SEO Tip: Building Links Pt 2.

Less Useful Links

While these links aren't bad to have, they're not terribly useful. Directory submission is often touted as great SEO, and getting your site listed in the top SEO web directories can have a good impact. There are plenty of small directories that you can list your site in as well, but they probably won't help your rankings much if as all. The search engines know these places and de-value their links. Another way search engines de-value links is when the link contains a "nofollow". Nofollow is a way for web site owners to link to something (or allow users on the site to link to something) without the actual site giving the link credit. It appears that the search engines look at the text in the link, but give it little weight. So, while they aren't bad to have, they don't seem to help much.

Links To Avoid

There are certain places on the Internet that the search engines consider to be bad neighbors. While having one of these sites link to you won't kill your ranking, having too many of these types of links will. SEO bad neighbors come in several varieties, but I will cover the basics here. Any web site that requires that you link back to them is probably not going to help you. These types of links can often hurt your web site if the site you're linking to is not related to your subject. Another thing to avoid is the type of sites that "kids" shouldn't be looking at. Sites containing pornography or illegal content can often cause trouble. Finally sites using "black hat" or spam SEO techniques often get punished, and will bring you down with them. Stick to sites with good content about your subject and you should be safe.

Resources For Getting Links

Now that you know the basics of what are the good and bad links, how do you get them? Building good natural links is not easy, and that's why they are so important. You can start by going to the top search engines (Google, Yahoo!, and MSN) and making a list of the top ten sites for your related search terms. Then try contacting a few of those sites that look promising to see if there is anything you can do to get your site mentioned from their site. While your chances aren't great, it might just work out for you. You can also try looking at who's linking to these sites. Yahoo has a nice feature. You just type "site:www.domain.name" with the www.domain.name being the actual web site, and they will give you a fairly detailed list of links coming in to the domain. Maybe some of these sites will link to you.

If that is a bit too slow and complicated for you, then you could always try building a few links using the Webconfs backlink builder. Just remember to take a good look at the sites listed and try to figure out if they are about the same subject as your site. It is quite possible that you will find bad neighbors in the list, so be careful.

If all of this is complicated then remember that seo and search engine marketing can be easy by calling 393-1410 in Costa Rica or 1-616-328-5569 from the USA. Or send a quick e-mail to sales@cr-sg.com. Our experts will be happy to show you how to drive more traffic to your site, and how to convert that traffic in to new business. Pura Vida!