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Link building is one of the most critical components of the search engine optimization techniques. The term though is self explanatory but there is always a possibility of some elements of confusion cropping up when the actual process is underway. For deriving maximum benefits out of link building and hence search engine optimization it is mandatory to understand the basics and the process involved in link building.

The link building exercise as part of SEO involves among other things, link metrics and acquisition techniques which at time can be confusing. The basic step in link building begins at evaluating a potential or past built link. Once this has been established then adopting a healthy mixture of low, intermediate and high quality links can serve the purpose of an SEO company in effectively adopting the suitable organic search engine optimization methodologies.

Various important aspects of link building include,

* Anchor Text: It is the most important thing that an SEO company must keep in mind while acquiring a link from any web site. The anchor text of a link plays a major role in defining the value of that link and is one of the most important metrics.

Moreover, the link portfolio as well as the anchor text must always be auditing actively as it helps the SEO company in keeping track of any changes in the link gain or link loss. This information is required so that timely and desired actions can be taken.

* Link Page Authority: An important part of the entire search engine optimization methodology it is crucial to be sure of the link equity of the account page. What also is desired is to be sure of the ability of that particular page to obtain the links.

Using Yahoo’s Site Explorer can be of great help in choosing the external links.

* Domain Authority: Authority of the domain to which the link belongs must be investigated. It become even more critical because of the fact that if on one hand a right domain is essential for adequate link building and hence effective search engine optimization then on the other hand an unsuitable domain can be detrimental to the entire process.
* Links on a Page: Knowing the number of links on a page is also an important aspect which an SEO company needs to be aware of. A page has certain equity which it can spread hence a page crowded with too many links should be avoided. As a matter of fact such pages are at times devalued by the search engines and may end up becoming dangerous as well.

Link building is one of the most critical components of the search engine optimization techniques. The term though is self explanatory but there is always a possibility of some elements of confusion cropping up when the actual process is underway. For deriving maximum benefits out of link building and hence search engine optimization it is mandatory to understand the basics and the process involved in link building.

Various important aspects of link building include,

* Domain Age: For efficient SEO domains with more age are more helpful as search engines give more importance to them and they have more probability of having built more links with different trusted sites. Using SEO Toolbar is a great tool which helps in evaluating the age of the domain.
* Relevant Authority: It is very important to avoid getting links from your competitors. But the concept of relevant authority can definitely be utilized as an effective way for ensuring best SEO for the website.
* Alexa Ranking: Alexa Ranking though is a good metric as far as evaluation is considered but is definitely not a value metric. Alexa Ranking gives information about the competitive traffic data which helps in verifying the quality of the page for search engine optimization.
* Page Indexing: Linking to a page that has not been indexed is of no use. Robots.txt and meta-robots should be used to look for exclusions if any and ensure best SEO results.
* Follow vs Nofollow links: Links that an SEO company chooses must carry the ‘follow’ attribute and not the ‘nofollow’ attribute otherwise the effort gets wasted.
* Hub Authority: Linking to a page which as far as Hub Authority concepts go is considered an ‘authority’ site is always an important step for the SEO company in ensuring best benefits of the overall SEO techniques. Such a link leads to relevance as well as page authority.
* Link Placement: Search engines at times use various concepts like block level segmentation which leads to division of a web page by pieces and even devaluing of links in some areas. Hence, placing the link at the most appropriate places is essential for the success of search engine optimization.

For an SEO company the eventual success and effectiveness of its search engine optimization methodology is very much dependent upon its ability to exploit the link building option. The impact that link building can have is in turn defined by the understanding and adoption of various metrics which are fundamental to entire link building exercise.

Search engine marketing comes across as the best method to increase the visibility and to increase the traffic to your website. Similarly search engine optimization is a process of improving the volume of traffic to a website from various search engines. To improve search engine rankings of your website, it is essential to include one-way link as much as possible and this can be done through effective link building. These links increase the chances of better visibility and visits to the website.

As a search engine marketing strategy, SEO acts as an indicator to how search engine works and what people actually search for and accordingly search engine optimization is done. Effective link building is required to enhance the ranking of your website and for this it is important to get hold of all the people who are in control of links. It is actually a game of taking right decision in order to incorporate high-quality links to increase traffic to the website. Good link building is simply good search engine marketing. The most important questions that strike one’s mind are who should be targeted and from where.

