Do links improve your sites ranking

[Iwrite]

I think I get it on how to make a content rich site - keep to one topic but lots of relevant varied content. Do links to relevant affiliate programs and shops count as good content by the search engines?Does it matter where you put your links page and advertising for such things?

Thanks
Iwrite ( who is now hooked on finding out how to do it just to see if she can!)

[MichaelBluejay]

Do links to relevant affiliate programs and shops count as good content by the search engines?

I don't understand what you're trying to ask here. You should write your own content, and advertise related items. The reason you advertise related items is not for the search engines' sake but because your readers will be more interested in related items so you're serving them better -- and making more advertising revenue that way. Do look into Google's Adwords program, because then they find the relevant advertisers for you.

Does it matter where you put your links page and advertising for such things?

Here again I'm not following you. "Advertising for such things"? What are you talking about? And what do you mean "where you put your links page"? Your links page is on your server, of course. If you even have one. A well-written site might not have a links page at all, because all the outbound links are listed on the appropriate, relevant content pages.

[Iwrite]

I am writing my own content, and the idea of the advertising page is to advertise relevant stuff for the sort of people who will access the site. -Also to promote some local shops with similar interests to my own, where they are interested in promoting me. In effect, an online shopping mall within my website with some things maybe that are not found elsewhere. I want for example, to promote some artists and writers as well.

The content is specific, but do the search engines pick up the advertisement as content as well as what you write?

If you have, say, an affiliate bookshop, on the page, then would you put something like 'bookshop" in as a key word because that is a relevant item on your site, or would the search engines exclude it because it is an advert? In fact I am trying to include comment on the things I am putting on the site, so there is content as well.

Thanks
Iwrite

[MichaelBluejay]

The SE's index all words on the page, whether they're ads or not. I doubt the SE's can easily differentiate between editorial and advertising copy. The only words that don't get indexed are those generated by Javascript.

When you say "keyword", if you're talking about the META keywords tag, then it's irrelevant. SE's haven't looked at the META keywords tag in years. I never use it myself.

But if you're talking about putting keywords in your body copy and <TITLE> tags, then hell yeah. Whatever your page is about, put those words in the body copy and the <TITLE> tags.

[Essex_boy]

For a good conversion, souonds obvious but, put your adverts abouts cars on the page that discusses cars.

Youll do much better that way.

[L8Bloomer]

It is my understanding that Yahoo! still considers META tags. Is that incorrect?

[Essex_boy]

I think they all do to a limited extent, odd question given teh discussions on content.

[L8Bloomer]

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When you say "keyword", if you're talking about the META keywords tag, then it's irrelevant. SE's haven't looked at the META keywords tag in years. I never use it myself.
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(Sorry I couldn't figure out how to put a box around the above, I'm new)

This is the comment I was referring to when asking about META tags; not the original question about content. I was just clarifying.