Dorris Design | Call to Action

ARTICLES

Dynamic Websites

Changing Domain Names

Marketing - Call to Action

What Can I Do With A Website

Keys To A Successful Website

How do Links Help a Website?

Avoiding Scams & Con Artists

Buying Domains & Web Hosting

SERVICES

Web Design

Graphic Design

Printing & Design

Advertising

WEB DESIGN

Web Development

Content Writing

SEO Services

Link Programs

E-Commerce

Online Advertising

Email Marketing

Hosting & Domains

How do Links Help a Website?

WHAT ARE LINKS?

Links are a piece of text on a website that when clicked on will take the user to another website. When you approach the owner of another website relevant in nature to your own you can request to swap links to form a link partnership. This can also be called a return link, two way link or reciprocal link.

For a more detailed description on what Links are, check out this Wikipedia page which has some great explanations of different types of links.

HOW DO THEY HELP A WEBSITE?

Links are extremely important to search engines like Google and Yahoo. The way a search engine decides where to place a website in the search results is basically a points system. Your site is reviewed by a man made program which rewards you with points for various things.

By giving referral and credit to another website the search engines reward your site with points. If another site is linking to your site then you are rewarded even more points as someone has basically given you a reference.

It use to be the case that two-way reciprocal links were more valuable than one way links but the general opinion of webmasters today is that Google has changed this because people were buying and selling links to boost their site's ranking with Google amongst other un-ethical behaviour.

Now it is the general belief that one way links (links pointing to your site from another relevant site) are more valuable as it means someone is referring to you because of your website's quality content and not just because you paid them to or swapped links.

There are many algorithms that Google considers when looking at the links pointing to your site but as with everything Google does, they can not tell anyone exactly how they do anything because if they did it would eliminate all competition and everyone would know how to make the perfect website. Everything we know about how Google works comes from trial and error and they are always changing and evolving which has often caused some major disruptions to high ranking websites in the past.

There are many other factors about a website which will gain it points and the more points you score, the higher your site is placed in the search engine results. Other factors include the age of the site, amount of unique content, keywords, headings, links and the code behind the site.

Links that point to your website from other sites are worth more points than all other factors. Search engines perceive relative links as a quality referral from another site and if that other website has a good reputation and has a high score it-self then you will be rewarded with even more points. So a website that ranks well in Google will give you more points than a website that ranks poorly.

HOW DO I FIND QUALITY LINKS?

The best way to find quality relative links is to go to Google and run a search for the main keywords associated with your website’s content. All the sites that appear within the first few pages of these results will be potential quality link partners.

A quick review of each site listed will tell you whether you would like to link with them or not. Chances are much higher they will trade links if they have a links page on their website. Some sites also have a quick form you can fill out to add your link otherwise you may have to email them with a link exchange request.

One other thing worth mentioning is when you do submit your details to link to another site it's a good idea to have a few variations of your link and its description as Google rewards variety and doesn't like repetitiveness.

Finding and organising quality links can be a very time consuming task but the rewards for your website will be very noticeable.

Other good ways of gaining quality one-way links is to write online press releases with a link to your site and submit it to major press release websites. You could do one or two of these a month at different press release websites for even more exposure and a constant flow of links and traffic. Remember, variety is the key.

Dorris Design provides a Links Program Service where we hunt down and create a list of as many quality relevant potential link partners as we can.
This means that every site on the list is of relevance to your own and has somewhere where a link to your site would be appropriate, accepts link exchanges for free, and has a good page rank. We can also request and organize the link exchange on your behalf or you can do this yourself.

Click here for more info on our Links Program Service

How do Links Help a Website?

WHAT ARE LINKS?

HOW DO THEY HELP A WEBSITE?

HOW DO I FIND QUALITY LINKS?

Other Articles