This document provides an overview of link building strategies and how to measure link popularity and PageRank. It discusses how inbound links from relevant, authoritative sites are important for search engine rankings. It recommends tools for finding backlinks and PageRank, such as the Google Toolbar, Yahoo Site Explorer, and SEOChat. The document warns against low-quality link building practices like link farms, hidden links, and unnatural link structures. It also offers suggestions for getting links through blogs, RSS, directories, and more creative approaches like tools, content partnerships, and sponsorships. The key lessons are that links should come from relevant, topically-related sites to pass PageRank effectively.

1. Google in the Real World:
How Links Boost Your Ranking
Presented by : TheSeoPortal Link Building Services Company
Website : http://www.theseoportal.com

2. Link Popularity
 Inbound links play a key role in determining rankings
 It’s not just about quantity (“link popularity”); it’s about
quality (importance of the page, topically
relevant/authoritative)
 This has been the cornerstone of Google’s ranking
algorithm since Day 1
 Comes from the Google founders’ fascination with
citation analysis

3. Checking Link Popularity
 To a page
– Google’s and MSN Search’s link: query operator
 To your site
– Yahoo’s linkdomain: query operator
 Subtract your site from the results (MSN & Yahoo only)
– E.g. link:www.yoursite.com -site:yoursite.com
 Google displays only a sampling of backlinks (to foil
SEOs)

4. Checking Link Popularity
 Free tools
– Yahoo’s Site Explorer (siteexplorer.search.yahoo.com)
– Netconcepts’ Link Checker (www.netconcepts.com/linkcheck)
– WeBuildPages’ Neat-o Tool (www.webuildpages.com/neat-o/)
– SEO-Links Firefox extension (www.webmasterbrain.com/seo-
tools/firefox-extensions/seo-links/)
– Thumbshots Ranking tool (ranking.thumbshots.com)
– TouchGraph GoogleBrowser
(www.touchgraph.com/TGGoogleBrowser.html)

5. WeBuildPages’ Neat-o Tool

6. SEO-Links Firefox Extension

7. Thumbshots Ranking tool

8. TouchGraph GoogleBrowser

9. PageRank
 PageRank™ – Google’s algorithm for measuring a
page’s importance; Yahoo & MSN have similar
measures
 Each web page (not site) has its own PageRank score
 PageRank scores from 0 to 10; logarithmic scale
 Who’s at the top of the PageRank food chain?
– 10: Google, Apple, NSF, FirstGov; 9: Yahoo, MSN, Stanford
 Sites with higher PageRank get crawled earlier, faster,
and deeper by Googlebot

10. Checking PageRank
 Google Toolbar for IE or Firefox
– Download it from toolbar.google.com
 Google Directory (directory.google.com)
– Only works for pages that are listed in DMOZ (e.g. your home
page)
– Listings are ranked in order of PageRank
– Makes it possible to see your site make small PageRank
shifts relative to other sites in your category
– Get historical PageRank scores w/ Wayback Machine
(www.archive.org)

11. Google Toolbar

12. Problems with the PageRank Meter
 Take the PageRank scores with a grain of salt
 PageRank scores are merely indicative
 Scores displayed in the PageRank meter are:
– Months old
– Imprecise
– Not the same as the PageRank as what is used in Google’s
ranking algorithm
– Not representative of the home page PageRank when a
redirect is present

13. Google
Directory –
listings are
organized
by
PageRank

14. Checking PageRank
 More free tools
– SEOChat PageRank Lookup (www.seochat.com/seo-
tools/pagerank-lookup/)
– SEOChat PageRank Search (www.seochat.com/seo-
tools/pagerank-search/)
– SnooPR (www.tartools.com)

15. SEOChat’s PageRank Lookup
The way to
check the
home page
PageRank
when a
redirect is
present

16. SEOChat’s PageRank Search

17. SnooPR

18. Find Link Targets
 Review links of competitive sites, sites in your keyword
market
– Use the tools just mentioned
– Check sites with high rankings for relevant keywords
– The fewer the number of links on their page, the better
 Review links to your site; look for opportunities to get
the link text revised

19. Competitive Intelligence
 These tools aren’t just good for finding link targets
 They’re invaluable for uncovering competitors’ dodgy
practices
– E.g. Unraveling the mystery of Findgiftcards.com
commanding the #1 spot for “gift certificates”
 It’s also just good to know where they’re getting the bulk
of their PageRank from

20. Watch Out For…
 Types of links that are likely to get discounted:
– Reciprocal links
– Affiliated sites (on the same IP range or hostname)
– Footer links (at the bottom of the page)
– Site-wide links
– Links contained on a page called links.htm / links.asp
– Remember: the more links on the linking page, the less
PageRank you’ll get

21. “Google Bombing”
 Inbound contextual links alone can drive a site to the top
of Google (e.g. “miserable failure”)
 Also works on Yahoo, MSN Search, etc.
 THE LESSON: Link text is your secret weapon!

