| How to Get Non-Reciprocal Links to Your Website |
By Donald Nelson (copyright 2003)
Ever since Google began placing importance on its Page Rank
system, website owners have been scrambling to get incoming links
to their websites, usually through the means of trading links.
Incoming links are important in the Page Rank system, because
they are seen as "votes" for your site, and the more "votes" you
get, the more important your site is considered, and the higher
it is placed in Google's search results. However, if you study
the details of the Page Rank system you will find that not all
incoming links have the same weight, and that the non-reciprocal
links to your site, the one's you didn't have to trade for, are
given more importance. So, website owners should also spend some
time building up these non-reciprocal links. Here are five
methods you can use in this effort.
1. Get your site listed in the major directories: The two most
important directories at the present moment are Yahoo and the
Open Directory Project (www.dmoz.org). Yahoo is the old stalwart
of the Internet and despite the rise of Google, the addition of a
hefty $299 fee, and changes in the way they display their
listings, a link to your site from Yahoo's main directory (and
it's regional variants) can boost the standing of your website
much more than a few links from an obscure website.
The other major directory, the Open Directory Project is free of
charge and is edited by volunteers. It is sometimes difficult to
get a listing because they scrutinize listings and do not list
sites that don't offer original content. If your site consists
only of affiliate links, then the editors will reject your
application. In addition the volunteer editors have been unable
to keep pace with the amount of sites to be reviewed and they can
take months to process your entry. Compounding the problem are
technical glitches which sometimes make it difficult to even
submit the form. Despite the problems inclusion here is well
worth your effort, and you should persist. Inclusion in both
Yahoo and the Open Directory Project can mean the difference
between a "page one" or a "page five" showing for your site in
search results, especially in competitive categories.
2. Get your site listed in directories relevant to your
particular product or service: There are many resource
directories that serve particular areas of interest. If you offer
software that would be helpful to webmasters, for example, then
do a search for webmaster resource directories and you will find
sites where you can add your URL. Do you have a hotel? Then, find
travel directories, and apply to be listed. You will have to
spend time, but once again persistence will pay off, not only in
improvement of your page rank but listing in specific industry or
product oriented directories will bring you targeted
traffic-people particularly interested in what you have to offer.
3. Write articles for Publication on Other Web Sites: There are
millions of websites on the web, and many are hungry for quality
content. As you have published your own website and have
something to offer, that makes you an "expert" in your particular
field. Use this expertise to write simple, but useful articles in
your field and send these to other webmasters. If they publish
your article, they will include your "resource box" with a link
back to your site. The link will once again boost your Page
Rank, but just as importantly, it will establish you as an
authority in your field and will help "brand" your product or
service. You don't have to write to hundreds of webmasters
individually to get your article published, go to
www.yahoogroups.com and do a search for "Internet Articles
Publishing" and you will find many groups that will enable you to
reach webmasters looking for articles.
4. Get Your Product or Service Reviewed by other Websites: Have
you published an e-book or written software? Then offer a free
copy to websites whose themes are similar to yours. If they write
and publish a review, then you will get a link back to your site.
In addition, you can publish their reviews on your own site,
which will add a lot of weight to your own claims about the
validity of your product or service. Look around for sites in
your field and make your offer. In the process you will also
build potentially important alliances.
5. Beef up the Content on Your Own Site: the original concept
behind the Page Rank system was to try to highlight the websites
that are really valuable, and offer something unique to the
Internet. If you publish an Internet version of your company
brochure, no one is going to link to you unilaterally. However,
if your site is filled with interesting articles, reports, data
and reference material then you will get links without even
asking for them. You can add content to your site, by writing and
publishing your own articles, the same ones that you will offer
to other sites, as well as by publishing the articles of others.
Once again, the article publishing groups at www.yahoo.com or
sites such as www.articlecity.com will provide you with a wealth
of material.
If you apply some of these methods you will not only get some
high-quality non-reciprocal links but you will also boost the
quality of your website in the process.
Donald Nelson is a web developer, editor and social worker. He
has been working on the Internet since 1995, and is currently the
director of A1-Optimization (http://www.a1-optimization.com), a firm
providing low-cost search engine optimization, submission and
Internet marketing services. You can subscribe to his monthly
newsletter, A1-Web Promotion Tips, by sending an e-mail to
subscribe@a1-optimization.com
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