Subhash's Guide: Link Popularity
'Relevance' is the main aim of modern search engines. Those engines that provide
relevant links are popular with users. So how do modern search engines
decide which link is most relevant? One way is through link popularity
- how many other sites have a link to your site. This may sound absurd
- because popularity and relevance do not always go together. But taking
the example of Google (which uses
link popularity as one of its technique to rank pages), you are bound
to believe popularity is directly linked with relevance.
Getting Practical
So from the conceptual discussion on 'link popularity', you can deduce that for higher ranking in search engines, your site should be linked by other sites. So how do you persuade other sites to link to you? Some solutions:
- Get listed in directories. Directories are maintained by humans, therefore they are not so inhuman to reject your site on any criteria other than bad content and/or bad design. Besides big names in directory services like Yahoo & HotBot, go for local
region specific services too. For Indian readers, try the following:
- While posting messages in message boards, always give a link to your site.
- www.hitexchange.net banner exchange program maintains a 'hot directory' of member sites. So joining this service automatically entitles you to be enlisted with them. And this 'hot directory' itself has been indexed by all major search engines.
- There are some services available on the net with the singular aim of increasing your link popularity. One such service is available at www.popularitylinks.com.
- Submit your site to various 'Free For All Links' site.
