,625 – 78,125 1,000,000 – 10,000,000
8 - 9 78,125 – 390,625 10,000,000 – 100,000,000
9 - 10 390,625 + 100,000,000 +
What this means is that moving a page from a PageRank of 6 to a PageRank of 7 is
much harder than moving from a PageRank of 4 to a PageRank of 5.
Some pages (such as new pages) that the Toolbar displays a PR value for may not have been indexed yet, and as such don't have any “real” PageRank of their own. What is happening is that one page on such a site may have already been indexed and as such PageRank has been estimated for the new page as a result. The new page generally is then ranked 1 point below an indexed page on the site, but this is
www.google-secrets.com
Google Secrets – How to Get a Top 10 Ranking… page 49 of 88
just an “estimate” PageRank that exists only in the Toolbar. Before exchanging links, search for the actual page on Google to make sure that it is indexed.
Whichever scale Google uses, keep in mind that a link from another site increases your site's total PageRank, as explained next.
Increasing PageRank
Each page of your website has a PR value, and so does your website as a whole. Depending on how you structure your internal links will dictate to some extent what the PR value of a page will be, as will external links pointing to a page on your site. Although page PR value is important, you should really be trying to increase your overall site PR value.
There are only two ways to increase your site’s overall PageRank:
1. Get more incoming links that point to your site.
2. Add new pages to your site (which was discussed in a previous chapter).
The PR value of each page indexed by Google on the Web is in constant flux. New pages are added, old pages are removed, more links are added – all of which over time decrease the “value” of your incoming links.
As the number of websites (and web pages) in Google’s index increases, so does the total PageRank value of the entire Web, and so also does the high end of the overall scale used. This is kind of like the top student setting the “curve” for an exam at college. The top student gets 100% and everyone else gets correspondingly less. Therefore, the top-ranking site (or handful of sites in actuality) gets the maximum, perfect PageRank score (which is a 10 in the Google Toolbar) and everyone else is scaled down accordingly. As a result, some web pages may drop in PageRank value for no apparent reason. If a page's actual PR value was just above a division on the PR scale, the addition of new pages to the Web may cause the dividing line to move up the scale slightly and the page would end up just below the new division.
What this means is that you should always strive to get more links that point to your site, otherwise your site will naturally start slipping in rankings due to the “decay” of PageRank value for incoming links – both from other pages on your site as well as from other websites. This is also why you should add new pages to your site on a regular basis, as additional pages will increase your site’s overall PR score too.
www.google-secrets.com
Google Secrets – How to Get a Top 10 Ranking… page 50 of 88
The PageRank Equation
OK, I know you’ve waiting for it, so here is the official PageRank equation. Although impressive looking, it’s not really that complicated:
PR(your page) = 0.15 + 0.85 [(PR(page A) / total links (page A) ) + (PR(page B) / total links (page B) ) + «]
There are a couple of observations to note about the PR equation:
PR values for based on individual web pages.
The PR value of each page that links to your site in turn is dependent on the
PR of the pages that link to it, and so on backwards.
A link’s value (amount of PageRank or “voting power” forwarded to the linked- to page) is only 85% of the linking page’s PageRank value, and this value is diluted (decreased) by the number of other links on that page.
PR has nothing to do with keywords - it is purely dependent on link quantity and link strength, as discussed previously.
After playing around with the equation, some may incorrectly conclude that a link from a page with a PR=4 with only a few outgoing links is worth a more than a link from a page with a PR=7 with 100 outgoing links because for the latter, the “voting power” or value is divided up among 99 other links.
However, you must remember the logarithmic nature of the true PageRank. This means that a link from a PR=7 page that has lots of outbound links may be worth more than a link from a PR=4 page that has only a few outbound links. Whether this is true is dependent on the log base used for the PR equation, which is a secret.
Do not get caught up in the minutiae of determining whether a site is worth exchanging links with. Barring link farms, Free-For-All (FFA) sites, sites with a PR of
0 (which either aren’t indexed or have been “blacklisted” by Google), and sites that have nothing to do with your theme, you should strive to get more links that point to your site - period.
