SEO - Web Optimization

An updated list of "pay for inclusion" directories including UK sites.

http://www.1any.com/ - $20

http://www.trincas.org/ - $35

http://www.biz-dir.co.uk/ - $35

http://directory.v7n.com/ - $50

http://www.3wlink.com/ - $20

http://www.directorydump.com/ - $55

http://www.forplex.com/ - $35

http://www.mingleon.com/ - $50

http://www.allshort.com/ - $50

http://www.avivadirectory.com/ - $75

http://contextual.v7n.com/pro-buy.php - $40

http://www.rubberstamped.org/ - $30

http://www.joeant.com/ - $40

http://www.linksjuice.com/ - $50

http://www.goguides.org/ - $70

http://botw.org/ - $80

http://www.exactseek.com/ - $15

http://www.business-directory-uk.co.uk/ - free

http://www.redcog.net/ - free, UK only

http://www.splut.com/ - free, UK only

http://www.freeindex.co.uk/ - free, UK only

http://www.platinax.co.uk/ - $15 gbp - ~$35 us

There are two primary motivations for creating inbound links to your web site. The first is to create inbound traffic to your site from potential customers. I like to call these Advertising Links. The second are links created to increase the search engines understanding of what your site is about, or SEO Links. For the purpose of this article, I will concentrate on this second group.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) consists of many elements that combine to help create a clear picture of what your site is about. Search engines collect data on every web site that they can find. The information is primarily text based, and this is true of links that lead to and from your site. For this reason, most SEO Links are text based, not graphics or logos.

Links are like votes. In general, the more links that cast “votes” for your web site on a specific topic, the more the search engines can be confident that your website will provide that subject matter. Without these critical votes it can be very difficult for your average web page to attain good search engine results. A very interesting example of the power of linking is the Google Search Result for the search term “Miserable Failure.” The very first result is the Whitehouse Bio for George Bush. This is accomplished by thousands of web pages placing the text link “miserable failure” on their web page and pointing it toward that page.

Text links are just what they sound like; actual text that is hyperlinked from an outside source to a page inside your website. There is a very specific formula and process to creating these links. Because the search engines read text, they use a text matching process to decide how relevant each link (vote) is to its destination.

The outside web source where the links reside can be in a number of web based formats. Another standard website or directory is the obvious spot, but there are a number of other powerful linking opportunities. There are many was to add links to information releases like articles, blogs, forums, social networks, and various interaction sites. There is a technique for each media type, but in general, you want to stick to relevant subject matter that is similar to your website.

How many links does your site need? The answer is, “Enough to beat your competition!” This will be different for every market. Take something as competitive as the search term “Travel Agent” – The number one Google result (out of 148 million!) is the American Society of Travel Agents reporting 110,000 backlinks! Compare that with the search term “Ski Ohio” and the number one contender, Alpine Valley, only has 500 links.

Time is critical to the success of any linking additions. SEO Links can take months to cause any effect or change on the results that a search engine displays. Look at the first page results for any search term and you can bet the top contenders are already building links. Most of the time, when you notice your results slipping, it is not that you are doing a poor SEO job, it’s just the competition working harder to beat YOU!

SEO Linking is a time consuming process that is absolutely necessary to help boost your site in the search engines natural results pages. Like everything else in business, if it was easy, everyone would be doing it. There is only room at the top for a few websites for each search term. See You at the Top!

David Tucker
SEO Linking Specialist
RightNow Communications, Inc.

Reciprocal Links are the Meta Keywords tag of 2006

Just a few short years ago there was a web page description tag called the Meta Keywords tag. It quickly became popular with unscrupulous web masters incorrectly applying keywords in an effort to rank better in the search engines. Google and many other top search engines ended up discounting, and ultimately ignoring meta keywords. It is still important to include them in your page, but for different reasons.

Increasingly, search engines have been placing more importance on website’s “connectivity” to other websites to determine how important or relevant the site is. This connectivity is done through linking. Search engines perceive links as votes of confidence, and have determined that sites with more links are important and legitimate. More links coming into your site means more “votes of confidence” that your site is worth a visit. Majority rules, democracy in action!

Who stuffed the ballot box?

Again, unscrupulous types have figured out a way to circumvent the system in an effort to gain a better position in the search engines. The technique was to build massive amounts of inbound links quickly, triggering the search engines to point to your site. The most effective way for the spammers, for lack of a better term, to accomplish this fast linking was to band together and form reciprocal linking pools, co-ops, alliances, and partnerships. The majority could no longer be counted on to vote correctly.

Google quickly caught-on to this method and had to make a decision. Google decided that the majority could not be trusted, and therefore their vote will be discounted. In fact, reciprocal links from sites that have a page rank of PR1-3 don’t even count anymore. What’s more, associating your site with large reciprocal link swapping programs could potentially cause the search engines to label your site as “unreliable,” which could have a negative impact on your over all web position.

Educated Voters Rule!

There is a new vote in town, and it is called the One Way Link. It’s not really new, it’s just more important today. The search engines have determined that if someone is willing to “vote” for your site and receive nothing in return, than you must be worth a visit.

Every link into your site has a “value” or “weight” that is assigned by the search engines. Mathematically, it is very possible (even probable) for a dozen One Way Links to have more value than 100 reciprocal links. Think of it as the “New Math” on the web.

The Hanging Chad…

A question I get almost every day is: “So why not go out and purchase some great One Way Links and be done with it?” The answer is simple. Google has a patent (yes, a patent!) on its method of determining a web sites overall valuation and relevance. Buying links circumvents their methods, and can absolutely result in your site being ejected from the search results altogether. What would happen if you woke up tomorrow and your website was no longer in Google?

In addition, that same group of unscrupulous types have come up with all kinds of methods and tactics to turn those link pools into artificial looking One Way Links. Google is a lot like the IRS; when they catch you cheating, you lose.

In a recent discussion of SEO and Linking experts regarding link co-ops the consensus was unimanious:

“An associate of mine just got pummeled for participating in a co-op. He believes so anyway. He's talked to a few other people in the co-op and their websites got penalized about 2 weeks ago. His website is still cached in Google, but it just doesn't rank for anything anymore. Even worse, he shows up on the 3rd page if you search the name of his site!” WebFu Design

“Sounds like a recipie for disaster to me! These links pages would surely go supplemental on Google (search results) as they would all be duplicates!” sem4u

“The problem with any link pool/coop/unnatural link system is that it is not permanent and some more than others rotate and change which can have a pretty devastating effect on your serps with members leaving/arriving and engines looking for key indicators that suggest unnatural linking.” Scott

“It is risky right now. Some people think Google is dropping the ax on sites that use link co-ops. Best to not participate and just build up inbound links by other methods.” A2ZSEO

The Votes are in.

Do not delete your reciprocal link inventory, or discontinue building reciprocal links. Just remember that they do not have the same impact. Swap links with sites that you feel bring value to your web visitor. Exchanging links is considered natural in the eyes of the search engines. That’s a good thing.
Focus on building quality one-way inbound links from sites that are in the same content arena as you.
If you are involved in any unnatural link building practices, you need to ask yourself if the risk is worth the reward.
Provide outbound links to resources that are similar to your site’s content.
Consult your SEO advisor if you have any questions, as they have your best interests in mind.
Get creative. There is more to linking than just directories and websites.

A few linking ideas are: Articles, press releases, testimonials, interviews, contests, forum and blog participation, social networks, and Google video deployment. Also, talk to every vendor that you pay for services or products, and tell them they owe you a link!