Link popularity is the single most influential factor for determining how well a web site will perform in search engine rankings. A web site’s link popularity is computed from the number and more importantly, the quality of links pointing to a web site.
Link Popularity history
To gain a better understanding of link popularity it is useful to know why it became so crucial for search engine rankings. In the past a web page’s ranking was determined, amongst other factors, by the number of keyword occurences within ‘on-page’ elements i.e. in page text, META tags, title tag.
When web developers learned that they could trick a search engine to return their web pages by cramming keywords into their pages the search engines had to get a bit smarter. They were using ‘on-page’ elements to determine relevance so it was only natural that they would look to elements out of direct control of the web page creator i.e. ‘off-page’ elements. Search engines made the assumption that the greater the number of links from other sites pointing to a web site, the more popular the web site is and therefore a more quality resource. This worked nicely in theory but in practice it was also to be abused.
Web site owners figured out many ways to get links pointing to their web sites one example of which was through the use of link farms, pages the contained nothing more than a collection of links, Quantity of links was being abused so the search engines made use of the old saying “quality not quantity” and began to assign a quality factor to each of the links pointing to a web site. Now web sites that had a higher number of high quality links were looked upon favourably by the search engines. Building link popularity became a science in itself and today is still the most time-consuming and frustrating activity for a search engine optimizer.
Main classes of links
Note: In the following examples SiteA is our web site and SiteB is an outside site (i.e. a web site under a different domain name than SiteA).
Inbound links:
Inbound links to a web site are links that originate from an outside web site. An example would be a link on SiteB pointing into a page on SiteA.
SiteA (—– SiteB
Outbound links:
Outbound links from a web site are links pointing to a page on an outside web site. An example would be a link on SiteA pointing out to a page on SiteB.
SiteA —–) SiteB
There are two further classifications of links:
Reciprocal links:
An example of a reciprocal link is when SiteA links to SiteB AND SiteB links to SiteA, the link is reciprocated by both parties.
SiteA —–) SiteB
AND
SiteA (—– SiteB
To achieve a high link popularity the type of links to build are inbound one-way links. This simulates how natural links are created i.e. links that people create to point to your site because they found it worth linking to.
For outbound links it is natural to assume that they might decrease link popularity of a web site but this is not true. You do not give away your link popularity when you link to another site. They do not add to your link popularity though.
Reciprocal links can add to your link popularity if the web site that you exchange links with has a higher link popularity than your site. However they are not as powerful as inbound, one-way links as they are quite artificial in nature i.e. most probably created by communication between the owners of both sites.
How to build link popularity
So it is quite obvious that to help build up a nice link popularity many inbound, one-way links need to be created. This can be achieved in a number of different (and most importantly, legal) ways:
Directories:
Directories are categorized listings of links from around the web. Many, many directories exist and vary in their methods of getting your link posted on them. They provide a great source of quality inbound, one-way links. Getting listed in quality directories such as DMOZ or Yahoo can be more beneficial for your link popularity than a lot of links from smaller, newer directories.
Great site content:
The most powerful way to get inbound, one-way links is to have great site content that other web sites will want to link to. This allows you to get links from sites other than directories, which can definitely be better. The best thing about this is that it requires no communication on your part, it just happens naturally. If your site has poor content then others sites may not link, including the directories. Most of the top ranking web sites today got to the top because of great content. Writing interesting and informative articles for your web site is a good way of getting these kind of links.
Emailing web site owners:
If you come across a listing of links on a web site other than a directory e.g. a links page on a somebody’s personal web site, it can do no harm to write the web site owner a polite email requesting a link to your site from their page. They may request a reciprocal link in return but sometimes they do not and you can get a quality inbound, one-way link for your efforts. I have got many links in the past using this method. In my email I always ask them to visit my site first before making a decision to link and I personalise each email with a comment or two about their site.
Summary
The best and most effective way of increasing your search engine rankings is working to improve your web site’s link popularity. This can be achieved by getting as many inbound, one-way links as you can from quality sites such as directories. Other ways to get these links are having great content on your site and requesting a link to your site from other web sites.
Increasing link popularity is a time-consuming and sometimes frustrating process but is definitely worth the time and effort when you see a dramatic increase in traffic.
Frank Kilkelly is a Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Expert and Webmaster at http://www.seo-ireland.com/, a complete search engine optimization resource. The highlight of the site is an SEO forum http://www.seo-ireland.com/forum/ for discussion of the latest techniques and tips to improve the ranking of your web site.
“We can change our circumstances by a mere change of our attitude.”