Note: Google performs from 20 - 40 iterations of the PageRank equation for each page in it’s entire index to determine the new PageRank value each month. This process takes up to a week to accomplish and is the primary cause of the “Google Dance” each month. For more information, see Deep Crawl and the Google Dance.
In most cases, when you want a link to your site placed on another site, the other site owner will want to have a link to their site put on your site as well. This is called
"reciprocal linking". It is for this reason that you should create and maintain a
"Related Links" page on your site.
In addition, you should also create a “Link to Us” page where other site owners can simply copy your HTML link code to their Links page. In this way, you control the use of keywords in the text of such links that point to your site.
Note: If you won’t be using different graphic banner ads, you can combine these two pages into one. In this case, simply list your “link to us” code at the top of your Related Links page.
Page Rank vs. Search Result Ranking & Toolbar PageRank vs. Actual PageRank
PageRank vs. Search Result Ranking
Some people confuse Google PageRank (PR) with their page’s ranking for a certain search result for a certain keyword. Google PR is just one factor that is used to determine your page’s actual rank (position or placement) on a search results page for a given search query.
It is not uncommon to see a page with a lower PageRank value that is positioned higher on a search results page than a page with a higher PageRank. This shows that PageRank is not the most important factor in Google’s ranking algorithm. A properly keyword-optimized site with an average PageRank can outrank a non- optimized site with a higher PageRank.
This is common for many large corporate sites. The corporate site may have a high PageRank as a result of the large number of other sites that link to it, but they end up being outranked due to their lack of search engine optimization.
Toolbar PageRank vs. Actual PageRank
So how does one find out what the PageRank (PR) value is for a given page? Well, Google has a tool, called the Google Toolbar, which allows you to see a crude approximation of PageRank value. Download and install the free Google Toolbar at http://toolbar.google.com/. Once installed, it should look like this in your browser:
Some people confuse Google PageRank (PR) with their page’s ranking for a certain search result for a certain keyword. Google PR is just one factor that is used to determine your page’s actual rank (position or placement) on a search results page for a given search query.
It is not uncommon to see a page with a lower PageRank value that is positioned higher on a search results page than a page with a higher PageRank. This shows that PageRank is not the most important factor in Google’s ranking algorithm. A properly keyword-optimized site with an average PageRank can outrank a non- optimized site with a higher PageRank.
This is common for many large corporate sites. The corporate site may have a high PageRank as a result of the large number of other sites that link to it, but they end up being outranked due to their lack of search engine optimization.
Toolbar PageRank vs. Actual PageRank
So how does one find out what the PageRank (PR) value is for a given page? Well, Google has a tool, called the Google Toolbar, which allows you to see a crude approximation of PageRank value. Download and install the free Google Toolbar at http://toolbar.google.com/. Once installed, it should look like this in your browser:
All About PageRank
This is the only chapter of the book that deals pretty much with theory only. However, because of the general confusion and hype over Google PageRank, it is important that you understand how PageRank works and what role it plays in achieving rankings.
PageRank, or PR, is a numeric value that Google places on how important a page is on the Web. PageRank is determined by how many incoming links there are for a page. Google figures that when one page links to another page, it is in effect “casting a vote” for the importance of the other page. The more incoming links (votes) there are for a page, the more important the page is to Google, generally speaking.
Many people have over-hyped PageRank and therefore introduced complexity that probably don't even exist, and added confusion that is not warranted. This may be partially because it is the only part of the Google ranking algorithm that is made public – well sort of.
PageRank, or PR, is a numeric value that Google places on how important a page is on the Web. PageRank is determined by how many incoming links there are for a page. Google figures that when one page links to another page, it is in effect “casting a vote” for the importance of the other page. The more incoming links (votes) there are for a page, the more important the page is to Google, generally speaking.
