Build Incoming Links to Your Website
Would you like your website or blog to appear higher in the search results of Google and other search engines? One way is to have lots of incoming links from other sources.
The more places on the Web that point to your site, the more “popular” you are considered by search engines, and the higher you will be listed in search results.
Here are 7 ways to build incoming links:
- Post comments on other people’s blogs. In your post, include a link back to your own blog or website. 15 comments = 15 more links pointing to you.
- Post comments on news sites, and include a link to your site. BONUS: The journalists who write news stories read every comment. If they like yours, they may contact you for input on a future news story.
- Write articles and submit them to article banks such as EzineArticles.com or GoArticles.com. You’ll be asked for several keywords or key phrases that describe the content of your article – e.g., shyness, overcome shyness, conversation starter, social confidence. When someone types any of those keywords into Google, your article will come up in the search results.
- When you post relevant content on social networking sites (Facebook, Linkedin, etc.) add a link back to your website.
- Ask colleagues in non-competing fields to exchange links. On your website you place a link to theirs, and vice versa.
- Make a Youtube video (2 minutes or less) on a topic of interest. It need not be you talking into the camera; it can be a slideshow with background music. On the first and last slides have a link to your website.
- Get listed in therapist directories such as PsychologyToday.com or GoodTherapy.org. These directories will submit your name, location and other keywords to the search engines.
Tips for creating links:
- Give some thought to which page on your site that you want people to go. It won’t always be your main URL e.g., mywebsite.com. If your goal is to send people to an internal page, such as the “about me” page, make it easy for them. Have your link point to that exact page, e.g., mywebsite.com/aboutme.
- Use contextual links. These are actual words and phrases that link to a specific webpage. The most common phrase is click here, but there are much better ones. For example, let’s say you wrote an article on stress management. At the end of your article you might say, “See my website for more tips on how to manage stress.” Your link is not “my website;” it’s “how to manage stress.”
This will help Google and other search engines recognize that “how to manage stress” is an important key phrase in your website. Later, when other people search the web for “how to manage stress” your site will already be identified as very relevant to that phrase, and will rank higher in the search results.
Very helpful, Pauline. Thanks. Since I've studied with you, I knew to do most of those but there were a couple of new gems -- and reminders of some options I'd been doing and forgotten about.
ReplyDeleteAnd here I am, taking your advice in Tip #1. :)
Unfortunately, comments on blogs and news sites these days are almost all "nofollow" links that will not pass PageRank or help your site in the search engines. For more information, Google the term "nofollow." Youtube links use the "nofollow" attribute as well do Blogger.com sites like this one.
ReplyDeleteMost therapist directories actually use redirects in order to track clicks, which nullify the link's ability to pass PageRank as well. Goodtherapy and Psychology Today links are actually two good examples of links that do not pass PageRank.
To see what I'm talking about, mouse over one of the website links in a Goodtherapy.org directory listing, and look at the URL in the bottom left status bar of your web browser - the URL you will see there is actually a goodtherapy.org URL that is a 302 redirect to the actual website.
To search engine spiders, 302's are a killer - they do not pass PageRank, and these links do not help your site in the search engines at all. I'm not saying the directory listings themselves don't have value - because they do. Often times the listings themselves will rank well in search engines, and you will get found that way.
I'm aware of this because I own one of the few web directories for therapists that actually gives search engine friendly links with a listing. I am not going to post the URL because I do not want my comment to come across as spam.
Just trying to shed some additional light on this topic...
Thanks, Chris.
ReplyDeleteI agree about the nofollow links and redirects. While having listings in directories may not boost one's Page rank, they do give you hits on Google - e.g., when someone searches for a therapist within a geographic area.
Also, posting on blogs and news sites does add to one's Internet presence and branding as an expert.