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++Link Popularity++
By Jill Whalen

For years, "link popularity" and "Google PageRank" have been 
the talk of the town in the search engine optimization community. 
However, the definition of link popularity and how it differs 
from PageRank (PR), as well as how much effect these actually 
have on search engine rankings, is often misunderstood.

What is Link Popularity?

The theory goes something like this: The search engine Powers 
That Be have decided that if other sites are linking to your 
site, it must be a winner; therefore, it deserves a boost in 
rankings (when all else is equal). If you think about it, this 
makes a lot of sense. People link to good sites, not bad ones.

PageRank Does Not Equal Link Popularity

It's important to note that Google PageRank is not the same 
thing as link popularity. PR is actually a subset of link 
popularity. Whereas PR focuses strictly on the quantity and 
popularity of links, link popularity adds a "quality factor" 
into the equation. Unfortunately, many people mistakenly use the 
terms "link popularity" and "PageRank " interchangeably, which 
has served to confuse the issue further.

All major search engines place some emphasis on link popularity 
in their ranking algorithms. There appear to be 2 main types of 
links that work best to increase your link popularity: links 
from other sites that focus on the same keyword phrases your 
site focuses on, and links from relevant categories in major 
directories and industry-specific portals. "Free-for-all" (FFA) 
sites do not constitute quality links, so don't waste your 
$24.95 submitting your site to 500 of them. Links from sites 
that focus on topics that have nothing to do with your site 
probably won't help you win any link popularity contests, either 
(although they may temporarily boost your PR).

How Does Link Popularity Work?

Here's an example of how I believe link popularity works:

Let's say that Bob's Pizza Palace Website has a link to Joe's 
Men's Clothing store site. If the link uses the keywords "men's 
clothing store" in the anchor text (the clickable part), it may 
help Joe's link popularity a little bit for those keywords. 
However, Joe would benefit a lot more if the same link came from 
a site that was more related to Joe's site than a pizza palace. 
For instance, a more related link might be from a woman's 
clothing store, a men's shoe store or any other type of store 
that relates to clothing in some way.

An even higher-quality link for Joe might be from "Sam's 
Clothing Store Directory," which lists a whole bunch of clothing 
stores that can be found on the Internet. That is exactly the 
kind of link that the search engines would want to credit toward 
link popularity. Again, the key is in having that common thread 
between the sites.

Where Do Reciprocal Links Come In?

The other popular misconception floating around is in regards to
reciprocal linking. Since so many people think that exchanging 
links with sites is the easiest way to get them (it may or may 
not be), new people learning about link popularity are under the 
mistaken belief that they *must* have links that are reciprocated 
on their site (e.g., "you-link-to-me-and-I'll-link-to-you"-type 
links). Still others are saying that reciprocal links are dead 
and you won't gain *any* benefit from them.

Both camps are wrong. You certainly don't *need* to get 
reciprocal links, but you can if you want to. Remember, it's 
links pointing TO your site that are the helpful ones. Links 
pointing FROM your site to other sites are wonderful to have 
because they help your visitors find related stuff, but if your 
site doesn't lend itself to linking to other sites, then by all 
means, don't do it. You need to do what's right for your company 
and your site visitors, first and foremost.

Should I Care About Link Popularity?

In general, there's no need for the average site to obsess over 
link popularity. Yes, you'll want to keep it in mind, and yes 
you should make sure that your site is what I like to call 
"link-worthy." However, from my experience (and contrary to 
popular belief), link popularity constitutes only a portion of 
most search engines' ranking algorithms. Arguably, Google places 
more emphasis than most other engines on incoming links at this 
point in time. How much these actually boost a site's ranking is 
debatable and truly depends on the site. It also depends on the 
words that are placed in the anchor text. I have found that just 
a few highly relevant links with strong anchor text can go a long 
way towards link popularity for many sites.

For sites that want to take it to the next level and are trying 
to rank highly with extremely competitive keywords, it may be 
necessary to actively seek out links from other relevant 
Websites. This doesn't mean you should go out and create a whole 
bunch of domains yourself and link them all together because it 
sounds easier than getting others to link to you. (Yes, that 
trick has been tried before!) It simply means you should look 
for sites that are related to your site in some way, and see if 
they might be interested in promoting your site to their users.

Whatever you do, do not send automatically generated link 
requests to any site. Most Webmasters consider them a nuisance 
at best and sp@m at worst. Certainly, a personal email may be 
welcome, and it also doesn't hurt to pick up the phone and begin 
a dialogue with a potential link partner. Remember, very often 
these links from relevant sites will bring more traffic to your 
site than a high search engine ranking will bring.

How To Get Linked Without Even Trying

My favorite way to get links (but the most time-consuming) is to
simply have the best site on the Internet in your specific niche.
Interestingly enough, if your site is well written, provides tons 
of useful information and is constantly updated, you often won't 
have to seek out links at all. Other sites will link to yours of 
their own volition.

This has worked for me on my HighRankings.com site for many 
years. Without actively requesting any links (other than a few 
major directories), hundreds of highly relevant sites have added
HighRankings.com to their list of recommended sites related to 
SEO. Some people link to my home page, others to the main 
newsletter page, and still others to my forum. Some will link 
directly to an article or newsletter they've enjoyed, and some 
will ask if they can republish some on their site, while also 
including a link.

This is the ideal, and not every site is going to have the time 
or inclination to get to this stage. However, I firmly believe 
that any kind of site in any type of business can use this method 
if they are willing to work at it. I know of no other method 
that can even bring links from direct competitors! Personally, 
I'd rather spend my time creating a link-worthy site than 
sending out repetitive reciprocal link exchange requests...but 
maybe that's just me!

Your homework for this week is to think about how you can make 
your site so good that others will be only too willing to link 
to it -- without your even having to ask for it. If you can 
figure it out and actually spend the time implementing the 
strategy, eventually you won't have to worry about link 
popularity, reciprocal links or PageRank ever again!

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Jill Whalen of High Rankings is an internationally recognized 
search engine optimization (http://www.highrankings.com/) 
consultant and host of the free weekly High Rankings Advisor 
search engine marketing newsletter 
(http://www.highrankings.com/advisor.htm).

She specializes in search engine optimization, SEO consultations 
and seminars. Jill's handbook, "The Nitty-gritty of Writing for 
the Search Engines" (http://www.highrankings.com/seo-writing.htm) 
teaches business owners how and where to place relevant keyword 
phrases on their Web sites so that they make sense to users and 
gain high rankings in the major search engines.
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