Website should contain number of one-way links so that people visit your website frequently and this can be achieved through link building. The link building process includes the following:

* Finding a group of people who are in direct contact with those who control links and target them.
* Analysing the most frequently visited place by these people and from where do they get all information. In simpler terms, find out their best place to assemble.
* The most essential part is to grab the attention of the people and for this effective link building is must and so is SEO.

Instead of brand awareness campaigns, you should focus on a specific tool to target the selected group. Search engine optimization is one aspect of building links with a goal to boost the visibility and ranking of the website. The increased click-through traffic and search engine optimization are two main reasons for link building. The next question is how to get in front of these people and the best way is through advertisements. The tactical approach needs to be followed and it includes;

* Targeting the people by focusing on the area they live in. Find out whether they live in urban or rural areas and such advertisements are known as geo-targeting ads.
* Site targeting is another way of link building and is the easiest way to grab their attention by posting advertisements called PPC & blog ads on those particular websites.
* Demographics targeting is another method to get in front of the people who are in control of links.
* Targeting small ad networks with lot of unsold advertising space helps in building high-quality links and this will anchor search engine marketing.

Search engine marketing is emerging fast as the best way of online marketing with a variety of SEO services which can lead to desired search engine optimization results. But in order to achieve great visibility and improved traffic, it is extremely important to focus on link building which is a fantastic tool of SEO. Any SEO company should try and build effective links so that it can divert more traffic to the website which is definitely beneficial for the process of search engine marketing. Link building is not an easy exercise and for this companies need to comprehend various strategies, tips and tools so as to form traffic generation links. With the growing benefits and popularity of search engine, the process of link building is now a serious business because for successful SEO, it becomes essential to top the search engine rankings chart and this can only be ensured through efficient link building.

Engaging a specialized SEO company is the most profitable way in which companies can understand the nuances of link building and can incorporate those SEO skills in search engine optimization plan. When the companies get hold of the basics of link building, then nothing can stop them from launching successful search engine marketing campaigns. Ideally, when a new website enters the online world, search engine marketing with well planned link building practices is the best solution so as to increase the visibility of the site. If companies want to get higher results from all the SEO services, then the concepts of link building should be clear with all the SEO professionals so that there is no confusion. SEO company can enjoy the benefit of search engine marketing by keeping in mind the basics of useful link building.

Having diverse and balanced links can actually enhance the process of search engine marketing. Usually SEO company makes use of all the SEO services including directory submissions, press releases or blog comments in order to get more links. But sometimes using similar kind of links can create problem for the process of search engine optimization. The skills of SEO professionals come handy at this time when having variety of links in the website is essential for its success. If companies are looking forward to profitable search engine optimization, then the importance of variety of links must be understood. Website development must incorporate number of SEO services but when it comes to link building, sundry links are always beneficial as compared to similar kind of links. This kind of link building will get more traffic to the website and will also lead to higher rankings in search engine list.

Link building, if done properly can lead to powerful search engine marketing and will divert more traffic to the site. For SEO company it is significant to realize the potential of building links in order to generate more revenues, traffic and visibility in the cyberspace. If the website displays good amount of links, then the process of search engine optimization is bound to be successful with higher SEO returns. Usually wide range of SEO services should be incorporated in search engine marketing plan because this allows the companies to grab more links. Apart from incorporating diverse and balanced links in SEO plan, some other tips should be kept in mind in order to enhance the process of link building and search engine marketing.

If SEO services are used in a well planned way, then link building becomes easier. It is important for the SEO company to come up with great link building strategies so as to increase the traffic rate and hence the visibility. Incorporating following important link building tips as part of search engine optimization plan can help the companies in building useful links.

* One great tip for SEO company is to use alert services as part of search engine marketing plan. In order to outshine the existing competition and to track the changes of other websites, companies should incorporate SEO services in the form of websites like TrackEngine and WatchThatPage. This understanding of the changes will surely help the companies to incorporate best link building tools in search engine marketing plan. Once companies become aware of the changes and the problems, it is important to look out for ways which can acquire more links for the website. As part of search engine optimization, SEO services like alerts from Twitter and Google serve the purpose of gathering more links on to the website.

* · For successful search engine marketing, it is extremely important to guide the people so that they can link to the website. The expert SEO company should focus on creating a special page called ‘Link to us’ which will direct people to the site where links have to be posted. This tip of building links is very important because only through this ‘Link to us’ page, people can find  great help to drive the links on to the website. For launching an effective SEO plan, it is also essential to offer various incentives which will attract more vendors to post links.