Many people have over-hyped PageRank and therefore introduced complexity that probably don't even exist, and added confusion that is not warranted. This may be partially because it is the only part of the Google ranking algorithm that is made public – well sort of.
Google Secrets – How to Get a Top 10 Ranking…
If only the quantity of links to a site were important, every site on the Web would link indiscriminately with every other site and the site with the largest number of incoming links would be #1 for a given keyword. This clearly is not the case.
Specifically, the quality of a link on another site that points to your site is determined by the following factors:
1. Text of the link – does it contain your keywords? (This very important)
2. Text of other links on the same page – do they also contain, or are similar to, your keywords?
3. Title of linking page – does it contain, or is it related to, your keywords?
4. Page content – are your keywords used elsewhere on the linking page?
Specifically, the quality of a link on another site that points to your site is determined by the following factors:
1. Text of the link – does it contain your keywords? (This very important)
2. Text of other links on the same page – do they also contain, or are similar to, your keywords?
3. Title of linking page – does it contain, or is it related to, your keywords?
4. Page content – are your keywords used elsewhere on the linking page?
Introducing PageRank
In a nutshell, PageRank (PR) deals with the quantity of incoming links and their relative strength. When one page links to another, it “casts a vote” for that page in the form of a numeric PageRank value.
In general, the more links you have that point to your site the better, as this increases the PageRank score of the page being linked to. This is also sometimes called link popularity. However, the amount of PageRank value these links can “forward” on to your site, and hence the amount that is used in the Google PageRank calculation, is diluted by the presence of other links on the same page. This is where link strength comes into play.
The greater the number of other links on a page, the weaker the strength of each individual link. Each link is essentially a “vote” for the page being linked to, and the strength of that “vote” is divided equally among all other links on the page. Which means, all other things being equal, if someone has a link to your site on their page with 100 other links, you won’t get any appreciable value from that link in the overall calculation, UNLESS the page has a very high PageRank score. Confused? All will be explained in the next chapter!
So What is Link Quality?
Google tries to return the most relevant results for a given search. One way Google does so is by searching for and analyzing keywords on pages of other websites that link to your site. What other sites “say” about your site through their link text, the title of their Links page, and the content of their Links page can be almost as important as what your own web pages say! This means that the quality of links may be as important as the quantity of links to your site.
You could have hundreds of pages linking to your site, but if the text of those links doesn’t match your keywords, or if the linking page content is not related to your site, those links by themselves probably won’t add any appreciable boost to your ranking.
In general, the more links you have that point to your site the better, as this increases the PageRank score of the page being linked to. This is also sometimes called link popularity. However, the amount of PageRank value these links can “forward” on to your site, and hence the amount that is used in the Google PageRank calculation, is diluted by the presence of other links on the same page. This is where link strength comes into play.
The greater the number of other links on a page, the weaker the strength of each individual link. Each link is essentially a “vote” for the page being linked to, and the strength of that “vote” is divided equally among all other links on the page. Which means, all other things being equal, if someone has a link to your site on their page with 100 other links, you won’t get any appreciable value from that link in the overall calculation, UNLESS the page has a very high PageRank score. Confused? All will be explained in the next chapter!
So What is Link Quality?
Google tries to return the most relevant results for a given search. One way Google does so is by searching for and analyzing keywords on pages of other websites that link to your site. What other sites “say” about your site through their link text, the title of their Links page, and the content of their Links page can be almost as important as what your own web pages say! This means that the quality of links may be as important as the quantity of links to your site.
You could have hundreds of pages linking to your site, but if the text of those links doesn’t match your keywords, or if the linking page content is not related to your site, those links by themselves probably won’t add any appreciable boost to your ranking.
The Importance of Links
Simply put, if your site has NO incoming links from other websites, your site will not be included in the Google index. You MUST have at least one incoming link from another website if you are going to show up in Google at all! Let’s repeat this:
You need at least one incoming link before you show up in Google at all!
Exchanging links with other websites is a tedious, time-consuming, and ongoing process. However, without other sites that link to your site, you will not show up anywhere near a top 10 ranking for your keywords on Google.
