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 It is widely agreed that SEM (search
engine marketing) is one of today’s most cost efficient
and effective methods of marketing a web site. One of the
most important aspects of SEM is obtaining link
popularity. For example, if you expect to rank high in
Google for the search term “search engine
optimization” it is important to have other sites link
to you with “search engine optimization” within the
text of the link. This is called anchor text. Generally
the more sites linking to you with your target keyword
within the anchor text the better. However, it should be
noted that not all links are of equal value. There are two
primary factors to consider when assessing the value of a
link.
1. Link Weight
An established site that has already obtained a fair
amount of link popularity is generally a more valuable
location to park your link. The Google Page Rank is a
general assessment of the link popularity of any given
page. If a page has PR5 it is considered to have above
average link popularity. For each 1 point increase in PR
the link popularity is increased by about 7-10 times. So a
PR6 link should theoretically be as valuable as 7-10 PR5
links but there is more to the story.
The weight of a page is distributed
evenly to each link within the page. Lets say we have two
PR5 pages. One page has a total of 10 links, the other has
only one link. In this case it is about 10 times as
valuable ,weight wise, to park your link on the page with
only 1 link. It should also be noted that a PR6 page with
10 links is roughly equal to a PR5 page with only 1 link.
Many webmasters only take into
account the link weight when purchasing a text link. Link
weight in itself is not worth much. Link weight when
combined with link relevance is another story entirely.
2. Link Relevance
Link relevance is fairly straight forward in principle. It
is more valuable to park your link on a site that is
relevant to the search term you are optimizing for than
one that is not. Large search engines closely guard their
ranking algorithm for determining link relevance and
placement. People have been able to reverse engineer the
PR equation but for something with as many factors as
placement and relevance it is next to impossible.
Therefore we can only speculate as to which terms are
close in relevance and which are not.
My opinion on the subject is you
can’t go wrong with a page that is optimized for the
exact term or even slight variations of the term you are
optimizing for. However, if you are considering optimizing
for a term like “xbox” and you find a site to host
your link that is optimized for “games” there is risk
in believing these terms are relevant. Of course it can be
inferred that these terms are relevant. After all, xbox is
a major gaming platform but we have no idea how close in
relevance the search engines consider these terms to be.
To be safe value exact terms and
variations of the term to be highly relevant. All other
terms within an industry such as items, buzz
words…should be considered relevant. All other terms
should be considered non-relevant.
Now we basically know what to look for in determining the
value of a potential link. There are many ways to go about
building your link popularity. I am going to focus on a
few of the paid methods.
1. Paid Directories
There are a ton of link directories that will host your
link for a fee. Some work on a month by month basis but
most are either 6 months, 1 year or permanent. Yahoo is an
example of a paid directory. They cost $299 for a 1 year
listing. This may seem expensive and it is. Yahoo is a
high end directory which is quite valuable in comparison
to other directories. However, there many smaller
directories that are more cost efficient. Usually
directories are only relevant to your search term assuming
you are listed in a relevant category. Some niche
directories can be considered highly relevant.
2. Link Brokers
There are several link brokers out there who gather
potential websites willing to display your link. This is
an excellent method to obtain highly relevant links. The
only downside is the brokers will generally charge a
listing fee to the website so they must sell the links for
more than they would otherwise be willing to sell them for
to cover expenses. If you are checking out a broker see
what their listing fee is before you purchase any links. I
wouldn’t buy from a broker that charges more than about
20% of the value of the purchased link.
3. Directly contacting webmasters
There are literally millions of sites out there more than
willing to display your link for a fee. In my opinion the
best method of purchasing text links is to get out there
and contact webmasters for price quotes. Its certainly not
hard…if you are optimizing for the search term “SEM”
simply type it into google and find the top 10-20 sites
listed for the term. Then either email or better yet
directly call them to get price quotes from each site.
Then decide which sites offer the most value and spend
within your budget. It is also a good idea to ask for
quotes for a 6 month and a 1 year term in addition to the
standard 1 month term. Some webmasters will see you
are competition and will refuse to list your site. This is
perfectly acceptable, thank them for their time and move
on.
Note: Building link popularity is only one aspect of SEM.
If you are not familiar with SEM or SEO basics then I
advise you to read up on keyword research and on-site
optimization before you start purchasing links.
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