Search engines look for links, they use them to measure how popular a site is. If your site has a lot of links coming in from other sites but fewer links going out then your site would be considered as being important. It’s only part of how a search engine works out ranking but still important. And remember, the better the rank, the higher your listing in the search engine results.
So what is the easiest way of getting links from other sites aimed at your site?
Find a relevant site and leave a comment
Blog posts (most of the time) allow comments to be left. Gives readers a chance to leave their views, agree or disagree on whats been said or add something to what’s already been written. Along with your comment you get to add your name and a link, normally to your website (see the bottom of this post for an example).
What is very important is that you find a site that is relevant. There is no point leaving a comment on a site about cheese if you then link to your site which is about plumbing. Search engines can work out relevancy, is the site being linked to related in content? If it is then brownie points and your page rank gets a bit better.
Banners and mentions
Getting a link can be as easy as asking a site owner to mention your site. This can be as simple as your site name with a link, a graphical banner or even a blog post. Most would be happy with a swap, you mention them and they will mention you. That will do but even better if it was one way, them to you.
Article Directories
Spend some time and write an article about your business, your life as an expat or even something about one of your products. BUT don’t make it a sales pitch. There are many sites that have thousands of articles in many different categories. They will accept a small biographical piece at the bottom with your name, your business name and a link.
Ensure that what you submit is unique and does not already appear anywhere else. Dealing with duplicate content can be difficult so avoid it and makes sure it’s fresh and relevant.
Check out sites like ezinearticles.com, hubpages.com, goarticles.com. Make sure you read what they require in terms of content, style and length. A big list of the top 50 with their own page ranks can be found on ‘Top 50 Article Directories By Traffic, Pagerank‘
Time…it’s going to take time
This is an important part of search engine optomization but it’s not going to make a drastic improvement overnight. It is something you must work hard at and to keep working at even when your ranking does improve.
