Organic Link Building FAQ

1) Why are in-bound links important to search positions?

2) What is Social Media Marketing?

3) What is Blog Marketing?

4) How to determine a good directory?

5) What are link farms / web rings?

6) What is Google PageRank?

7) How do I measure / manage my links?

8) Should I pay for directory inclusion?

1) Why are in-bound links important to search positions?

Search Engines use inbound links to determine your Web site's popularity. Quality inbound links create a foundation for search visibility. Implement an organic linking campaign to increase link popularity to your site -- and its search visibility.

2) What is Social Media Marketing?

Also referred to as Social Networking, Social Media Marketing is a viral link building strategy that also generates traffic and improves search engine visibility. Social Media Marketing Web sites allow networks of people to share content that they find interesting. In the process, in-bound links are spread virally that are indexed and rewarded by search engines. Social Media Marketing can take the form of online bookmarking sites (Delicious), sites such as Digg, where users submit Web pages while other users then rate the material, personal Web pages (MySpace) and video sharing (YouTube).

3) What is Blog Marketing?

Blogs provide a stream of new content to a Web site as well as offering viral link opportunities. Blog Marketing is about consistent posting of valuable information to your readers on an ongoing basis. Blogs allow you to drive traffic and increase link popularity to your site as well as an outlet to create buzz for your products and brand. Blogs give you a way to reach out to your online audience and give them valuable, timely information. Search engines, especially Google, reward sites that continually add fresh content.

4) How to determine a good directory?

There are many factors to consider when trying to find a good directory to submit your Web site. Is the directory being indexed by search engines? What is the directory's Google PageRank? Is there a category that includes your keywords? You must look at the directory and ask yourself if you would use it. If yes, chances are the search engines feel the same way.

5) What are link farms / web rings?

A link farm / web ring is a group of sites that all link to each other. Most link farms / web rings are automated and are now associated with spamming. Search engines can easily spot these rings so stay away from them!

6) What is Google PageRank?

PageRank is a trademark of Google that is part of their complex algorithm that interprets and assigns value to links that point to your Web site. Google associates a link to your Web site as a vote for your Web site. Different links to your Web sites have different "weight", meaning that one good relevant link can be worth just as much as thousands of irrelevant links.

7) How do I measure / manage my links?

There are several tools available to measure link popularity and inbound links. Google offers a link feature available within their Webmaster Tools Suite. Yahoo offers a similar service known as Yahoo Site Explorer. Both tools are similar in that they allow you to see a majority of the sites that are linking to you.

8) Should I pay to be listed in a directory?

Directories requiring you to pay to be listed are becoming more a thing of the past. While there are still a handful of good, quality directories out there worth paying for such as Yahoo Directory, Go Guides, BOTW and Business.com, most other directories requiring a fee to be listed are not worth the cost.