* · One tip which can be bonus for SEO company is to fix the crawl errors on various search engines. In order to figure out the exhausted pages of the website, it is advisable to use Google Webmaster Tools which can track the exiting pages on the site where links can be posted. If links are posted on the pages which no longer exist, then it is an absolute waste of resource which will further lessen the impact of search engine marketing.

Google always comes up with something unusual and different which can be useful for the process of search engine marketing. Most of the companies prefer using the tools or applications offered by Google as it is beneficial for the SEO process. Google has offered another new feature of automatically adding links to the website. These links will prove beneficial for the companies aiming at effective search engine optimization. it has been observed that Google has something interesting to offer which can track the people reading company’s website page and then by looking at people’s implicit past reactions, links are being provided according to the individual need of the person. With this new patent being awarded to Google, it might now add links to the existing content and this will help the marketers in coming with effective search engine marketing campaign.

If the website contains articles on a certain topic, then Google will find additional related links to that content and insert it on the page which will act as an effective SEO strategy for the companies. Even if something has some reference to the content of the article, Google will link it to the website and this will improve the visibility and hence the search engine optimization results. When Google perform this kind of dynamic linking, then the chances of visiting a website by the user increases and users always get relevant information as per the requirement. The Google does not stop here, it also provide links based on the previous queries of the users which can be related to the content of the article. With such aggressive link building activity, companies are sure to get higher results from search engine marketing campaign.

It is important for the marketers to understand that Google cannot modify the company’s website page without the owner’s permission and therefore it depends on the marketers whether to make use of this opportunity or not. If the owner of the website permits Google, then higher search engine optimization results can be experienced. This Google feature might appear weird to most of the marketers as it sounds bit unimaginable, however the companies are forced to think if it is suitable for search engine marketing. This way of adding links to company’s website may prove helpful in getting higher search engine marketing results as it will drive more traffic to the website offering relevant information to the users.

Internal link building is an important part of any successful Search Engine Optimization strategy, however most SEO professional tend to overlook it. They often get caught up in building external links that internal link building takes a back seat. Internal link building is the process of linking content from one page of your site to another. This is helpful for building good user experience. An effective Search Engine Marketing strategy will bring users on to your homepage but it is internal link building that will help them smoothly move through your website.

There are several reasons for the importance of internal link building. When content on your page is linking to other pages on your site, it projects an image of knowledge and expertise. Users are convinced that you are an expert in your field and will keep coming back to you for information on that topic.

Although from an SEO perspective Internal links is considered of a lesser importance than external link building, it still can help leverage your website. More often than not, most websites have a few pages that are popular and get higher rankings. By linking the less popular pages you can leverage them and improve the external links to the overall site.

Effective navigation is an important rule for every Search Engine Optimization campaign. Internal links can bring benefit only if the website already has a good and smooth navigation structure. For e.g. IF you link internal pages to your homepage and the user is not able to effectively move through it, your efforts will be in vain.

Internal link building can be done for effective SEO through following methods:

Websites should link pages which have similar or relevant content. This make the search engines read these pages as a group and your website will perceive as having a lot of knowledge on the topic. This can boost your rankings. However this method should not be done in excess as the search engines could get confused and that may harm the credibility of your site.

Blogs are an effective and simple way of internal linking. SEO experts can maintain blogs about topics that are on the website and link the website pages to the blog.

One of the most important points that must be remembered however is maintaining consistency. One must not link “Page 1” at one place and “Page 2” at some other. If the word “tomatoes” is linking to “Page 1” it should be consistent. This will avoid confusion not only for the person handling the site, but also the users.

Link building is one of the most important factors of Search Engine Optimization. As any good SEO expert would tell you, the best way to do this is to publish good and relevant content on your site. However with the amount of effort required in churning out relevant and good quality content it is becoming increasingly difficult to do so.

This problem can now be resolved with a little creativity and tact. All old text file articles can now be revamped to increase the back links to the site. Here are some in which you can reuse your old articles:

Basic text articles can be converted into audio. There are software’s like Ivona-text-to-speech that allows you convert your article into audio form. Once done this can then be put onto podcast directories which will give people a chance to download and listen.