26. An
unintentional
“Google bomb”

27. PageRank Dilution
 Careful about having multiple URLs serving up the same content
– Multiple homes for your content
– Multiple domains registered and resolving to your site
– abccompany.com vs. www.abccompany.com
– https:// version of your site
– Session IDs or User IDs in the URL
– 301 redirect them all to the definitive version of the page
 Removed pages
– 301 redirect rather than 404

28. PageRank Dilution
 Example of multiple homes for the same content:
Laura Ries’ blog

29. Best Practices
 Try to get good keywords in the hyperlink text
 Offer link-worthy content. Keep it fresh.
 Provide RSS feeds
 Simple keyword-rich links encourage deep linking
 When you redesign your site, keep your old URLs or
301 redirect them to the new URLs
 “Nofollow” any links you don’t vouch for
– <a href=“/privacy-policy.htm” rel=“nofollow”>

30. Worst Practices
 Participating in “link farms” or FFA (“Free For All”) sites
– Hallmarks of a link farm = more urls per page & less
organization
 Splogging, comment spamming, guestbook spamming
 Linking to “bad neighborhoods”
 Hiding links
 Hoarding all your PageRank
 Unnatural link structures

31. Link Hiding Example 1
 SubscriberMail.com embeds an invisible image linked to
their home page into their customers’ enewsletter
signup forms
– E.g. on www.ocharleydavidson.com/guest.html look for:
<a href="http://www.subscribermail.com"><img
src="http://tr1.subscribermail.com/bt/wbtr.cfm?
ppid=ORANADFE6858" alt="Email Marketing" border=0></a>

32. Link Hiding Example 2
 PRNewswire.co.uk embeds keyword-rich text links
within a <noframes> tag on their home page that not
visible to ordinary users:
– <a href="http://www.icrossing.com">Search Engine
Marketing</a>
<a href="http://sev.prnewswire.com">Search Engine News
Release Optimization</a>

33. Unnatural Link Structures
 Google suspects unnatural-looking neighborhoods
 Don’t link to every single node in your network of sites;
it’ll get flagged.
 Naturally occurring neighborhoods
on the Web aren’t perfect
 Google is looking for “cliques”
(graph theory)

34. Submit to Directories
 Yahoo!
 Open Directory (DMOZ)
 GoGuides
 JoeAnt
 SearchHippo
 Skaffe
 RubberStamped
 BlueFind
 Gigablast
 WebSavvy
 Zeal
 etc.

35. Submit to Directories
 Do your homework:
– www.stuntdubl.com/2005/09/26/directories/
– www.searchengineguide.com/wallace/2005/0407_dw1.html
– www.searchengineguide.com/searchengines.html
– forums.searchenginewatch.com/showthread.php?t=6505

36. Submit to Verticals, Topical Guides
 e.g. Yahooligans if it’s of interest to kids
 e.g. BestHistorySites.net if you’ve got good historical
content
 e.g. FMLink.com if it’s relevant to facilities managers
 etc.
 Lots of work here to uncover the niche sites!
 Create a linking plan

37. Blogs
 Search engines – and Google in particular – love blogs
 Inherently link-rich
– “Hat tips” – part of blog etiquette
– Blogrolls
– RSS feeds
– Trackbacks
– Comments
 The dark side of the blogosphere:
– Blog comment spam
– Splogs (spam blogs)

38. RSS Feeds
 Not only an unspammable content delivery channel to
your consumers, but also…
 A powerful way to syndicate your content to other web
sites
– Propagate deep links that drive traffic and PageRank
– Careful! Some spammers lift your content from your RSS
feeds, strip out the links, and use as keyword-rich content