- William James, 19th Century American psychologist and philosopher
I’ve noticed I often take myself, my work, and my life way too seriously. I blow events out of proportion, demand perfection, and generally behave as if my needs are at the center of everything.
I agonize over small decisions, worry about personal interactions, wrestle with each word of a simple e-mail, and wake up at night with my heart pounding in anticipation of tomorrow’s presentation or with angst about what happened today. Was I good enough? How can I get this right for a change? Why did I say THAT?! The minutest detail is not too small to escape scrutiny when I’m in this frame of mind - when life becomes very, very serious.
When this happens I lose my self, my center, and my perspective. I step out of the precious present moment and into anxiety about the future or the past. I forget that there’s nothing I can control except right now, right here, this moment and my availability to it.
Happily, remembering this personal truth is what shifts me back into the present. I begin to breathe again and slip seamlessly into the realization that right now, at this moment, I am okay. Sanity returns as I focus on what is at hand.
Vibrant and Joyful
I practice a martial art called aikido, whose flowing and graceful movements belie the power behind them. Aikido is based on principles such as centered response and utilization of energy, and it has practical applications in the world of conflict resolution and self-management. Morihei Ueshiba, the founder of aikido, called it the Art of Peace, and said that we must “always practice the Art of Peace in a vibrant and joyful manner.” Aikidoists try to remember this as we throw each other around the mat, smiling and having fun while we work to perfect our technique.
As we push on into the first decade of this new century, it is likely that life will become even more complex than it already is. Here are some suggestions that might help when you become separated from your perspective:
- Acknowledge - Often all it takes to change your current stressed out state is to notice it. As you bring your awareness back to the present moment, you regain a sense of perspective and possibility.
- Center - Breathe. Smile. Be.
- Call someone and talk about it, better yet laugh about it.
- Read a poem.
- Listen to music.
- Take a walk or go for a run.
- Dream up some practices of your own.
Use your growing awareness to lighten up, smile, live and love in a vibrant and joyful manner. And stop taking yourself so seriously!
——————–
© 2005 Judy Ringer, Power & Presence Training
About the Author: Judy Ringer is Founder of Power & Presence Training, specializing in unique workshops on conflict, communication, and creating a more positive work environment. Judy is also a black belt in aikido, and is writing her first book on the connection between aikido, conflict, and living a more purposeful life. To sign up for more free tips and articles like these, visit http://www.JudyRinger.com
Note: You’re welcome to reprint this article as long as it remains complete and unaltered (including the ‘about the author’ info at the end), and you send a copy of your reprint to judy@judyringer.com.
I have some questions for you this morning.
How do you see the world? Do you see the glass as half full or half empty?
Do you complain and focus on what you don’t have instead of what you do have?
Do you take secret enjoyment in someone else’s failure or embarrassment?
Do you judge others? Do you see yourself as a victim? (Don’t worry - we have all been there at one time or another.)
Do you use the words SHOULD and CAN’T a lot, as in “I should do this” and “I can’t afford it.”
Are you resentful of another’s success or do you celebrate it?
Do you look for the worst or the best in people?
Do you see the world as a safe place full of people who are happy to support you? Or do you see the world as fearful, a place where you always have to be on guard, in case someone might steal from you, lie to you or hurt you in some way?
In other words, what do you believe about the world and focus on for the majority of your day?
Remember that what you focus on expands. You are much more powerful than your realize. Your thoughts are light energy beams and given enough charge they can create just about anything, good or bad. If you are thinking and speaking the same things over and over again, then very little can improve in your life.
For example, this morning I ran out of kleenex in the bathroom. I looked everywhere for a new box but couldn’t see any. I thought to myself, NO KLEENEX. I made a mental note to go to the store in the afternoon and pick some up. Later, as I was sitting at my desk writing this email and feeling happy and relaxed, I looked up and there was a fresh new box of kleenex. I remember looking on my desk earlier when I ran out, but I did not SEE the kleenex. Why? Because I was focusing on - NO KLEENEX, so that is what I got - NO KLEENEX.
This is exactly how the Universe works with everything. If you are thinking and believing - No Money, it will give you No Money because that is what you are a match to. And even if the money were right in front of your face you would not be able to SEE it. But when you relax and get into a good feeling place and allow the Universe to do its job, then all of a sudden whatever it is you are wanting shows up, be it money, better health or a good relationship.
This incident with the kleenex was a very significant message for me because I have had a feeling for a very long time now, that what I need to make all of my dreams come true is right under my nose, but I haven’t been able to SEE it yet. How about you? Is there something in your own life that you are not SEEING yet?
