This is part 1 of a 7 part series that examines the 7 factors of incoming links that Google considers when choosing a spot for your website in it's SERP's.
Why incoming links? First because these are what Google places the highest value on. But, all incoming links are NOT created equal. This 7 part course looks at the kinds of links Google values when "rating" your website in the SERP's. Each type of link discussed is important to your overall link strategy and consequently your free traffic levels.
The first factor is of course the anchor text used in your incoming links. The importance of the keywords used to link to your website are more important to Google than the content that is actually on your page. You can generally use anchor link text with your keywords and not even have the keywords on the page and still get a good ranking in Google for that term if enough incoming links have that keyword pharse in them.
If you've heard of the phrase "Google Bombing" then you know what I'm talking about. Basically it's when a set of webmasters or blog owners decide to get a page ranked for a certain term and all leave links back to the selected site with the keyword phrase that they want that page to rank for.
The most notorious example of this is the "bombing" done by several blog owners to the George W Bush biograpby page. Several bloggers left links to the page containing the keyword text "miserable failure" and consequently this page turns up as the number 1 result in Google for the term, even though the words don't appear anywhere on the page.
The "Google Bombing" was done by at most a few hundred links with this link text pointing to the page. Though more links would probably be necissary for a more competative term. Still, it goes to show how important link text is to the rankings of a page.
Google Bombing is nothing new. But what many people don't realize is that Google places more relevance on the anchor link text that it finds when it first discovers a link to your website. Each consequent link either adds value to that first impression or subtracts from it.
Many times you can control which link google finds first just by knowing where google goes regularly (like on a daily basis) and effectively placing your link in it's path. This is called "baiting" the google bot to visit your website through this link.
Each link you place after this initial link should further show google that their first impression (or the first keywords it discovered that linked to your website) was and still is correct. Each subsiquent link is a "vote" so to speak to validate Google's original impression of what your website is about.
Placing that first link to be found by Google is only the first step, but a very important one. Choose your anchor text keywords carefully. Each incoming link you place after this one should serve to validate this first impression. Part 2 will discuss the appearance and disappearance of links over time and how they effect your traffic and search engine placement.
Leah J. Bradshaw is the author of the Free Traffic Report; "Jumpstart Your Traffic in as Little as 10 Days". She also authors a Free Traffic Blog for wahm's to help work at home moms get free traffic.
For me personally, Wordtracker.com is not just a... Read More
On November 16th, 2003, Google commenced an update (the Florida... Read More
One of the most frequent questions I get asked is... Read More
The name of the game is search engine optimization and... Read More
It seems the excitement about search engine optimization fades in... Read More
"Owning your business category online is more than just a... Read More
Keyword Research will reveal answers to 3 critical questions:1. Is... Read More
The point of optimizing your website is so that you... Read More
I was all set to write an article predicting the... Read More
If you want to develop a successful search engine optimization... Read More
Automated search engine robots, sometimes called "spiders" or "crawlers", are... Read More
There are many websites that fail to target their required... Read More
In the fall of 1990, the musical group Snap had... Read More
This is the first of a series of articles about... Read More
This is another one of the controversial questions in many... Read More
Google is the major search engine webmasters have to deal... Read More
Google has recently made some pretty significant changes in its... Read More
In order to tap the huge stream of targeted traffic... Read More
It is literally amazing how many people start their online... Read More
Anchor Text (also called phrase linking) can significantly improve your... Read More
Have you heard of the SETI Project? SETI stands for... Read More
Extra, Extra Google Now Gives you feedback. By Creating a... Read More
For websites, one of the most important things in their... Read More
Listen. Some make submitting pages to search engines sound like... Read More
Google likes incoming links, especially links from high-ranking, on-topic pages... Read More
Are you considering a search engine promotion campaign to improve... Read More
It all happened 3 months back, I have a blog... Read More
Some web sites receive hundreds or thousands of unique visitors... Read More
It is a well known fact that writing, distributing and... Read More
I have spent some time discussing the 5 different options... Read More
Strategic search engine optimization involves far more than keyword research,... Read More
Everyone packs their website with keywords in order to feed... Read More
This article is actually the summary to a book soon... Read More
To get on Google's top pages can be accomplished by... Read More
Visit Google, Yahoo, MSN or one of the lesser search... Read More
Their is simple way of making your website rank top... Read More
Search engine traffic should be a priority for any online... Read More
As the economy begins to recover in certain parts of... Read More
If you have any interest in getting high search engine... Read More
There has been a good deal written about the Google... Read More
The popularity of weblogs or blogs has gotten a lot... Read More
6 cups thick content mix 1 jar word of mouth,... Read More
Writing articles is all the rage these days on the... Read More
Finding Targeted Keyword Phrases Your Competitors MissFinding keyword phrases your... Read More
We all know that the most targeted traffic we can... Read More
The days of basing a successful link building strategy on... Read More
Why is it that webmasters are so quick to blame... Read More
Getting top search engine listing is perhaps one of the... Read More
Google is the undisputed heavyweight champion of search engines. Most... Read More
In order to get a top 10 google ranking it... Read More
Sometimes questions will arise around the subject of gateway information... Read More
I wish to give a few little tips, about optimizing.... Read More
The question for this article is whether or not you... Read More
It's the buzz word's going across the internet marketing guru's... Read More
The importance to the algorithmic web crawlers that speed throughout... Read More
This is part 1 of a 7 part series that... Read More
One of the most overlooked strategies to improve search engine... Read More
Getting a high ranking on Google is a big achievement.... Read More
If your site isn't found in the search engines, it... Read More
Everyone wants to increase their rankings with the search engines... Read More
In the fall of 1990, the musical group Snap had... Read More
Google does not accept payment for inclusion in their main... Read More
How many years did you register your domain name for?... Read More
When does long term SEO show ranking results? It takes... Read More
Unfortunately, we don't live in a perfect world. You may... Read More
As you may already know, keywords are an essential part... Read More
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) |