Incoming links from other sites can also increase your site traffic as follows:
You get higher rankings with Google, which means more people will find your website due to you being near the top of the search results for a given keyword phrase.
You get greater exposure by being listed on different websites. The power of this shouldn’t be underestimated. Not only should obtaining links from more sites over time steadily increase your traffic, but it also offers you some
“diversification” from relying solely on Google for all your traffic. Traffic to your site will increase over the long-term, as long as you actively manage your reciprocal link campaign.
Link Factors Used in the Algorithm
Link factors include that portion of the Google algorithm that determines page importance, which in turn is on primarily dependent PageRank (PR) – the quantity and strength of links that point to your site . However, the concept of link quality is also an important factor, which is not part of the PageRank calculation.
Strictly speaking, link quality is determined by keyword factors, which was the topic of the previous section of the book, but is listed here because of it’s close tie-in with your link exchange efforts.
You need at least one incoming link before you show up in Google at all!
Exchanging links with other websites is a tedious, time-consuming, and ongoing process. However, without other sites that link to your site, you will not show up anywhere near a top 10 ranking for your keywords on Google.
Incoming links from other sites can also increase your site traffic as follows:
You get higher rankings with Google, which means more people will find your website due to you being near the top of the search results for a given keyword phrase.
You get greater exposure by being listed on different websites. The power of this shouldn’t be underestimated. Not only should obtaining links from more sites over time steadily increase your traffic, but it also offers you some
“diversification” from relying solely on Google for all your traffic. Traffic to your site will increase over the long-term, as long as you actively manage your reciprocal link campaign.
Link Factors Used in the Algorithm
Link factors include that portion of the Google algorithm that determines page importance, which in turn is on primarily dependent PageRank (PR) – the quantity and strength of links that point to your site . However, the concept of link quality is also an important factor, which is not part of the PageRank calculation.
Strictly speaking, link quality is determined by keyword factors, which was the topic of the previous section of the book, but is listed here because of it’s close tie-in with your link exchange efforts.
Link Exchange
Main Points to consider:
1. You need to get links from relevant web pages. Links from irrelevant pages may result in a penalty being imposed upon you by the search engines.
2. The greater the number of relevant links to your pages the better.
3. The number of links to the sites that are linking to you is also to be taken into account. If a site has only a few other sites linking to it, then its value to you as a link partner is not nearly as great as a site that has a thousand links pointing in its direction.
4. When considering someone's web page as a potential link partner, check the PageRank of the page that you wish to exchange links with (using the Google Toolbar as described above). If the PageRank is 5 or greater (the rankings are measured out of 10, the higher number being a higher ranking), then it is a worthy contender for consideration.
How to actually go about arranging the link exchange:
1. Do a search in Google using your keywords (to ensure that relevant websites appear on the search page).
2. Check the PageRank of the site (being on the first page of listings probably means that its PR is OK).
3. Confirm that the site will exchange links (check to see if it has a links page).
4. If all is well then find the email contact details of the webmaster. Send him/her a nice email pointing out what you like about their site, and why you feel that an exchange of links would be of mutual benefit. Be sure to include your site name, a description of your site, your URL and contact email address. The actual linking text that you want placed on their site should include your principle keywords.
5. Check the link pages of sites that you wish to link to, because here you have a ready made list of (presumably) relevant links that you should also be considering.
If you would prefer the linking process to be automated, then it is worth considering automated link exchange software. Two software programs worthy of consideration are Arelis and Zeus. Another idea is to list with a link exchange. A free exchange that is well worth a look is Ken Evoy's SiteSell Value Exchange.
1. You need to get links from relevant web pages. Links from irrelevant pages may result in a penalty being imposed upon you by the search engines.
2. The greater the number of relevant links to your pages the better.
3. The number of links to the sites that are linking to you is also to be taken into account. If a site has only a few other sites linking to it, then its value to you as a link partner is not nearly as great as a site that has a thousand links pointing in its direction.
