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Article by Mathias Levarek Consultant for MSEO.com

Article by Mathias Levarek
Consultant for MSEO.com

When it comes to the subject of link popularity, most people think that it is just a matter of exchanging links with other sites or having many links pointing to their URL.

Once upon a time, reciprocal links used to be important, but it is not the case any longer. It is obvious that featuring reciprocal links with industry-related websites can only be of benefit to you, but in today’s internet context, it bears almost no ranking leverage. In fact, major search engines mainly based on Google technology have gotten smarter as they know perfectly that reciprocal links are most of the time artificially implemented. This is why your link popularity factor is all about the one-way-links pointing to your site.

One-way-links involve manual submissions to directories, submission of articles, press releases, social networking, and developing a presence on blogs and forums. None of the aforementioned actions can be implemented with a software. They are all based on manual labor. From the ground up, it generally takes at least one qualified person full-time for several months to develop a satisfactory link effect. Larger companies hire full-time people just to go speak about their websites on blogs and forums. There is a strong reason for that and the same effort needs to be applied proportionally to every website committed to a significant online presence.

Basically, Google Technology has developed the link popularity factor in order to define who is a “real player” on the internet. In other terms, if several hundred websites are linking to you and you have at least 30 reciprocal links with industry-related websites, major search engines will consider that you have an active online presence. Let’s put it this way: Within the same industry, one hundred websites might have a great content & all be optimized perfectly...which one will rank higher? Well, if one of these websites seems to be present all over the web, while the others are just featuring a great technical platform, it is obvious that the URL featuring a strong link popularity will rank higher.
Once again, it goes far beyond just establishing quality reciprocal links. One-way-links to your site is what count the most, and there is no way to circumvent such task through a software emulsion.

Link building is a crucial aspect of your SEO. It should be considered as a top priority for all websites by those business executives in charge of allocating marketing budgets. For Google, backlinks to your site are almost as important as the content relevancy of your website itself. (I have seen lots of websites featuring a poor content but having a high PR & top rankings due to their strong “link presence”). Website operators need to give more importance to their link presence and make a serious commitment by implementing frequent and significant link enhancement campaigns. In fact, although a strong initial campaign might bring your rankings to the top, as you know, major search engines crawl the web on an ongoing basis re-evaluating your ranking eligibility after each database update. Featuring a regular increase of one-way-links to your site will help you to consolidate your rankings. In today’s internet context, it is not just a matter of getting the rankings since the challenge equally resides in maintaining existing rankings! Monthly continued actions to enhance your link factor can only play in your favor.

In my years of working in the world of SEO, I have met individuals ready to spend $15K on “options/gadgets” for their new car but who would hesitate spending half that amount on link enhancement for the very website from which they make a living!
I have met marketing professionals ready to spend up over $150,000 for a full-page ad for 1 day in USA Today (yes that’s the rate) to promote their web presence – the same individuals could not justify in their mind spending $10,000 on building links for their website! They say that “ignorance is bliss” but I certainly cannot imagine that to be true when it comes to SEO!!!

As the database of major search engines continues to grow, the necessity of link building will only be emphasized from a ranking algorithmic perspective. Google considers incoming links to your URL as the gauge of “how alive” your website is on the web!! Even though link building is not the only essential SEO aspect which defines your online presence, it is by far one of the most significant!

Link building cannot be accomplished by spending only a few pennies! It is all about labor & experience. When submitting to directories, there is a whole registration process for each directory which need to be manually addressed. Working 8 hours per day/5 days per week a good technician can may be submit to 250–300 directories per week.... I advise you strongly against working with SEO vendors offering “cheaper rates” because when it comes to directory submission or forum interaction it all boils down to someone qualified “doing the right thing” by not burning steps. There is no miracle solution. There is no short-cut! There is no “cheap formula” which can replace manpower.
Basically, as mentioned previously, the link popularity factor was developed by Google primarily in order to spot “ the real players” of the internet community – thousands of ranking algorithms were developed to measure such link factor to your website... such ranking factor is so well engineered that it is virtually impossible “to cheat” by “simulating artificially” backlinks to your site... I could not stress enough how much I advise serious dotcom-marketers to stay away from those companies offering link building services featuring rates too good to be true... I have seen too many websites being blacklisted for spammy automated submissions to directories and RSS feeds... There is no substitution for the hours of work which you need to spend on building links.... Once again, allow me to reiterate that when enhancing your link factor, it takes “hardcore labor” and experience aside from patience to experience results.

When considering that over 80% of all visits emanate from organic rankings (and not sponsored links) , I am completely astonished by the “bidding war” on pay-per-click networks (Google adwords, Yahoo search marketing etc...)...I am shocked at the cost-per-click that some marketing executives are willing to spend for a constantly decreasing conversion rate due to major search engines syndicating their traffic through domainers’ portfolios. Anyway, what I find ridiculous is the contrast between the inflated budgets of PPC campaigns which are in most cases completely disproportioned with the funds allocated for link building campaigns.
I do realize that a link building campaign is not a “quick cash game” - It does take time ( several months in most cases) to see rewards, however, for those aiming at a long-term results, developing & increasing continuously your link popularity is highly recommended regardless of your current rankings.

Mathias Levarek, Ph.D.
SEO Consultant for http://www.mseo.com