Become an SEO Pro with 3 Simple Strategies

Become an SEO Pro with 3 Simple Strategies
Google is all about linking. And if you want to snatch a
top spot in Google's search results you need to link like a
pro.

But don't worry. Linking is a whole lot easier today than
it was a few years ago. Experience has taught us a lot and
with the information in this article you won't need to
worry about endless trial and error. We have a repeatable
process that anyone can do, as easy as 1, 2, 3.

That said; let's take a look at the linking strategies that
Google will give you the most credit for...

Link Strategy 1: Reap the Most Benefit from Anchor Text

You probably already know that anchor text is the clickable
word or words that make up a hyperlink. But what you may
not yet fully realize is just how powerful anchor text is.
Want to see for yourself? Try a simple experiment...

Go to http://www.Google.com and search for "click here"
(without quotes.) Did you get a link for Adobe Acrobat
Reader at number 1? Why is that? Check out the page. They
have no mention of "click here" anywhere on the page or in
the META tags.

So why does it rank number 1 on Google for "click here"?
It's all thanks to anchor text. More specifically, it's
because of the countless pages that have "click here" as
anchor text that links to Adobe's Acrobat Reader download
page.

Did you notice how many competing pages there are for
"click here" on Google? Almost Two Billion! Anchor text is
extremely important. Here are a few rules of thumb to get
the most from yours...

A.) Use your three most important keywords for your anchor
text. Specifically, your most important word 60% of the
time; your second most important keyword 25% and your third
keyword 15%. And that is for every page you link to (each
page should focus on two to three keywords.)

B.) Use "long tail" keywords when appropriate (3 or more
words in the keyword phrase.)

C.) If your anchor text is part of a paragraph, like a
signature block, make certain the surrounding text is
optimized for the keyword you want or close variations. And
make sure that text is varied. You want to have plenty of
versions of the surrounding text block so Google doesn't
ding it as duplicate content.

Link Strategy 2: Make Your Target URLs Laser Accurate

URL accuracy, or format consistency, is extremely
important. Be sure to use the exact same URL whenever you
request a link. Even though a URL link beginning with
"http" or "www" (or both) might resolve to the same
webpage, Google sees them as different destinations.

Want to see for yourself? Go back to Google.com and enter
"Links: http://" (without quotes) followed by www... any
domain name you want. This will give you the inbound links
for that specific domain.

OK, easy enough. Jot down the number of links. Now try it
again WITHOUT the "www." And record the number of links.
Now try it a third time with the "www" but NOT the
http://". Are you getting different numbers? This is
because Google sees them as different link destinations.

Link Strategy 3: Go Beyond Reciprocal Linking

Reciprocal links just aren't enough any more. Google now
discounts the importance of simple link swaps so reciprocal
links alone will not do the trick like they used to. But
don't worry, with a little time or money or both, you can
have the best links imaginable.

The two fastest and least expensive ways are by submitting
your site to directories or paying a link service, but NOT
a reciprocal linking service. Let's start with
directories...

But before we do, there are two downsides to links from
directories that I need to mention. First, Google has been
discounting directory links over the past few months.
Second, some directories charge a fee to get listed (for
example Yahoo charges $299 per year!)

But don't despair. Links from directories may not be all
they used to, but they still help your SEO efforts. There's
a page I like to check out that has the top directories
listed as well as links to the site, their GRP (Google
PageRank rating), cost (if any) and more;
http://www.strongestlinks.com/directories.php

You can click on the column headings to sort by any
category you want. This makes finding the freebies, or top
GPR sites quick and easy. This site also appears to have
some sort of paid membership available but I just use the
free link above and it does all I need and more.

Important Note: There is a third possible risk that comes
from link farms, which are sometimes very similar to
certain link services. That risk is having too many inbound
links coming from a single IP range (Internet Protocol
address.) Google HATES this and will discount all these
links, or worse.

As for reciprocal linking services, I recommend you avoid
them like the plague. However there is a nice solution
called "3 way linking" that still allows you the set it and
forget it option. Here's one service I've had great results
with...

3WayLinker.com (http://www.3WayLinker.com) does not link
sites back to each other reciprocally. Instead it creates a
series of one way links that are counted purely as inbound
links by Google. Even more it helps eliminate duplicate
content in your link text and makes sure all inbound links
are from a wide range of IP addresses.

Here's how it works... Site "A" links to site "B". Site "B"
links to site "C". And then site "C" links to site "A". So
each is a true one way link. This also gives the system
more options regarding which sites form a team. With
reciprocal links, if both sites use the same hosting
provider, there is a very high chance you will be linked
within the same IP range. With three way linking this
problem is eliminated.

So to recap,
1.) Get the most out of your anchor text;
2.) Be very consistent with your link URL, and
3.) Do more than just reciprocal linking.

Now go get that top spot you've been after!

----------------------------------------------------
Mike Small is a 10 year veteran SEO professional and
founder of http://www.SEOpartner.com , a free blog
dedicated to helping website owners grab the top spots on
the best search engines.