4. When considering someone's web page as a potential link partner, check the PageRank of the page that you wish to exchange links with (using the Google Toolbar as described above). If the PageRank is 5 or greater (the rankings are measured out of 10, the higher number being a higher ranking), then it is a worthy contender for consideration.
How to actually go about arranging the link exchange:
1. Do a search in Google using your keywords (to ensure that relevant websites appear on the search page).
2. Check the PageRank of the site (being on the first page of listings probably means that its PR is OK).
3. Confirm that the site will exchange links (check to see if it has a links page).
4. If all is well then find the email contact details of the webmaster. Send him/her a nice email pointing out what you like about their site, and why you feel that an exchange of links would be of mutual benefit. Be sure to include your site name, a description of your site, your URL and contact email address. The actual linking text that you want placed on their site should include your principle keywords.
5. Check the link pages of sites that you wish to link to, because here you have a ready made list of (presumably) relevant links that you should also be considering.
If you would prefer the linking process to be automated, then it is worth considering automated link exchange software. Two software programs worthy of consideration are Arelis and Zeus. Another idea is to list with a link exchange. A free exchange that is well worth a look is Ken Evoy's SiteSell Value Exchange.
How do I increase my site's link popularity
One way linking building is part of the answer to the common question of 'How do I increase my site's link popularity?' This is one of the best SEO tools in the box, one way link building is a powerful organic SEO method that everybody has at their disposal.
One way link building increases your site's link popularity in the eyes of the search engines, and inturn increases your site's search engine result listing. One way links may gain your site additional 'walk through' visitors from sites that have linked to you. Better still, because a site has one way linked your site, it shouts at the search engines in a good old fashioned way... THIS IS A SUPERB WEBSITE!
You can use one way links to augment your site's chosen high traffic keywords. You see, if you use the keywords that you've chosen for your site as the 'title' of your site when obtaining a one way link, the search engines see this link back as a 'pat on the back' for your website by another 'independent' website; they assign a greater relevancy to your website in relation to the keyword/s used in the 'keyword anchor text' title displayed by the other site.
You've designed your site around a specific group of keywords, or created keyword rich relevant index-able pages within your site. You've utilised as many 'on-page optimisation factors' as possible, the search engines have visited and liked what they've seen. The problem being though is that most of the major search engines also have in-built algorithms that measure the number of sites linking back to yours.
This is a kind of programmed in 'safety net' that the search engines have that measures the number of sites linking back to you, and the method and/or wording used by the site in the anchor text of the link back to you. The search engines do this because they want their results to be as 'relevant' as possible. Another website linking back to your site using a carefully chosen keyword in the anchor text of the link back, is therefore seen by the search engines as a pat on the back for your site. This link back will boost your site's perceived relevancy for the keyword in question in SERPs, when search on by real life search engine users.
If you want to make one way link building as powerful as possible you should ensure your link anchor text contains at least one of your website page's meta tag keywords. These keywords will then naturally correspond to the relevant content or pages that you are having linked to on your website.
It follows therefore that if your site is about model trains, you'd try to get as many link backs to your site using the word model trains in the title / anchor text of the link. You could also use this method to target other model train related words. For instance, you could go for hornby model trains, if this had been previously identified by you as being a high traffic relevant keyword.
One way link building is a fantastic natural organic method of increasing your site's search engine result page ranking. There are a number of ethical ways of helping this method along and boosting your own site's search engine results on keywords of your choice.
Directory Submissions
Blog Feeding / Commenting
Active Participation In Relevant Forums
Community Space Marketing
Competitor Site Link Back Analysis
One way link building increases your site's link popularity in the eyes of the search engines, and inturn increases your site's search engine result listing. One way links may gain your site additional 'walk through' visitors from sites that have linked to you. Better still, because a site has one way linked your site, it shouts at the search engines in a good old fashioned way... THIS IS A SUPERB WEBSITE!
