By Gary Finn
Account Executive
Sometimes one of the most overlooked steps in any search engine optimisation (SEO) campaign is link building. Building relationships or "links" to your site can be time consuming and daunting but very rewarding in the long run.
Search engines look at links as votes. The more links your website has, the more votes it has to be number 1, or the "authority" site on your subject matter. However, not all links are equal. Links from more popular websites are weighted heavier than links from less popular sites. Search engines will favour content that is related, so links from relevant sites are more important then links from sites which are irrelevant.
One of the most important elements in any link building campaign is to seek out your top competitors. These are the websites that are ranking on the first page of search engine results for your keywords. Knowing who is at the top, and who links to them should be the first part of any link building campaign.
The easiest way to determine who is linking to your top competitors is to use the "link:" command in your search engine of choice. For example, take the URL http://www.interactivereturn.com. Interactive Return is at the top of the Google for the search term "online visibility ireland". As a result, it would be beneficial to see who links to Interactive Return. Just enter link: www.interactivereturn.com into a search engine. Follow this procedure for the top 4 or 5 sites that use your keywords and compile a list of competitor websites and their incoming links. This list should be used as the primary source for your link building campaign.
Sites should also look at the major pay for inclusion directories such as Yahoo. These directories often charge to be included in their database of websites. They are used by many of the top search engines as the foremost indicator of your sites ranking. It is important to also look at the free directories such as the Open Directory Project (ODP). The ODP is at http://dmoz.org but can be selective on the sites they include.
In conclusion, a good link building campaign can dramatically increase targeted traffic to your site. Link building should be seen as a long-term investment in your site. If you put a little time in now to improve your link popularity, you should insure a good search engine ranking in the future.
