On-page content and optimization by itself is no longer enough.
Unfortunately, link popularity has become a dominant factor
in deciding who ranks the highest within the major search
engines, especially within Google. If a competitor of yours
is both optimized for the same target search terms and has
a higher quantity and/or higher quality of back links, they
are going to outrank you: period. Even if your website is
perfectly optimized for an extremely niche search term and
no other site in the world even mentions your exact phrase,
you may still have trouble finding your website if you do
not have at least a few back links to “validate” your
website.
If it came down to a contest between on-page optimization
efforts against link building efforts, links would win hands
down. You may find it shocking to hear a President of an
optimization firm saying such a thing, but its true. I would
challenge anyone to outrank a website that has a massive
number of quality back links by using on-page optimization
efforts alone with zero link building efforts. Whereas, you
can easily outrank a website that is extremely well optimized
by focusing heavily on link building efforts. An interesting
example is Apple.com. One of the most important elements
of optimization is to place the target key phrase within
the meta title tag. However, search for the word “computers” on
Google and you will find Apple.com on the first page of results.
Apple does not even mention the word computers in their meta
title tag. How is this possible when there are literally
millions of competing websites that are aggressively trying
to show up for this term by applying various optimization
efforts? The answer is that Apple.com has a superior volume
of back links (over 70,000 in Google alone). And a large
percentage of these links include the word computers within
the anchor text (i.e. Apple Computers, Mac Computers, etc.).
Does this mean Optimization is dead?
The answer of course, is no. Search engines still love websites
that have tons of fresh and relevant content. It is the basis
of what search engine results are all about. Copywriting
fees are worth every penny when it comes to adding well written
descriptions of your products and services onto your website.
Professional optimization companies still flourish because
of the success they bring to their clients through increased
rankings and traffic. For optimum results, you need both
optimization and links to succeed today.
It's not just the quantity of incoming links, but the quality
and relevance of the websites from which they come, as well
as what words are used within the visible text portion of
the hyperlinks, i.e. "anchor text.” Reciprocated links
have less value than they use to and can potentially hurt
your rankings if you are exchanging with too many unrelated
websites, i.e. bad neighborhoods. One-way links are the best
links.
During the last few Search Engine Strategies conferences,
I could not help but notice an increasing number of link-related
workshops, including a class dedicated to purchasing text
links. Matt Cutts, official spokesman and software engineer
for Google shared how he personally believes that buying
links is like a politician buying votes and that incoming
links should only grow naturally. He shared that the best
way to receive incoming text links was to offer something
truly helpful and/or unique and interesting to the public
and that this would generate free unsolicited, incoming links
without even asking. He offered some extreme examples of
very creative websites, which caused a national media stir.
Within minutes frustrated attendees spoke up about how the
search engines started this whole thing by giving too much
criteria to links in the first place, and that buying links
on other sites (be it through banners or text links) has
been a conventional form of advertising well before Google
even existed.
Some commented that if Google was considering penalization
for sites that buy or sell links, they should start with
Yahoo, since Yahoo earns a good portion of their income from
selling paid text links (i.e. $299/year directory listings).
Interesting enough, Google actually recommends on their website
that you submit to directories such as Yahoo.
I am sure that a majority of website owners today would
love to come up with creative ideas that would generate a
ton of unsolicited media attention. The truth is that coming
up with something exciting to say about reverse vacuum pumps,
or single-mode fiber optic tool kits, or Batesville real
estate is easier said than done. Most of the clients we work
with offer clear and simple information about their products
and services. Waiting around for other websites to give them
free, one-way text links may very well result in additional
years of continual poor search engine rankings and a lack
of sales.
So how do you build back links? Below is a short list of
some of the most common ways to increase your back links:
- Offer something truly helpful that may inspire others
to link to you without even asking.
- Hire a website positioning firm to help you write and
distribute press releases and articles to thousands of sites.
- Ask business partners, vendors, distributors, family members,
golf partners, etc. to link to you.
- Ask non-profit organizations if they would post a "contributor" link
to you in exchange for a small donation.
- Offer quotes and testimonials to sites you are comfortable
with in exchange for a direct link to your site.
- Exchange links with websites (but stay within your industry
and away from automated programs).
- Purchase text link ads (costly, typically $20/month each
and up – but may be worth it for the right industry).
- Submit to quality directories whose listings are known
to show up as valid back links (excellent value).
Do you need thousands of links? Not necessarily. You may
not even need hundreds. Everyday, we perform competitive
back-link research and people are often shocked at how little
it would take to rise above their competitors. Even if you
are in a fairly competitive industry, there are often select
search terms that may be far less competitive than others.
This is why it is helpful to partner with an experienced
search engine positioning company who can aid you in strategic
decisions.
Kurt Noer is the President of a
search
engine positioning company called Customer Magnetism. They
also provide
link
building services. Visit
http://www.customermagnetism.com
