Links, links, links: why links are essential in SEO
Successful search engine optimization strategy has two prongs: on-page and off-page optimization. On-page optimization involves a competitive keyword analysis identifying which keywords your target audience is using, and which keywords you can best compete for. We then implement those keywords throughout your title tag, content, file names, and other meta tags.
Off-page optimization is gathering quality links to your website using those same keywords in the link (anchor) text. This step is often neglected by many clients we speak with. However, off-page optimization is as important as on-page, if not more so. The quality and quantity of links from external websites, called “inbound links,” is paramount. If you look at the SEO industry consensus, the half of the to 10 factors have to do with inbound links.
Here is practical advice on how to gather internal links
- Send individually addressed emails to your colleagues, friends, vendors, and clients. Let them know about your newly optimized site, and ask them if they would link to your site.
- Tell them what you would like the link to say. This is extremely important. Let’s say one of your top keywords is “Denver ski shop.” When you ask your friends to link to your site, say: “The words used in the link itself are important to search engines because indicates what my site is about. So please use the phrase ‘Denver ski shop’ as the link to my site http://www.example.com.”
- As a general rule, avoid link farms and paid links. Natural links from colleagues and clients are more…well, natural. Search engines are always tweaking their results to reward real, natural, quality links.
- Utilize our link building services: we provide link building services to our clients through our partnership with one of the top 10 link building companies in the world. Your links are obtained from the right partners based on a thorough research of your competitors and potential business market space. We also keep in mind these quality guidelines
- No Frame Sites
- No Java script pages
- No link farms
- No redirected sites
- No sub-domain sites
- Keywords in anchor text
This comprehensive, two-pronged approach has helped us get a variety of clients and keywords into the top ten of Google search engine results pages. Contact us today about optimizing your site for maximum search engine penetration.
eye9 Design is a leading Denver, Colorado SEO company providing affordable web site search engine optimization to clients across the nation.
April 7th, 2008 at 3:47 pm
I agree building links can be tough, but stick with it and allocate about 1/2 an hour to 1 hour in link building everyday and you’ll be surprised. Great article!
Denver Used Cars
April 23rd, 2008 at 4:05 pm
[...] a previous post we discussed our two-pronged search engine optimization (SEO) strategy: on-page and off-page [...]
May 12th, 2008 at 3:35 pm
And don’t forget the famous “nofollow.” It’s hard to find sites without nofollow nows-adays (including yours), but you can work your butt off building incoming links and have it count for nothing if search engines don’t index it.