Now that you already have your audio file you can easily use that audio track to build a video around it using screenshots or images. This has now become as easy putting together bits in Windows Movie Maker and you have a video ready.

Articles can also be created into software using a P.A.D creator. This would be a .exe file which once executed will provide your article to users. From a Search Engine Marketing perspective this is quite effective for the website as it gives the impression of novelty to the user.

A blog can also give you a method to reuse your articles. A blog is a great SEO tool as it generates interest among the users and can be linked to your main website. A older article can be blogged by using excerpts of the articles as “Thought for the Day” or “Daily Tips”. If your blog is about health food, you can use related articles as a “health food guide”. By giving it a different purpose and title your article can be seen in a different manner.

In the real world Recycling can help reduce strain on the system. The same holds true for Search Engine Optimization. By giving your articles a new look and purpose, you can save time and energy, while generating links.

This is part two of the blekko series where I try to explore the much talked about blekko.com the search engine. In this post I will be discussing the SEO tag , probably one of the most talked about tags in the search engine optimization world. The search query that i have used for the analysis is “Google News”. On clicking on SEO tag users are taken to a page consisting of 5 tabs viz inbound links, crawl stats, site pages compare and duplicate content. In this post i will try to explore the various aspects of the Inbound links section. The inbound links provides demographic as well as statistical data with regards to inbound links. The interesting part of the demographic data is the bifurcation of links state-wise as well as country wise as shown in the snapshot below -

This data is especially useful to businesses catering to a specific locations and want to identify potential location specific link partners by analyzing the data for their competitors. This will give us crucial insights with regards to where we are lagging behind in terms of quality location specific links.

On scrolling further we get the inbound links data as shown in the snapshot below -

There are 5 columns of data i.e. From Host, Host Rank, Links, last and actions.

“From host data” is essentially the website from which we got a link, “host rank” is the metric that blekko uses internally to define the quality of the domain. Although not much data about this metric is available one can confidently assume  “higher the value better is the link”. “Links stats” gives the number of links that a particular domain points to the website, “last” is essentially the number  of days before the link was verified. With the exception of Actions all the remaining four headers are click-able and we can sort the required data in ascending or descending order. If a particular domain link is clicked then we will get the SEO data for that particular domain. Clicking on the number of links gives us the list of pages from the selected domain from which links are obtained.

The Actions column has three icons for each website listing viz compare, info and seo icons. The seo icon acts like an seo tag for the link or the domain, info icon provides the whoisdomaintools information.

The compare icon provides us with an option to compare our website with three other websites and provides URL stats (data related to only the URL that is entered) and Domain stats (data related to the entire domain). The URL stats provide us data for the following metrics -

• Ranking
• Link Stats
• Top Inbound links By Page Rank
• Top Inbound links By Host Rank

Domain stats provide us data for the following metrics -

• Domain Link stats
• Top inbound sites by Host Rank
• Domain Crawl
• Domain Top Ranked pages

Below is the snapshot of the data showing the data based on the above mentioned metrics for gmail.com and news.google.com

It’s the beginning of the year and time to make some predictions regarding the future of link building in 2011. Here is a review of the predictions made by link experts Eric Ward and Julie Joyce.

Julie Joyce states that Google Page Rank matters to clients while choosing an ideal link building opportunity, however in 2011 Page Rank may lose some of its value and instead link building experts will need to explore other options to help clients judge a quality link building opportunity. While Google is the primary source to find links, in the coming year other search engines like Bing and Blekko will start contributing considerably to link efforts. While link building is one of the most important steps for any online strategy, experts must consider finding methods to secure the links rather than just purely generating them. Social media will become a powerful tool in all aspects of online marketing. In 2011, there will be more links generated via social media, blogs, directories etc. Social Media will also help bring the smaller brands to the forefront and help them compete with the bigger brands.

Eric Ward states that any good link building effort has to have a strategic vision and should be well planned for the distant future instead of being a temporary fad. Real time link signals too will be analyzed and scrutinized to be able to judge which are the best signals and ones that require merit. Once again social media will play a key role in determining link quality. For e.g. An individual’s Twitter account will get merit owing to the link profile of the person’s website.

Convonix Inc. is a dedicated SEO firm based in Mumbai, India. Launched in 2003, we offer comprehensive services in Search Engine Optimization. We are one of the leading providers of SEO in India and provide values like expertise and in-depth research.