Search Engine Academy of South Carolina

I read a great article today that really details how important links are to your Web site success.  I could not have said it better so I felt I needed to share the complete article with you.  The article was written by Article Marketer, Mike Liebner from Article Underground.

To get a top ranking for a keyword phrase on Google and the other search engines, your web page should have that exact keyword phrase on the page itself PLUS it must have good links pointing at the URL (your web page).

If no links point to that URL - Google will assume it is a page with little or no value.

Taking this a step further - links are BEST when they have GOOD KEYWORDS in the LINK TEXT.

LINK TEXT : the text that is found within the LINK pointing at your web page.

A banner or image link is better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick, but even better is a good text link.

When they see a text link with your keywords in the link text - it helps them to decide how they will rank you when people search for that keyword phrase.

Putting the right words on your web pages pages is a step in the right direction, but if Google NEVER sees any of those words in LINK TEXT, either on your site or as linked on other sites, there is very little chance they will rank you on top for any of those keywords.

The solution is to to find out what PHRASES and keywords are on your pages and do your best to get links to your page with the exact words.

HOT TIP: Use the AUKDAT Keyword Density Analyzer Tool to find out what single, 2 word and 3 word phrases appear on your web page. Simply enter a URL and AUKDAT will tell you the words that are on your page (and also show you which words could appear MORE OFTEN! ie if a KEYWORD PHRASE appears more than 2 times it is more likely to bring you traffic).

Each time Google sees a word it will start to give your reputation a boost for that - it spills over to other word combinations too…

Example:

Free Web Traffic

If you have a few links with that phrase on pages that are indexed - Google will start giving you JUICE for not only that exact phrase but also for other phrases that have either

free

or

web

or

traffic

So every time a link has some of your words in it - Google will start giving you juice for the phrase and the words - tons of possible combinations will also get juice.

 This is very complex and can be discussed at length… but the basic core concept is - if you want your web page to rank for a lot of keywords - make sure you have at least a few good links using those words pointing at your page!

One page can get top rankings for hundreds or even thousands of keyword combinations BUT that said - if you DILUTE the value of the PRIMARY PHRASE too much - that primary phrase will slip. So be careful to always your your most important keywords in the limelight.

What is a good linking strategy? I suggest you decide on your primary keyword phrases for each web page - 3 to 5 phrases are generally enough to target with emphasis.

Get a few links for each those primary phrases from other web sites than your own and then wait and see if your keywords rank on top and bring traffic - if they do rank and start to bring you traffic - focus on those exact phrases that bring you visitors so you can push them up to the top of the rankings.

Just make sure you have some variety in your link text so that you don’t have patterns showing it may not be NATURAL.

In the real world popular web pages have links with text that has LOTS of variety and even BAD LINK TEXT - because people who link to your page because they like it don’t always have GOOD SEO in mind - so the most popular pages on the web will naturally have a large variety of links pointing at it - not just a handful of keywords repeated over and over with no variations - that is not natural!

You need to be careful that when you read helpful tips such as those I am giving you that you don’t take them too literal. You need to see the nuances that are needed. Try not to be a robot and machine. Think a little and make your link text like that of real world successful web pages.

When you start promoting your web page with text links it is easy. A few links will not reveal patterns.

When they see only a few links, even with the same link text - they can’t tell it is an un-natural pattern - but if you HAMMER IT and get lots of links with those few exact keyword phrases - it will quickly become more obvious with the more exact links you get.

Because in the real world NO ONE PAGE gets 100 of 100 links with the same link text… it just does not happen.

Now, I know there are a few people thinking they are screwed…. it’s too difficult to keep track of the keywords… I suggest the following.

Start off slow. Build a nice web page and get a few good links pointing at it to start with a few phrases. Then work on other new pages and wait for your statistics to tell you which keyword phrases are bringing you traffic. These will be the core phrases you want to work on improving your rankings.

If you find a keyword phrase is bringing you traffic and it is NOT number one - simply get a few more links with those keywords and try to push it up the page! It’s easy!

You can do this for any phrase which is sending you traffic. Just keep in mind there is a possibility that when you have new text links out there with different words and combinations - it may harm some of your primary rankings. Often it won’t, but if you use some words too often Google will think your page is about those words and it can hurt your reputation for other words.

Don’t worry about this too much - just avoid having ONE PHRASE linked too often - when they see it the first few times they will most likely rank you on top - just chill - don’t link too much - if they see TOO MANY LINKS TOO FAST and not enough variety they will assume you are trying to pull a fast one on them.

An alarm will go off and you may get penalized.

The solution is to go slow and try to be natural. Just have some variety and don’t hammer any one phrase too much.

Never more than 75or 80% of your total links should have the same phrase. And always have a handful of phrases with variations. Add an extra word or two to your main phrase. This will help your main phrase get juice and at the same time show them variety.

This article was written by Article Marketer, Mike Liebner from Article Underground.