HTML Search Engine Optimization: Links

By Taylor Digital Tuesday May 18, 2010

This article is the third in our series “HTML Search Engine Optimization“. Over the next few weeks we’ll be explaining more about how to better optimize your web sites HTML code and how it can help your ranking in major search engines. In this series we will cover such topics as content, code, links, competitor research, website submission, and pay per click.

Optimizing Web Site Links

The importance of links as part of a search engine program should not be underestimated or overlooked. In the online search environment today it’s nearly impossible to rank highly without many high value links pointing to your web site. The reason for this is that a link is counted as a “vote” from one web site to another. You are in essence approving of the content on the linked page by displaying it for others to visit.

While many factors such as anchor text, placement, age and site trust all play a factor we will only focus on different ways that links can be acquired. Linking can be accomplished through internal and external means on your own site or others that exist on the web. While these methods alone won’t guarantee you a top spot in major search engines, it will start you on the path to receiving more organic traffic and put you in better standing with search engines.

Internal

Links that belong to your domain (i.e. www.yoursite.com) can work in the same way as those outside of your domain. If you have internal pages that are constantly linked to (for good reason) by other pages, you are letting search engines know that you want users to see the content on that page, making it valuable. If your site already holds a high rank, internal links are that much more valuable.

Make a site with a clear hierarchy and text links. Every page should be reachable from at least one static text link. -Google Support

Are you making the most of your internal site links? You should arrange your internal link architecture to created a clear internal navigation and share links between your most valuable pages to increase the internal activity within your site.

As shown in the example image below, the bottom of our blog posts contains a “Related Posts” area that will link you to other pages within our blog. This not only makes our articles easier to find by our visitors, but it makes it easier for search engines as well.

internal-links

To make the best of your internal website links you have to set a clear objective and focus on keyword/phrase relevancy based on your goal. If we assume that www.yoursite.com is a banking company, instead of using the page title “Your Site – Home Page” it would work best to include important descriptive keywords. Leaving out less desirable words and focusing on keywords gives us the more suitable page title “Your Site – Online Banking Financial Services”. So the work stops there right? Think again, your work doesn’t stop at the page title.

If you are linking to other internal pages from your home page in the navigation, footer or other areas you want to make sure you are targeting valuable keywords and phrases in your links. Always optimize your anchor text (the text in the link) and be as consistent as possible.

website-links

InBound (External)

Links that reside on pages that do not belong to your domain (i.e. www.anothersite.com) and link to your domain (i.e. www.yoursite.com) are external links. When considering top ranking factors external links are one of the most important and without them it will be difficult for visitors to find your amazing website.

What if you don’t know if anyone is linking to you? Here at Taylor Digital, all of our clients are setup with Google Analytics for tracking and website statistics. You can also use the quick method of searching Google with the phrase link:www.yoursite.com to see who has an indexed links for your website.

Google says it looks at more than 100 pieces of data to determine a site’s ranking. But links are where it’s at, once your search terms are clearly visible on your site and the title and description tags correctly marked. -USA Today

There are a number of proven methods for bringing traffic to your site and one way is by creating unique, keyword rich, quality content. When a site has such content, increased link popularity and exposure will happen over time if not instantly (once promoted). Inbound links will help your traffic by directing people to your site by clicking a link located on another website and by increased page importance in search engines.

In a nutshell: Google ranks sites based on popularity. If authoritative sites link to you, you must be good, and therefore you get to the top of the list. If you can’t get top sites such as USATODAY.com or The New York Times to link to you, try your friends. And what if they don’t have a site? They probably do. -USA Today

If you are interested in bringing in new inbound links in addition to having compelling content on your site you can consider the methods below.

Provide a product or service that will be useful and become a value add for visitors of your site. If visitors like your service, they are more likely to share your website or link to you.
Participate actively and thoughtfully in user reviews and blogs related to your business. Give insight from your perspective to help others and gain trust.
Teach your visitors something new and interesting, uncover related news, showcase your expertise, interview industry leaders and be insightful.
Think with common sense when creating content because it’s all about your business and services. If you are a property manager in California, write about how to maintain your properties or the top ten ways to get new leases. Those topics can become popular fast.
Don’t over do it by overusing keywords/phrases so much that they feel they don’t belong with your content. After you have used words a few times, Google has a pretty good idea that your page has something to do with the used keyword.

Public Relations

When you keep your visitors aware of events you will be attending or are industry related, you can be counted on as a resource. By utilizing a news and events page you are able to keep in-touch with your users, update them on any changes within your company and form interest. For example, Apple Computers keeps a “Hot News” page to update the public with product launches, software updates, industry thoughts and other relevant news.

apple-news-page

In addition to publishing news and events on your own website, you will benefit from sharing your news on other industry websites. News releases have come a long way and now include video and visual imagery. By submitting your news to websites such as PR Web or PR Newswire and you can receive placement on Google and Yahoo news.

By utilizing the value of PR companies you will help spread your news through many industry websites, RSS feeds and keep you interconnected to your industry. If follow guidelines on how to write a press release you should receive a substantial amount of traffic and visual exposure.

PRWeb’s network…an audience of more than 80 million unique visitors in the United States alone…news releases are distributed directly to an audience of more than two million visitors each month on PRWeb.com, 300,000 direct subscribers, and thousands of media outlets and journalists. -PR Web

Social Networks

When moving into social networks for increased visibility, you can look into both public networks and business networks. Today social networks real benefits are utilized market your product, share new with fans, grow your network and hire the right people.

Utilizing this technology is not only good for sales, it’s good for business. With the growing number of businesses using social networking sites to promote their business, many sites have begin to focus on connecting entrepreneurs, business owners and other professionals together. How hard can it be, right?

When participating in social networks you can easily share photo, video and links within your community of fans and friends. When your content is posted this active community will view your content and drive a wave of traffic to your site. This wave can increase exponentially if users like the content enough to re-post it for their friends and family to see.

This wave is the most powerful and relies on quality content that will intrigue users. Your chances of being successful rely on your ability to follow the social networking rules of engagement. By becoming visible and adding value to your social network you increase your chances of success. Domino’s Pizza has decided to use social media to “capture the taste buds” of pizza holdouts by getting them to order their new pizza.

dominos-pizza-holdouts

Does your company need a better Search Engine ranking and increased traffic? For a customized Search Engine Optimization program, Contact Taylor Digital Today.