Search engines are the first tool that potential customers use when searching for products or services they need. This is one of the reasons why link popularity is so important. If the viewers do not find your website, you have no chance of making a sale. Link popularity refers to the ranking assigned to your website by the search engines. It determines the ranking in the search engine results pages that your page gets when people enter the subjects they are looking for into the search engine dialog box.
Search engines will give a higher status and ranking to websites that have links to their pages from related sites. It is a simple formula and is quite important. While Google created this ranking system, just about all major search engines use this model or one very similar to rank website pages in their indexes.
The more common your keyword is, the harder it will be to achieve link popularity. However, if you do not manage to achieve this step, it is almost certain your site will never manage a decent ranking in any search engine. There are ways of achieving link popularity using the most competitive keywords.
There are several very important things to be aware of when beginning to build links for popularity. Firstly you do not want to link up to just any website. Not only will you fail to rank in popularity, it could very well decrease your ranking if you do not have the right kind of links. Links from totally unrelated sites will count against you. Linking to a site which is nothing but links will cost you even more. These "link farms" are considered not only poor taste by the major search engines but blatant attempts to mislead their algorithms that determine rank and popularity.
Also research the sites you try to get links from. Links from higher ranking sites will be of more value to you than links from unranked or poorly ranked websites. You should maake sure that any site that has a link to yours is one that you would have no problems with your users going to and viewing. If it would be an embarrassment for your viewers to think you condone a linked site, then you need to request it be removed.
Next you will seek to obtain backlinks fro other closely related sites. While a direct competitor may not wish to share a link with you, there are usually related support fields that would be happy to trade links in order to expand the potential traffic and customers.
Not everyone wants to link to other sites. Some research is necessary when you are looking for possible linking partners. Google is a good starting place for your search. Make sure to enter keywords that you think customers will also enter when looking for the information you are able to provide. Remember, your criteria are quality, highly ranked, non-competing websites that have a links or resources page. Go to these sites and assess them. Look for the quality of their products, the overall look of the site and the ease with which you can navigate through it. Check out any other sites they are linked to and determine if your own site would be similar enoug hto fit into this link neighborhood.
Once you have chosen a site that you would like a backlink from, you will have to convince them that it would be to their advantage to do so. The backlink is a favor you are requesting so being polite is essential. Maybe put a link to their site on yours before contacting them. Be sure that you have sufficient rank that it would not be a detriment to them. Then you would contact the site owner and request a recipricol link. Be polite and offer reasons why you think the links would be of mutual benefit. If they do not desire to link with you, thank them and move on.
Go through this process with as many appropriate sites as you can find, keeping in mind the criteria of quality and non-competitiveness. After you have contacted relevant sites, make sure to check them frequently to see if they have added a link to your page. Give it a few weeks to see if a link appears. Do not expect your rank to climb quickly. Google, for instance, only does a ranking update quarterly. However if you have spent the time well in optimizing your pages and developing good links to your site, you will be rewarded with the higher rank and greater weight and value will be given to your site in their results.