39. Slashdot
headlines
syndicated
on
Nanodot.org

40. The top result
was thanks to
syndication via
RSS

41. Blog software
like
WordPress
creates an
RSS feed
automatically
, even
embedding
audio/video
as podcasts
too!

42. RSS Feeds
 Facilitate propagation of your feeds across the web:
– Set up feed “autodiscovery”
• e.g. <link rel="alternate" type="application/atom+xml" title="Atom 0.3"
href="http://feeds.stephanspencer.com/scatterings" />
– Make your search listings in Yahoo! display the “Add to My Yahoo!” link
• Instructions here: http://my.yahoo.com/s/publishers.html
– Send out “pings” (to Technorati, My Yahoo, Pingomatic, etc.)
– Make sure “trackbacks” are enabled
 Submit to RSS directories & search engines
– List at www.masternewmedia.org/rss/top55/
 Pay attention to each item title; it’ll become link text

43. Buying Text Links
 What is a Yahoo directory listing but a paid text link!
– Ok by Google because of the “editorial review”
 Brokers like Text-Link-Ads.com and can help
 Google’s perspective:
– “Selling links muddies the quality of the web and makes it
harder for many search engines (not just Google) to return
relevant results. The rel=nofollow attribute is the correct
answer: any site can sell links, but a search engine will be
able to tell that the source site is not vouching for the
destination page” -- Matt Cutts, Google engineer

44. Buying Text Links
 Google discounts the voting power of sites that it knows
are selling text links:
– “…parts of perl.com, xml.com, etc. have not been trusted in
terms of linkage for months and months. Remember that just
because a site shows up for a “link:” command on Google
does not mean that it passes PageRank, reputation, or
anchortext” -- Matt Cutts, Google engineer

45. Evaluating a Text Ad Opportunity
 Good
– High rankings for the search terms targeted with the existing ads’ link text
– Stats showing the page you’ll be on gets good traffic numbers
– Stats showing a respectable amount of traffic is sent to the advertisers
– Site is topically relevant to your business
– Site is likely to be considered an authority site
– Inbound links from .gov, .edu, .mil sites
– Good Alexa rank
– Extra good if the site you’re placed on is a .gov, .edu, or .mil
– Reasonably good PageRank score on the page you’ll be on
– Reasonably few other links on the page you’ll be on
– Link is within the main body of the page

46. 984th
most
popular
website
Note: Alexa
rankings
can be
manipulated

47. Evaluating a Text Ad Opportunity
 Bad
– Sitewide link
– Site has been greybarred (i.e. banned)
– Neighboring ads are of dubious nature (casinos, Hoodia, Viagra, etc.)
– Acquired PageRank through dubious means (e.g. hidden or obscured
links)
– Advertisers have left in droves (evidenced by Wayback Machine archives)
– “Advertisers”, “Sponsors”, or “Sponsored” closely associated with the ads
– No visibility in top 10 pages in Google for advertisers’ targeted keywords

49. A year ago
(was a PR8)

50. Today
(now a PR7)

51. Advertiser
is not in the
first 10
pages in
Google for
“college
football”

52. Get Creative
 Give awards / recognition
– Badges with link text underneath
 Allow webmasters to republish your articles
– Require a link in your byline
 Publish unique content
– Podcasts (e.g. SteveSpangler.com)
– Screencasts (use TechSmith’s Camtasia Studio)
– Wikis (e.g. SEOGlossary.com)

53. Get Creative
 Offer useful tools for webmasters, such as…
– Hit counters
• E.g. NOT 123counters.com
– Weather stickers
• E.g. Wunderground.com, SuperPages.com
– RSS feeds
• Lottery winning numbers from SuperPages.com

54. Get Creative
 Start a blog
 Give testimonials
– E.g. www.wordpress.org/about/testimonials
– E.g. www.keyworddiscovery.com/testimonials.html
 Sponsor a nonprofit
– E.g. Kohl’s supports the Eastern Pennsylvania Youth Soccer Association
 Leverage your affiliates
– Get a straight link (e.g. from Legal Notices page)
– 301 redirect

55. In Summary
 Best links are:
– Topically relevant
– One way (not reciprocated)
– Not in footer and not site-wide
– Earned by merit, rather than bought, bartered or stolen
– Not crowded with many other links on the page
– On a high PageRank-endowed, high Alexa-ranked,
.edu/.gov/.mil authority site

56. Wouldn’t it
be nice to
have a link
on here?…
;-)

57. In Summary
 Get creative
– With your content, functionality, free tools, your budget
– Think “Web 2.0” (blogs, RSS, tagging, etc.)
 Measure success not by fixating on the PageRank
meter, but by measuring the rankings lift
 Don’t hamper the PageRank flow within your site

58. Q&A
 Thank You!
 Time now for some Q & A!
 Feel free to visit website : http://www.theseoportal.com
 Email info@theseoportal.com for Free SEO
Consultation and Free Website Analysis