You can use one way links to augment your site's chosen high traffic keywords. You see, if you use the keywords that you've chosen for your site as the 'title' of your site when obtaining a one way link, the search engines see this link back as a 'pat on the back' for your website by another 'independent' website; they assign a greater relevancy to your website in relation to the keyword/s used in the 'keyword anchor text' title displayed by the other site.
You've designed your site around a specific group of keywords, or created keyword rich relevant index-able pages within your site. You've utilised as many 'on-page optimisation factors' as possible, the search engines have visited and liked what they've seen. The problem being though is that most of the major search engines also have in-built algorithms that measure the number of sites linking back to yours.
This is a kind of programmed in 'safety net' that the search engines have that measures the number of sites linking back to you, and the method and/or wording used by the site in the anchor text of the link back to you. The search engines do this because they want their results to be as 'relevant' as possible. Another website linking back to your site using a carefully chosen keyword in the anchor text of the link back, is therefore seen by the search engines as a pat on the back for your site. This link back will boost your site's perceived relevancy for the keyword in question in SERPs, when search on by real life search engine users.
If you want to make one way link building as powerful as possible you should ensure your link anchor text contains at least one of your website page's meta tag keywords. These keywords will then naturally correspond to the relevant content or pages that you are having linked to on your website.
It follows therefore that if your site is about model trains, you'd try to get as many link backs to your site using the word model trains in the title / anchor text of the link. You could also use this method to target other model train related words. For instance, you could go for hornby model trains, if this had been previously identified by you as being a high traffic relevant keyword.
One way link building is a fantastic natural organic method of increasing your site's search engine result page ranking. There are a number of ethical ways of helping this method along and boosting your own site's search engine results on keywords of your choice.
Directory Submissions
Blog Feeding / Commenting
Active Participation In Relevant Forums
Community Space Marketing
Competitor Site Link Back Analysis
Types of directories & Types of directory submissions
Types of directories
There are two main types of directories, general directories and niche directories. General directories will include any web site within their large list of categories, which may range from arts and literature to shopping sites. Niche directories only accept sites that are within it’s niche or theme. For example, a jewelry directory will list only web sites with jewelry related content and therefore, will not list a lingerie site.
Types of directory submissions
There are two types of submissions to directories, paid submissions and free submissions.
A paid submission is when there is an exchange of money for the review of a web site submission. Paying for a submission doesn’t necessarily mean that a site will be accepted into the directory. Some directories will refund the submission fee if the site is not listed in the directory. Other directories will keep the submission fee even though the site does not pass their review to be included in their directory. Submission fees can also be a recurring fee or a one time fee. Most paid submission directories will usually guarantee the review of the web site within, typically, 48-72 hours.
A free directory submission, as the name suggests, costs no money to submit your site. Some directories with free submission will require a link back to the directory. Most directories with free submissions will not have a guarantee that the submission will be reviewed within a given time period. For this reason, many free directory submissions may take months, even years before the submission gets reviewed.
Not all directories are created equal!
There are many directories that are spammy, created for the purpose of illiciting one way links for link exchanges. Such directories will often accept any directory submission as long as a reciprocal link can be provided and they typically don’t check the quality of the site being submitted. Such directories are often not worth submitting to.
However, there are also many reputable directories. A reputable directory will review the submission and the web site proposed for inclusion into their directory. They won’t include just any site into their directory, but sites that have unique content. There are many reputable directories, the top two being:
1.Dmoz.org - Also known as the Open Directory Project or ODP. Dmoz only accepts free submissions. Links from Dmoz.org are static html links. Submissions are reviewed by volunteers so it may take anywhere between 1 week and 2 years to get listed, if you get listed. There is no notification of whether the site submitted will be listed, or when it will be listed.
