Inbound
Web Links

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2nd July 2007

Acquiring Inbound Links

Apart from the possibility of generating traffic directly, inbound links can help your website's standing with the search engines. A link is regarded by some search engines as a 'vote' by the linking website in favour of the website which is linked to. So the right inbound links can increase your website's standing with some search engines (the 'wrong' links can have the opposite effect or no effect at all - see previous article).

It is possible to pay for links but I would not recommend this unless you have enough experience and knowledge to be able to make a good judgement about the cost effectiveness and ethics of a particular opportunity.

Outlined below are some ways you might go about acquiring links to your website without necessarily handing over any cash. Always keep in mind that your links should be genuinely useful to those they are aimed at and not set up simply as an attempt to increase your search engine rankings.

• Directories. The web is awash with directories of various kinds. Some will list your website and provide a link for free, some will charge a fee. Until you have enough experience to judge when payment is worthwhile you might want to focus on getting listed for free.
  
  The Open Directory (aka The Open Directory Project, ODP, DMOZ) is an important Web resource and such a good place to start that it merits a special mention. The directory is maintained by volunteers and depending on the workload it can sometimes take a while to get listed. Find the right place for your website in the directory hierarchy and follow the submission rules and you shouldn't have a problem. Once you have a listing you can expect this to find its way, eventually, into the many other directories and search engines which use the ODP as a source.
  
  Yahoo is a directory as well as a search engine and does have a free submissions option for non-commercial websites. Worth a look if you have one.
  
  Any directory specialising in the type of content your website covers is worth considering if they offer you a free listing. Each directory must be judged on its merits. Check out their privacy policy before you hand over your details.
  
  
• Content / Link Bait. If the content of your website is good and sufficiently unique then you might well find other websites linking to you for those very reasons and entirely of their own volition. Not only is this likely to mean others using those links out of genuine interest and generating extra traffic for your site but the search engines are also likely to be impressed.
  
  In fact, those engines which look for such links and regard them as 'votes' in favour of your website are likely to increase their rating of your website if they find appropriate links like this in sufficient numbers. Could it get any better?
  
  
• Articles Why not write a series of articles on your website subject and submit them to one or more of the many 'free to use' article sites that exist on the web? The site will provide a way of including a link back to your website. The idea is that other website and ezine owners, ever eager for fresh content, will use your free article and credit you with a link.
  
  
• Forums. The Web is full of forums on more subjects than you can shake a stick at. If your website is about teddy bears find a few popular forums concerned with this topic and hang out there. (A search on Google just now returned over 1,400,000 results against 'teddy bear forum'.) Once you've got the hang of what interests people in a particular forum you can make a few posts. This should not be too hard since the forum is, by definition, about your chosen subject. Include a link to your website in your signature. Not all forums allow this - so choose the ones that do! Do be careful not to overstep the bounds of what is considered acceptable when promoting yourself or you could provoke a hostile reaction.
  
  
• Testimonials. Why not write a short testimonial in favour of any deserving website or business you come across, sign it with reference to your own website and send it to the webmaster? If you testimonial is published your website link is likely to be included. Target websites with content related to your own.
  
  
• Reciprocal Linking. Exchanging links with other websites was and is a very popular way of getting links. In its simplest form website A sets up a link to website B in exchange for website B setting up a link to website A. (It can get more complicated than this with e.g. three way links.) If your website looks good enough to other webmasters you might find you are offered all the reciprocal links you can manage without going looking for them. Otherwise you will probably need to approach other websites yourself with a linking offer. Approach only those websites which specifically invite link requests. Usually a website with an interest in exchanging links will have a special section reserved for this purpose. Find this and check if they have any special requirements. If they don't have a special form or procedure you can simply email the offer to the webmaster.
  
  The main problem with this approach is the effort involved in finding and managing the links. You need to check periodically to make sure that your link is still in place and that the other webmaster has not removed it accidentally or deliberately (yes - there are a few unscrupulous webmasters who might try to cheat you!)
  
  Avoid getting involved in dodgy link exchange schemes and remember that search engines might give more weight to 'one way' than 'two way' (reciprocal) links.
  
  
• Avoid. You need to avoid getting involved with any doubtful linking schemes and anything that could be considered 'link spam', 'link farms', 'bad neighborhoods' etc (see previous article). Buying links can also get you into trouble with the search engines if this is done on an 'unethical' basis. Also remember that the fewer variables there are in the url of the page holding your link the better that page might be regarded by the search engines. In addition, some 'experts' maintain that too many links on a page are bad news from the search engines' point of view. A maximum of fifty links or so might be a good rule of thumb (although there is no certainty about the number).
  
  If you are unsure about the advisability of a particular linking deal or offer then avoid it - better safe than sorry.

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© Trevor Womack 2007