Search Engine Optimization

Stay Away From Bad Neighbourhoods

Google, in their documentation, for webmaster guidelines, recommends that webmasters avoid linking, or associating, their websites to what they refer to as “bad neighbourhoods”.

Bad neighbourhoods refer to websites that harvest personal information, install and/or download malicious or harmful software, and link to other websites that are considered harmful or dangerous to a visitor. And, it's very likely these websites have been de-listed from a search engine index, which means if your website is linked to their's you will eventually incur a penalty of your own.

Webmasters must remain pro-active, when monitoring what websites are linking to their own, in circumstances where you have exchanged or purchased a link with another website.

Obviously, no webmaster can expect to control what websites are linking to his own, and search engines do take this into account when determining the quality of a backlink. However, every webmaster, website designer, etc., does have the ability to control what their own website chooses to link to, and if those websites happen to be a bad neighbourhood your site will incur a penalty, resulting in a drop in search results.

There are many companies that promote the idea of increasing your page rank through increasing the number of backlinks to your site. Of course, backlinks, which search engines use to calculate popularity, are very important, and in all likelihood, the most important indication to a search engine of just how popular your site is. However, website popularity is not solely based on the number of links, but also the quality of the links.

For instance, in theory, a given website could have 2,000 poor backlinks, while another with only 4 quality backlinks, could conceivably rank higher in search results because of the quality of backlinks, versus the void or lack of quality, from the competitor, who has 2,000.

Quality is Job#1

To borrow a slogan from Ford Motor Company, quality is job number one, if you're going to seek backlinks on your own. You should be careful when concluding the quality of a website meets the criteria of a good, solid, backlink. Reputation of a website can be helpful, such as hearing about the site through a television or a radio advertisement, as well as a thorough evalution of online reviews.

You should also consider the relationship between your site, and theirs.

• Is it mutually beneficial ?
• Could a visitor to their website gain value from finding a link to your site ?
• And, does the same hold true in the opposite circumstance ?
• How does the link to their site fit into your website ? Is it placed on a directory page or does it exist in the flow of your website, providing a context for it's use ?Re: Ford Motor Company link in the above paragraph

All of the above factors, and more, should be considered when determining the quality of a backlink.

Building From The Ground Up

Some of the first backlinks you should look for, when attempting to build quality relationships, is search engines. Google, for example, has a number of services that ultimately provide solid backlinks, such as Google Places or Google Base. Search engines usually provide their own business directory to list under for categories.

There are some other good business directories, like the Open Directory Project, but very few worthwhile. However, some good relational directories to pursue involve local directory listings, for specific categories, where it can be beneficial for local website traffic.

Online forums that relate to your business can be a help, as you can participate in discussions with visitors looking for information, and if allowed to, post a link to your site as a reference. However, never view the opportunity to post in a forum, as one where you can spam your website name or URL. It's bad public relations, and likely not to have the affect you desire with search engines.

Having a simple Facebook page, with links back to your own website can help, and through the social interaction of the network, introduce people to your site via your facebook page. There is also Google Buzz, Myspace, and Twitter, to name just a few of the other more popular social networks. However, the point is to create backlinks to your site that make sense, and are of value, and not links that are random and have little or no relation to your site, or it's contents.

How To Encourage Or Inspire Backlinks

One popular method is to allow your website to offer RSS feeds, and allow other websites to subscribe to the feed. This allows other websites to receive content updates, that you define, to be displayed, and linked to, in real time.

Of course, in order for your feeds to be picked up, they have to have value to someone else. What your website looks like, how well it reads and navigates, along with the content, will largely determine, whether anyone will ultimately want to link to your feeds.

Another method involves the use of a online forum of your own, where users can post comments about your site, and it's services, as well as socially interact with topics related to your business or category of business. This can encourage visitors to link to discussion threads they've participated in, from their Facebook page, for example.

But probably, one of the most effective ways of encouraging backlinks, is a blog. Writing your own articles, reporting on your own experiences, can have a profound effect on inspiring backlinks, provided the content of your blog is compelling or interesting. You may find your blog is referenced in some other article, or even someone elses blog, and linked to, which has the potential to multiply your backlinks exponentially.

What You Shouldn't Do To Inspire Backlinks

Encouraging other websites to links yours should not be manipulated, by virtue of accepting money or value of some kind, in exchange for that link. For example, advertising on your site with requests for link exchange, or offering to sell links from your site for a price.

Websites such as those can appear, to exist purely to rank their page in a search engine, and do not exist for the benefit of a visitor. Backlinks, of course, should be the result of a natural and compelling interest in your website, and not the product of coercion, manipulation, or gained under a false pretense.

If you build your website with visitors to it, in mind, and focus on their experience and interaction with it, you'll find they will be more likely, and encouraged, to freely link to it.