I was quite frankly very surprised to learn that we do not actually see with our eyes but with our brain. Two people can be looking at the exact same thing and see something completely different. So even if nothing changes but how you SEE the world, then how you SEE the world changes everything.
It has always amazed me that the evening news is almost always about something extremely negative such as murder, violence, fraud, weather catastrophes, corruption and what surprises me even more is that people actually watch it. Yes, these things do happen, but they are in the minority, the very small minority. The world is filled with people doing all kinds of wonderful things. Silent angels abound on the planet. Unsung heroes count in the thousands, perhaps even millions. Acts of kindness and miracles are everywhere. There is so much good going on in the world that we never hear about and so we begin to live our lives from this very small place and we think that is all there is. And our path in life becomes like walking through a graveyard on a summer’s day. It feels warm and cosy, but it’s dead there.
We are continuously being given messages from our environment all day long and either these messages are empowering us or they are bringing us down.
And commercials are the same way. We are bombarded in this culture with negative messages and conditioning. We are told what we should look like, how we constantly need to be fixed and then given a product and/or service that will do just that. It is any wonder that we have become the walking wounded. Even the songs we hear on the radio are for the most part sending us negative messages of life being hard and things never going our way. There is some great music out there but we need to search it out. Many of us walk around oblivious to all of this and don’t even realize how much we are affected by it at a deep subconscious level.
And it is not just in the media. For example, what do you have hanging on your walls at home or in your office. Pictures and photographs that make you feel good every time you look at them or paintings that may unconsciously be giving you a very clear message. One that you don’t want.
Here is an interesting story. Mary had a beautiful painting hanging on her wall of a lady sitting in a lovely French outdoor cafe. The woman in the painting was alone and looked very sad but Mary loved the painting because it was from Paris and she longed to go there one day when she met the person she was to spend the rest of her life with. But this never seemed to happen. Mary seemed destined to always be sad and alone or so she thought. Until the day Mary took down that painting and replaced it with a picture of a very happy couple lovingly sitting together in a french cafe, enjoying each other and life. Every time Mary looked at this new painting her heart soared, and guess what? Within a couple of months she met and married the man of her dreams and they spent their honeymoon in Paris.
Now lets focus on what you are NOT SEEING!
In order to allow more prosperity and abundance into your life, you need to have a consciousness of abundance and prosperity. In other words, you need to SEE abundance and prosperity everywhere. Scarcity is an illusion. It is not the truth of who you really are and what you are capable of. It is simply a misdirected thought, a perception, a habit of seeing the world in a certain way, a habit you have probably been practicing for a very long time. So in order to change your life, you need only to shift your perception. Sounds great, you’re thinking, but HOW do I do that? The answer… PRACTICE!
It is all about PRACTICE. How do you learn how to play the piano? One note at a time, one day at a time and PRACTICE! It is the very same with Wealth, Abundance and Prosperity. Practice! You need to start noticing how abundant the Universe already is. When you are out walking, begin to notice how lavish everything is, the hundreds of trees, the thousands of leaves, the profusion of wildlife and flowers, the vastness of the sky, the opulence of nature all around you. When you go to the grocery store, wander around the produce section and notice how plentiful it is. The thousands of colourful and flavorful fruits and vegetables at your disposal.
Notice… Notice… Notice…
Practice…Practice… Practice….
Sounds silly? Perhaps, but you can be serious and poor or silly and rich. It is always your choice!
Action Plan: This is your wake up call. Please become conscious of what you are surrounding yourself with in your own private world. Walk around your home and look at your walls and if there is anything there that doesn’t completely uplift you, then you might want to remove or replace it with something that does. You might want to put a picture on your wall of something that you are wanting to create in your life so that you can see it every day and it becomes a part of who you are. Turn off the news and radio and instead listen to some positive motivational tapes or cd’s as you are driving or read some inspirational literature. Don’t worry - if anything happens that you really need to hear about, you will. Stay away from gossip and don’t complain about anything, just for the during of this program. If you want to resume complaining after the program, that is fine with me, but somehow I don’t think you will. And start NOTICING and PRACTICING!!!
Begin to see abundance everywhere you go and in everything you do. Notice it! Comment on it! Give thanks for it! Exaggerate it in the beginning if you have to. This is all a game anyway and we are playing to win this time. Have fun with all of it. Do this and just see if your life begins to move in a new direction.
Veronica Hay is an inspirational writer. Her work inspires others to be more of who they really are.
Telephone: 403-245-6815 Email: veronicahay@telus.net
Subscribe to Veronica’s Daily Insights & Inspirations at the following link.
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