Forum Moderators: mack
on-page factors like optimized markup, prominence and frequency of keywords also have an effect, albeit minimal. On the contemporary web, it's not enough to stuff a few <meta> tags and jump to the #1 spot.
Of course, competition is a significant factor. It's much easier to rank #1 for "phleboliths" than it is to rank anywhere for "poker"
Getting links is by far one of the most effective ways of becoming recognised and well ranked by search engines. Getting links can be easy or difficult depending on your site. In general of you provide high quality unique content then webmasters will link to you because of your sites quality.
What you can do is hunt down links. Find as many directories that accept submissions as possible and add your site to them. Try and find niche directories that are related to your sites content and suggest your site there also. Email related sites and ask if they would be prepared to link to you from within their own website.
It's all about links. As your link count increases you can expect to see an improvement in your search engine position.
Mack.
Also I have heard that links do not matter
They do. Every link to your site is a vote for your site. Not only do they deliver users when they click on the links but they also provide search engine bots with a way to find your pages. The more "tracks" lead to your page the more importaint search engines consider your page.
Mack.
But regardless, backlinks are ways for people to go from another site to yours. That will never be bad. Having as many as possible is your key to future success and maximum traffic.
backlinks are ways for people to go from another site to yours. That will never be bad
Then you don't believe that a link from a "bad neighborhood" or link farm can count against you?
I have no personal experience with that, but I've read many posts from others on WW that warn against bad neighborhoods and link farms.
Do you exchange links with everyone who offers to trade?
the bad neighbourhood theory admits that it is possible for a malicious link farm to deliberately "slam" your site by association with bad practices. Such things are certainly possible, and one can only hope that the Engines would develop enough intelligence to ignore, not penalize. Many would argue that that is putting too much faith in the engines like they are benevolent web deities - which is far from true.
The myth of "negative PR" is a persistant one. I won't be the one to debunk it.
I'm by no means an SEO expert with secret insight into Engine algorithms, but I know some basic strategies that are generally accepted. I don't put much store in the "bad neighbourhood" theory, but I do believe in getting links (when possible) from "excellent neighbourhoods". A link on CNN.com, CSMonitor.com, or SlashDot can never hurt, can it.
That was a rhetorical question
What I havn't noticed is a lot of mention of content, and I don't think that is something that should be overlooked. Remember that the content of your page is just as important, if not more important than your links. Links will get the traffic to your site sure, but what is going to keep people there once they are on your site?
And.. Content will get you links, if people fell it is worthy of linkng to.
Mack.
It's different/tricky when you're flogging marketing services and you're trying to claw your "Florida Travel" site through the SERPS among thousands of direct competitors. You might end up paying for backlinks or spending a lot of time negotiating exchanges.
rule of thumb: Never pay for a directory listing unless it's with a major player like Yahoo or a high-profile recognized industry association. Let common sense rule tempered by frugality.
look for sites that have a "related links" page - often these are set up as reciprocal link exchanges. Contact the webmaster and ask for a swap.
Separately, don't forget important trade publication sites, which may not be optimized or perform well from an SEO standpoint, but may still have a tremendous amount of traffic by virtue of their off-line community.
Never pay for a directory listing unless it's with a major player like Yahoo or a high-profile recognized industry association
I definitely don't agree with that. I run a regional, industry-specific directory that has a long list of #1 search engine rankings. If you are in my industry and region, then it definitely pays to spend the modest amount that it costs to advertise on my site. You will probably get great traffic and improved ranking in return for your purchase.
Look for directory sites that are well-ranked for keyword terms important to your site.
I agree!
The portal described by Surfin2u above would probably count as a "major player" depending on your definition of that.
But - correct me if I'm wrong - paid directory listings are more valuable for business referrals, not as a mere strategy to generate SEO backlinks.
But - correct me if I'm wrong - paid directory listings are more valuable for business referrals, not as a mere strategy to generate SEO backlinks.
I don't have any info on how good my directory is for generating backlinks in addition to the one(s) that it gives.
I have seen businesses rise in SERPs after being listed in my directory. I saw one business rise to #1 on google for their key term after advertising with me, and then fall quite a ways after they stopped advertising with me.
Why did they stop advertising? Actually they kept paying later and later and feeding me more and more BS each billing, so I finally got fed up and told them so.
So, here's a few key tips:
1) Ensure the 'key' title is on the page within <h1></h1> tags
2) Ensure you have a sensible meta-tage "Description" of the page
3) Keep the page to less than 600 lines and less than 10K (excluding images).
4) Add links to relevant sites, so if the page is about renting apartments in Dallas, Texas a link to a Dallas Texas information site should be sensible.
Plus try to obtain inbound links as already suggested.
Matt
Keep the page to less than 600 lines
600 lines is a lot. That's a nice fat article or editorial. A good length for anything written. But there's no need to put a limit on that - more is better, plain and simple.
Placing a limit on page length is usually done so that there are more pages, and hence more opportunities to place ads in front of eyes. It is not usually touted as an SEO strategy. (at least in my experience, the former argument is more compelling)
One I would recommend rhymes with
Smurch Mingine Botch
type that into Google and they will ask "did you mean"... the real site.
One I would recommend rhymes with Smurch Mingine Botch
Clever!
I'm registering that domain now.
