Posted: Thu 20 November 2008

Top ten tips for better Search Engine Optimization 8/10

Linking Part 2 – Directories or Networking

The big issue with link building is the amount of time it takes to build those links. Information can be submitted to directories but unless you have done the research beforehand to find out which directories yield to highest levels of PageRank. In addition to researching the directories you have to decide whether you want to be included in pay for directories, for example Yahoo has a paid for directory that will cost you $399 a year to be included in. The upside to using this directory and other paid directories is that you will cut down on spammers submitting their sites as only true and authentic sites would be paying to be included on these directories.

The other way of building links is to ‘network’. Find a website that has a good level of PageRank, find out who controls the site and build a relationship with them. Now this can take a long time – if you are looking for a link from a good quality website you can spend days trying to build a relationship and, still there are no guarantees. The best thing to do is show that you understand the audience of the other site and that your website has something interesting and different to offer. You can build up a relationship by commenting on their site, emailing them or even going to meet them in person but the long and short of it is that you want to show them something they don’t have that their users would enjoy and ask them to link to you. As I said this is a long process but can be extremely beneficial as one high quality link from a similar website can push your website into the higher echelons of the search rankings.

Link building is an important element of SEO but you need to decide how you want to go about it. You can submit to hundreds of low quality directories or spend time building a relationship with one or two high quality websites – then there is always the option is to pay someone else to do it – but whatever you do make sure you don’t misconstrue the importance of inbound links.

If you think that your business would benefit from our online marketing or search engine optimisation services then give us a call on 0116 269 2699.

By: Andrew Gaukrodger
http://www.eazytiger.net
Web design and ecommerce Leicester

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