Links, Linking and SEO. What they have to do with each other explained.

After I had been asked by a fellow blogger on linking and the significance of links to your blog, I wanted to clarify a few details about linking that should help with your linking strategy. The Google and Yahoo algorithms look at the links pointing to your page. The more you have the better. BUT! It depends on the “characteristics” of the links that you have pointing to your site. There are “bad” links, “quality” links and “regular” links. I will offer more detail for the “quality” links as they are more useful and so that we know what we are looking for in a “quality” links characteristics.

Here are some few guidelines that you should follow and you will be ok and on your way to a better spot on the search eng!nes not to mention driving additional traffic to your site!

1. “Quality” backlinks are links that are:

a. Coming from another site that has a high page ranking (PR) ranking of 4 or better. (PR ranking is from 0 – 10 with 10 being the best).

b. “One” way links from similar sites as yours, as these links carry a heavier weight in the search engines.

c. Links that are coming from sites of a similar niche or nature. (I.e.: If you have an automotive repair site, then contribute to a site where they sell automotive parts or give automotive tips and tricks).

Getting these “quality” backlinks:

a. Join “niche” directories and forums where you can contribute and leave comments on their site. Leaving thoughtful and provocative comments will almost always coax a response from either the Author himself or Readers. Always input the URL of your website when leaving comments so that they can follow your URL to your site!

b. Join social community sites like Friendster, Mybloglog, Mylot, Blogcatalog etc. will help out not only with exposure of your blog by giving you extra traffic but you can also place the link of your URL on these high PR sites.

c. Ask to trade links with high PR pages. This will only work if they somehow think that you have a really good site, are really friendly or helpful. If you do get a link from them TREASURE it!

d. Befriend top-notch bloggers and learn from them their secrets also on obtaining “quality” links. Brainstorming with experienced people is always a plus.

e. Writing authoritative articles that helps or informs other bloggers, for beginners, novices and experts alike. They will link to your article if they like it! Valuable information can be passed onto others and used as references by many readers.

f. OFFLINE NETWORKING-This is one tool that is free for all of us and can play a big part in link building if done right! Tell all your friends, family, classmates, co-workers and associates that have blogs and sites about your new site. They can write a review or instantly provide a link to your site for you, over a cup of coffee or tea of course!

g. Make a business card for your blog. You can have thousands of business cards printed out for a very nominal fee. Leave them at checkout counters of stores or hand them out to your friends and family.

h. If this is your 2nd or 3rd blog, have your main blog link to it, if your PR for your main blog is pretty high.

i. Free submission directories. With this tool you will have to use your own judgment as to whether you want to submit to that site or not. Ask around the web and see what people say about that site first, it will save you a lot of time and hassle before submission.

2. “Bad links” links and other things to avoid:

a. Bad links are the links from other sites (mostly submission sites) that have nothing to do with your site. These links are not weighed heavily by the search engines but can help you drive a miniscule amount of traffic to your site.

b. Bought links in the hundreds or thousands, too many traded links and submission to link directories or FFA (free for all) should be avoided whenever possible. According to Googles algorithm, sites can be penalized if this is found to be within the site. The intermittent use of link trading is ok and manual submission to specific safe directories is ok.

c. Spamming your link to forums, sites and directories alike is a big no-no and should be avoided.

3. Regular links:

a. Regular links are the reciprocal links or links accumulated through “link trading”. This can be of good use especially if the sites linking to you are high PR sites and sites within your niche. This can also be bad if they have no PR or not within your niche.

b. Links that you use as a signature in a comment not relevant to your site can be classified as a regular link.

One thing to remember? Having a lot of “quality” backlinks to your site is good for your SEO and does wonders for your site as far as traffic and PR are concerned. Avoid the negative “linking” practices and your blog will grow and be a place that people can always come to depend on for information and knowledge. As with anything else seo, adding links and taking them out is and will always be a constant battle. Be patient when building "quality" links, have fun, enjoy your blog and be yourself. It will work out in the long run and readers will see you are real people and care about what you blog. That's the next generation bloggers way of LINKING! Happy blogging!