How to Get Non-Reciprocal Links to Your Website
and Improve Your Page Rank
By
Donald Nelson, copyright 2003
Ever since Google began placing
importance on its Page Rank system, website
owners have been
scrambling to get incoming links to their websites, usually
through the means of trading links. Incoming links are
important in the Page Rank system, because they are seen as
“votes” for your site, and the more “votes” you get, the more
important your site is considered, and the higher it is placed
in Google’s search results. However, if you study the details
of the Page Rank system you will find that not all incoming
links have the same weight, and that the non-reciprocal links
to your site, the one’s you didn’t have to trade for, are
given more importance. So, website owners should also spend
some time building up these non-reciprocal links. Here are
five methods you can use in this effort.
1. Get your site listed in the major directories: The two most
important directories at the present moment are Yahoo and the
Open Directory Project (www.dmoz.org). Yahoo is the old
stalwart of the Internet and despite the rise of Google, the
addition of a hefty $299 fee, and changes in the way they
display their listings, a link to your site from Yahoo’s main
directory (and it’s regional variants) can boost the standing
of your website much more than a few links from an obscure
website.
The other major directory, the Open Directory Project is free
of charge and is edited by volunteers. It is sometimes
difficult to get a listing because they scrutinize listings
and do not list sites that don’t offer original content. If
your site consists only of affiliate links, then the editors
will reject your application. In addition the volunteer
editors have been unable to keep pace with the amount of sites
to be reviewed and they can take months to process your entry.
Compounding the problem are technical glitches which sometimes
make it difficult to even submit the form. Despite the
problems inclusion here is well worth your effort, and you
should persist. Inclusion in both Yahoo and the Open Directory
Project can mean the difference between a “page one” or a
“page five” showing for your site in search results,
especially in competitive categories.
2. Get your site listed in directories relevant to your
particular product or service: There are many resource
directories that serve particular areas of interest. If you
offer software that would be helpful to webmasters, for
example, then do a search for webmaster resource directories
and you will find sites where you can add your URL. Do you
have a hotel? Then, find travel directories, and apply to be
listed. You will have to spend time, but once again
persistence will pay off, not only in improvement of your page
rank but listing in specific industry or product oriented
directories will bring you targeted traffic—people
particularly interested in what you have to offer.
3. Write articles for Publication on Other Web Sites: There
are millions of websites on the web, and many are hungry for
quality content. As you have published your own website and
have something to offer, that makes you an “expert” in your
particular field. Use this expertise to write simple, but
useful articles in your field and send these to other
webmasters. If they publish your article, they will include
your “resource box” with a link back to your site. The link
will once again boost your Page Rank, but just as importantly,
it will establish you as an authority in your field and will
help “brand” your product or service. You don’t have to write
to hundreds of webmasters individually to get your article
published, go to www.yahoogroups.com and do a search for
“Internet Articles Publishing” and you will find many groups
that will enable you to reach webmasters looking for articles.
4. Get Your Product or Service Reviewed by other Websites:
Have you published an e-book or written software? Then offer a
free copy to websites whose themes are similar to yours. If
they write and publish a review, then you will get a link back
to your site. In addition, you can publish their reviews on
your own site, which will add a lot of weight to your own
claims about the validity of your product or service. Look
around for sites in your field and make your offer. In the
process you will also build potentially important alliances.
5. Beef up the Content on Your Own Site: the original concept
behind the Page Rank system was to try to highlight the
websites that are really valuable, and offer something unique
to the Internet. If you publish an Internet version of your
company brochure, no one is going to link to you unilaterally.
However, if your site is filled with interesting articles,
reports, data and reference material then you will get links
without even asking for them. You can add content to your
site, by writing and publishing your own articles, the same
ones that you will offer to other sites, as well as by
publishing the articles of others. Once again, the article
publishing groups at www.yahoo.com or sites such as
www.articlecity.com will provide you with a wealth of
material.
If you apply some of these methods you will not only get some
high-quality non-reciprocal links but you will also boost the
quality of your website in the process.
Be sure to read these related
articles:
Improving
Your Site's Link Popularity and Search Engine Ranking
How
to Choose Your Link Partners
Reciprocal
Links: Quality is as important and Quantity
Donald
Nelson is a web developer, editor and social worker. He has
been working on the Internet since 1995, and is currently the
director of A1-Optimization (http://www.a1-optimization.com),
a firm providing low cost search engine optimization,
submission and web promotion services.
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