Link Building and SEO

Link are they really a factor for Ranking

People all over the world vary in their opinion about Link building and so do I. Many say that building link is one of the main factors for ranking well for competitive keywords. Others disagree and say that it depends a lot on the site

Confused?

Let’s take example to suggest what actually Link Building is?

It started off long back when Google implemented the Pagerank concept in the Search Algorithm. Webmasters all over the world started misusing them for their own benefit. Concepts like Link Farms and bad neighborhood came into effect. Thanks to Google that took evasive measures to tackle this kind of spam through their numerous updates.

But then the question comes are Links really useful?

Link Building for Google

With my experience I can say that it is really tough to make your way to the top ten in Google for competitive keywords. Google considers Link as a vote of trust. But then you have to actually pick quality links. Editorial links are the preferred ones but even links given out by other sites are appreciated. Link bought through any kind of network or Paid Links are the typical links that can harm you in the process and the effect may vary from poor performance to getting banned from Google.

Link Building for Yahoo and MSN

For Yahoo and MSN the case is different. If you have proper structure with great navigation, content, and few to no links, then you have good chance to rank for fairly competitive keywords.

It is not that I am saying so with no real life examples. I have personally faced this for more than one issue when I have ranked my site for fairly competitive keywords in Yahoo and MSN with in few months. As for Google it may vary from 6 to 7 months depending on the work you do for your site.

Important Point to remember while Link Building

1. Do not link out to bad neighborhood site
2. Always check the link provided to you.
3. Before giving a link out to any site think how it would help your site visitors.
4. Getting a link from related site is much more appreciated.
5. Check the Anchor Text and the position of the link.
6. Check the Anchor Text of the link pointing out to the site linking to you.
7. Prefer directories for best one way links
8. Editorial links are preferred ahead of other links.

In my next post, I will discuss about the misconceptions aboutPageRank.

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