In the past all you had to do to get good rankings in Google and the other search engines was to trade links with several other web sites using your key words in the link text. Although this still holds true today, I have reason to believe sites are being penalized for not using a directory style link structure with no more than 25 links per page. Having a directory style links system on your site will make it more of a resource to your visitors and not just a bunch of un-organized links all lumped together on a single page.
There are of coarse other ways to attract incoming links to your web site without providing a link back or whats called a reciprocal link.
1. There are thousands of forums out there that will allow your links in a short signature file at the end of each post. Join forums that are related to your subject matter and take part in the discussions. Make sure you use your key words in you signature file link and not just your URL.
2. Submit your site to as many directories as you can. There are thousands of directories out there that will post your website into there directory for free and also some that charge a small one time fee. Again your title or link text is key. Make sure you are using your key words in your link text or title.
3. Writing and submitting articles like this one with a small resource box at the end is also a good way to attract one way links back to your site. When you submit your articles to the many article directory portals you are getting links from the portal site, plus people will search for and use the articles from the portal site on their own sites. If you write just 1 good article and submit it to 10-20 portal sites you could end up with 100s of back links over a very short time.
4. Writing and submitting press releases work almost the same way an article works. You write the press release and submit it to PR sites. The PR site will submit it to the major search engine for a small fee and your press release could end up on Google and Yahoo news search the next day. People are also looking for free news feeds to syndicate on their web sites and blogs. If you write a good news piece it could end up on 100s of blogs and other news sites around the web. Again make sure your web site link is in the news piece some were.
5. Free classifieds may not provide you with much traffic but you can create hundreds of back links to your web site with a little time and effort.
6. There are also web sites that will place your link on their front page as a sponsored link for a small fee. For this to work thou you need to make sure your links are up for more than a month or two. If the search engine picks up your link one month but its gone the next it wont do much good.
So for those of you who concentrate entirely on reciprocal links and are wondering what has happened to your Google ranking, you may want to consider a few or all of the above linking techniques.
Tom Worsley is a successful and independent representative for , Owner and Webmaster for
This article may be re-published on your site or in your newsletter as long as this resource box is included.
A few years ago, search engine placement was arranged by your average Web designer and/or Webmaster. The Webmaster would simply submit a site to search engines manually or use rudimentary software that was widely available.
Keyword relevance was largely a matter of link popularity and the Webmaster assigning a simple keyword meta-tag to each page of your site. The system used to work reasonably well, or so it seemed. That is no longer the case.
Today, submission to the major search engines like Google is largely irrelevant, although there is a complex mix of PFI (pay for inclusion) and PFP (pay for performance, sponsored links, PPC ads) that require complex submission of details.
Todays Methodology
In todays Internet economy, sophisticated and complex programs - called spiders - surf the Web looking at the source code of Web pages. They sort through the complex web of formatting tags, programming script, multi-media, page titles, and content that the user may or may not see, to ascertain how to rank each page of your site for each and every word and word combination that it finds.
These spiders index the words of each page found and add it to the engines database, making them available as keywords for search engine searchers. In this new environment, sophisticated software programs that analyze the various search engine algorithms and how they rank selected pages have moved to the forefront of search engine placement.
This has spawned a large industry of SEO (search engine optimisation and marketing) experts and specialist SEM firms.
What Does Keyword Based Marketing Offer
If implemented correctly, SEO can offer a higher return on investment than nearly any other marketing strategy (online or offline). Placing high in the search engine ranking positions (SERPs) is a great way to attract first time visitors. Placement in the search engines can largely determine the reach of your online marketing strategy.
The stakes in this battle are being raised all the time as the number of users going online increases - which in the U.S. alone approaches 100 million - with over 60% of those users spending some 48 BILLION dollars per year for online shopping (Greenspan, 2002, cyberatlas.com).
With broadband prices in Australia falling rapidly and the rate of Internet takeup extraordinarily high, the Australian consumer is showing similar enthusiasm for online sales. Unfortunately, many potential buyers - some say as many as 70% - give up because they cannot find the good sites to shop at, because they are poorly keyword indexed or the actual site has poor navigation and design.
When any business is making plans to improve their Search Engine positions, they need to understand that optimisation of your site for the Search Engines is not a one-shot job. It requires ongoing monitoring and tweaking in order to keep ahead of both the competition AND the changes the Search Engines make to how they rank sites.
Any comprehensive Web marketing plan should:
(1) Promote your web site based on the (optimised) content of your site and knowledge of the relevant marketplace;
(2) Utilise data of how the average search engine user actually looks for information on your site - including alternative terms, synonyms, common phrasing, etc;
(3) Include internal and external link building with relevant sites and relevant keywords;
(4) Regular reporting of search engine positioning, general Internet visibility and actual visitor statistics/analytics and recommendation for improvements.
Every serious Web site owner should be on a Web marketing plan that is definitely more than just a submission or reporting service. Set a monthly budget and take action.
Weve seen many of our clients benefit from the ongoing relationship we have developed with them through our web marketing plans. Plenty of page 1 rankings on Google, Yahoo, MSN are not uncommon over time, as we monitor and tweak their sites for the Search Engines.
However, in almost all cases, those clients would have never achieved and then maintained those high rankings if they had not had someone in the know keeping track of how their site is ranking, and making changes where ever needed.
Its like advertising in the Yellow Pages really. If you dont pay to have your ad included, you dont get an entry in the book, and eventually the calls to your business start to drop off as people update to the newest edition.
Search Engine Optimisation / Marketing is the same. The Internet is NOT static - its always changing and evolving, and in order for your site to get and maintain good rankings around the keywords that are important to you, you have to keep someone on the job on a regular basis who knows how to react to the changes happening.
The Return On Investment (ROI) for good SEO/SEM services is very high, compared to traditional advertising and marketing. According to Googles statistics, Search advertising is up to 20 times CHEAPER per lead, compared to (for example) Direct Mail. For any company spending money on advertising, this statistic should be of EXTREME interest! After all, what company doesnt want to reduce their cost of customer acquisition
Thats what SEO/SEM companies are supposed to be about! Well, at least at our company, we are - I cant speak for our competitors. Before you hire an SEO/SEM company, ask what their plan is for the ongoing optimisation of your site. If they dont have a plan, run, dont walk, to the nearest exit and hang onto your money.
Charles Ryder is the CEO of WCR Internet Marketing, a specialist Australian Search Engine Optimisation company. For a free site analysis, visit