There’s a common misconception out there about achieving higher rankings in search engines.  The notion is that optimizing a Web site in the interest of search engine rankings comes at the expense of providing relevant and meaningful content to users.

Thankfully, the reverse scenario is true.  In reality, what’s good for the user is good for the search engine.  Users want to find relevant and meaningful content on a site.So do search engines.      What’s all of this got to do with increasing online visibility?  A lot.

There is one very powerful technique you can implement to not only help your site gain ground within search engines but also help drive targeted traffic to your site.So what is it?      Build a strong network of links into your site.  You may have seen the promising offers from firms to submit your site to hundreds of thousands of directories and search engines on the Web.  It’s quick, it’s easy and it promises high volume.  Don’t bother.  It’s not just about quantity, but rather, quality.  The truth is, a handful of highly relevant links into your site can do more than a thousand irrelevant links from sites that don’t much matter.  The search engines would agree.  Again, what’s good for the user is good for the search engine.  Let’s explore this concept further.

Let’s start with a quick search engine optimization tutorial.  Simply defined, it is the ongoing process of refining a site in order to increase a site’s chances of ranking higher than other similarly focused sites.  So, you do your research, find out what keywords visitors are using, you place them strategically throughout your site, put them in the page title, meta tags and in visible page text.  You give those keywords sufficient density and frequency relative to the entire page, but you don’t do “keyword stuffing” or over optimization.  Tricky, isn’t it?Definitely.      This strategic use of keywords on your site is referred to as “on page” optimization. 

But, there’s more work to be done.  Search engine specialists have long believed that the work you do to organically appear in search engine results is also strongly influenced by the work you do “off” of the site.  “Off page” optimization is exactly that.  The number and quality of links going into a site, often called link popularity, is a measure of online visibility.  Search engines want to know that your site is not only relevant to its users but also to other sites on the Internet.  Fewer, more relevant links to your site carry a lot more weight with search engines than hundreds of unrelated links. But there’s another benefit.  Relevant links will drive traffic to your site.  What’s good for the search engine is good for the user.

So, how do you begin the daunting task of building your link popularity? The good old-fashioned way—one link at a time.  Here are some tactics:

• Start by registering your site with the big search directories, such as Open Directory Project (dmoz), Yahoo or Looksmart. The results from some of these directories are also used to feed thousands of smaller search engines and directories.  For businesses, consider a listing in Business.com or Thomas Register Online.
• Do your research. Conduct reverse links research on your competitors and find out who's linking to them. This might prove to be a qualified list of links for you to pursue for your site.  Here’s a quick way to check who is linking to a site.  In Google, type in link:www.yourcompetitordomain.com.  Google will return a list of links to their site.  Competitor link research takes time.  After all, don’t you want to be listed right along side your competitors?  It might be time well spent.
• Avoid "get linked quick" schemes. Offers to get your site linked to hundreds of other sites are a waste of time and can end up causing more harm than good. Free-for-alls (FFLs), also called link farms, should be avoided.  If it sounds to good to be true, it probably is.
• Publish articles and press releases.  Target trade organizations, associations, publications and journals focused within your industry.  Be sure to include a link to your site in the article or release.
• Implement an aggressive reciprocal linking strategy.   Contact organizations, partners or customers in complimentary businesses and request a link into your site from their site.  Be specific and sincere in your request.  Show the organization the value to their visitors in offering a link and suggest relevant placement for the link on their site.  Offer a reciprocal link in exchange.

Building a high quality link network is more of a process than anything. It requires dedicating resources, in-depth research, time to implement, frequent monitoring, and continual fine tuning.  The process never really ends and results won't occur overnight.  You may be wondering if it's really worth all of the effort.Definitely.      After all, why bother building a Web site if no one can find it?

Contact Aware Web Solutions to initiate a plan to increase your online visibility today.

If you have any comments or questions about any Aware InSites, feel free to contact us at info@awarewebsolutions.com or call 800-783-8919.