Top 9 ways to link popularity

Link popularity has become an important factor in the ranking algorithms of most search engines. If many quality Web sites link to your site, you'll have a good position in the search engines.

There are a number of ways to improve the link popularity of your Web site. Here's the first half of our top 9 list on how to improve your link popularity:

1. Cross-link your sites

An easy way to improve your link popularity is to add a link from your own popular Web site to a less popular site of your own.

However, it's very important that one site is not only a duplicate of the other and that both sites are related to each other. For example, stakh.com links to seonews.com and vice versa. Both sites are different but they offer related content.

2. Awards for you and other sites

You can submit your Web site to sites who offer awards. If they reward you their award, then they'll probably link to your site. Just search Google for "awards directory your-keyword" (replace "your-keyword" with a keyword that is important to your business).

You can also offer an award for other Web sites. Submit your awards page to the above-mentioned awards directories to make it popular. The Web sites who receive your award will link back to your site.

3. Give testimonials

Everyone has some favorite software tools and utilities. Contact the publishers or developers and explain why you like their software programs. Some of them will request a permission to display your testimonial on their Web site, along with a link to your site.

You can also contact Web sites that don't offer software programs but interesting articles. Just make sure that you really stand behind what you say as it can backfire to you if you recommend bad products

4. List your Web site with Yahoo

If you have a business Web site, you might want to pay US$299 yearly to Yahoo to have your Web site listed:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/suggest/busexpress.html

If you have a non-business site, you can submit to Yahoo without paying: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/suggest/

5. Participate in newsgroups and discussion forums

When you post to newsgroups and discussion forums, add a signature file with a link to your Web site.

An easy way to post messages in newsgroups is to create a Google account and to post via their Web interface:
http://groups.google.com

To find good discussion forums, just search Google for "forums directory your-keyword". For example, if you want to participate in a marketing forum, search Google for "forums directory marketing".

6. Provide a link directory

Offer a link directory on your Web site which links to quality Web sites with a similar topic. Your visitors will appreciate such a resource and you'll provide incentive for other sites to link to your site.

You can add a "link to us" page to your Web site on which you promise to add other complementary sites to your link directory if they link back to you first.

7. List your Web site with Open Directory Project (ODP)

If your Web site is listed in the popular directory ODP, then your Web site will have a good base for the link popularity.

Rumor has it that Google starts crawling Web sites with the Web sites listed in the ODP directory. Best of all, you can add your Web site to ODP without paying a fee.

8. Write articles for your audience

Write articles about the topics that your Web site visitors are interested in. After a while, other Web sites will link back to your articles.

You can also send your articles to syndicate Web sites. They'll offer your articles to other Web sites. Just make sure that your article contains a link to your Web site so that other sites who publish your article will automatically link to you.

9. Get reciprocal links from complementary sites

Search the major search engines for your keywords. They will return many Web sites that don't compete with your site, or which offer complementary things.

Visit their site and then write them an email message to request a link to your site. If you link back to them first, they'll be more likely to link to you.

Write articles for your audience

Write articles about the topics that your Web site visitors are interested in. After a while, other Web sites will link back to your articles.

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