2.Yahoo! Directory - Yahoo’s directory will accept both free submissions and paid submissions. The fee for paid submissions are annually recurring. Links from Yahoo’s directory uses redirected links, but it’s thought that search engines such as Google can still determine that your site is listed in Yahoo! Directory and this may work in your favor in terms of ranking in search engines.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Directory Links
Advantages of Directory Links
Can be free
Web site submissions can be reviewed within, typically, 48-72 hours if the submission is paid
Directories often have high PageRank that can be passed onto your site
People still use directories to get to web sites, so it’s also a good source of traffic
Disadvantages of Directory Links
Can cost money
Can take up to 2 years or more to get a free directory submission reviewed
There is little control over what anchor text will be used
Time consuming to find and submit your web site
There are two main types of directories, general directories and niche directories. General directories will include any web site within their large list of categories, which may range from arts and literature to shopping sites. Niche directories only accept sites that are within it’s niche or theme. For example, a jewelry directory will list only web sites with jewelry related content and therefore, will not list a lingerie site.
Types of directory submissions
There are two types of submissions to directories, paid submissions and free submissions.
A paid submission is when there is an exchange of money for the review of a web site submission. Paying for a submission doesn’t necessarily mean that a site will be accepted into the directory. Some directories will refund the submission fee if the site is not listed in the directory. Other directories will keep the submission fee even though the site does not pass their review to be included in their directory. Submission fees can also be a recurring fee or a one time fee. Most paid submission directories will usually guarantee the review of the web site within, typically, 48-72 hours.
A free directory submission, as the name suggests, costs no money to submit your site. Some directories with free submission will require a link back to the directory. Most directories with free submissions will not have a guarantee that the submission will be reviewed within a given time period. For this reason, many free directory submissions may take months, even years before the submission gets reviewed.
Not all directories are created equal!
There are many directories that are spammy, created for the purpose of illiciting one way links for link exchanges. Such directories will often accept any directory submission as long as a reciprocal link can be provided and they typically don’t check the quality of the site being submitted. Such directories are often not worth submitting to.
However, there are also many reputable directories. A reputable directory will review the submission and the web site proposed for inclusion into their directory. They won’t include just any site into their directory, but sites that have unique content. There are many reputable directories, the top two being:
1.Dmoz.org - Also known as the Open Directory Project or ODP. Dmoz only accepts free submissions. Links from Dmoz.org are static html links. Submissions are reviewed by volunteers so it may take anywhere between 1 week and 2 years to get listed, if you get listed. There is no notification of whether the site submitted will be listed, or when it will be listed.
2.Yahoo! Directory - Yahoo’s directory will accept both free submissions and paid submissions. The fee for paid submissions are annually recurring. Links from Yahoo’s directory uses redirected links, but it’s thought that search engines such as Google can still determine that your site is listed in Yahoo! Directory and this may work in your favor in terms of ranking in search engines.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Directory Links
Advantages of Directory Links
Can be free
Web site submissions can be reviewed within, typically, 48-72 hours if the submission is paid
Directories often have high PageRank that can be passed onto your site
People still use directories to get to web sites, so it’s also a good source of traffic
Disadvantages of Directory Links
Can cost money
Can take up to 2 years or more to get a free directory submission reviewed
There is little control over what anchor text will be used
Time consuming to find and submit your web site
Directory Links
Directory links are links from web directories, these are web sites that collect and organize web sites into categories for easier browsing. Directories were most popular during the period prior to search engines becoming the main method of finding information. Although they are used less today, they are still a valuable source links and traffic to your web site.
Friday, May 28, 2010
Learning How to Do Desktop Publishing
Learning how to do desktop publishing involves mastering desktop publishing tasks that fall into 6 areas: design, setup, text, images, file preparation, and printing.
Thursday, April 8, 2010
What are the Rules of Desktop Publishing?
While there are no hard and fast rules, there are guidelines, best practices, and tried and true methods of arranging a page and doing desktop publishing that result in attractive pages that effectively communicate the intended message.
How to Do Desktop Publishing and Desktop Printing
Assuming you have the appropriate desktop publishing software, chosen for the type of projects and printing you plan to do, and understand the basics of using desktop publishing software, here are the key steps to creating an attractive layout in most types of page layout software and printing it from your desktop printer.
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