Listing in Directories is one way of building links and can bring value to the site provided we make sure that the directories are credible and have authority in the eyes of the Search Engines. Google is said to prefer Directories that are human edited and that have very specific categories for listings ( e.g.Yahoo Directory).

Here are some points to keep in mind:

1. Does the Directory have a good Page Rank?
If the Directory has a low PageRank, it probably does hold much authority with Google.

2. Are Category Pages Indexed? To be more specific, is the category page you wish to be listed in indexed in Google?
If the category page that you wish to be listed in is not indexed in Google, then the page has no power to improve your site’s link popularity, because Google does not know about it, it cannot recognize that it is linking to you.

3. How Many Sites Are You Sharing the Link Juice Wealth With?
In most cases, an interior directory category page will contain ten listings – maybe twenty at the most.If the directory has too many listings on the same page, it may not be worth getting listed on there unless it is a proven source of traffic.

4. Does the Directory Add the NOFOLLOW Attribute To Its Listings?
If you are submitting to a directory to help improve your site’s link popularity and they are adding the nofollow attribute to outgoing links, it is not going to help you. Unless you are expecting to get some traffic from the directory, avoid it.

5. Will the Directory Send You Any Traffic?
It is worthwhile to keep a track of the traffice being received from a directory to decide whether it is reliable source of traffic for your website.

Is it better to get a lot of incoming links at the beginning of my SEO and give it a jump start, or add them over the course of time?

While launching a brand new website or a redesigned site,  optimizers can work towards getting a  a reasonable number of incoming  links by listing the site on relevant directories, this will help boost  rankings and also  propel the site higher in the search results. As a rule,  however,  it is better to add links steadily over a course of time, this helps keep the site interesting to the search engines and shows that it is a relevant, credible site.

 I heard linking to other websites doesn’t help at all with help my SEO results.  Is that true?

While incoming links are more valuable towards link-building,  linking to other topical and related sites also brings value to the site. Out-bound link building should be done very sparingly and only when linking to the external site brings information and value to the viewer. It is also preferable to link so that the other site opens up in new window, this way the viewer is not led away from your site but can take in the information and return to your site easily.

What is a link farm?

A link farm  is a website set up with the sole purpose of increasing the link popularity of other sites by increasing the number of incoming links to those sites. Most of these links will not be relevant links, the linking is solely done to try and spam the Search Engines into raising rankings but appearing to bring credibility to the linked sites. Link Farms are frowned  upon by the Search Engines,  link farms will be removed from their directories when they find them and many also penalize other sites that link to them.

Keywords and key phrases need to be selected much before building a website. In fact, you should think about keywords and phrases even before you choose a domain name.
It is a known fact that having a key word relevant domain name can be helpful to your website’s rankings with the Search Engines.
It is very important to name your website as close to the your targeted keywords and phrases as possible.
By choosing your keywords and phrases well in advance, you will also be able to design your site with an advantage as you can include key terms in your page URLs and ensure that the site’s architecture and navigation highlights the key phrases for your business.
Choosing target keywords and phrases in advance also enhances your competitive analysis and allows you to focus on the important points while writing your website’s content.
You can define your internal and external links and maximize the value from anchor text.

An Inbound link is a link from an external website pointing to your site while an outbound link is a link from your site pointing to another website.

Given the importance of link building in optimization, one of the biggest goals for an optimizer is to get high quality topical inbound links for a site on a regular basis. This is one of the key factors used by Google to assess the credibility of a website. Webmasters should consistently look for opportunities to get inbound links especially from .edu or .gov sites, this can help give a website a boost in the Search Engine rankings.

While outbound links are not considered as valuable as Inbound links, linking to authoritative, relevant sources can help make your site more user-friendly which is valued by the Search Engines. It is also important to ensure that your site does not point to low quality, unrelated sites.

A reciprocal link is a link done as part of a mutual agreement between 2 webmasters to exchange links to each others’ websites. If you exchange links, make sure that it’s relevant to your site and that you do not link purely to add to the number of incoming links on your site.

Photo by Annabel Symington (stringer_bel on Flickr)

SEOmoz is conducting an informal test of Twitter and link influence and has reached out to the SEO community for help in generating the test data. But even cooler is that their guinea pig for this test is a really awesome cause, SeeYourImpact.org‘s efforts to help end hunger in Sierra Leone. The SEO ninjas are more than happy to participate in this test, look forward to seeing the results, and might pledge eternal devotion to you if you were to make a donation.

Help end Hunger in Sierra Leone and meet the life you change.

It’s been a crazy week here at the ninja lair. The bosses decided to rearrange us, and now we’re all sitting in new cubicles, adjusting to new neighbors and new surroundings. I suppose it’s good to always keep your ninjas on their toes, eh? Now that I’m all settled into my new digs (I have a window!) it’s time to get this week’s link love flowing. (more…)

Continuing with the series on basic SEO questions, one question that we optimizers frequently hear is “What is Black Hat SEO?”

There is no generally accepted definition for black hat SEO. The answers depend on who you are speaking to, something considered fair by one webmaster maybe off-limits to another. Generally, efforts to manipulate Search Engines to gain quick results are considered as Black Hat SEO.

Besides the principles that web companies and marketing personnel apply to their work, guidelines can also vary based on the industry and sometimes the Search Engines too.
Search engine operators, such as Google, Bing and Yahoo, have published guidelines about techniques they consider to be Black Hat and in violation of their policies.

There are no shortcuts in SEO. It is a long-term process that requires perseverance and diligence. Black hat techniques may look tempting and easy and may give short-term results but they are detrimental in the long run. They can cause your site to get banned by the SEs which is every webmaster’s worst nightmare..

Here are some common BlackHat SEO techniques to be aware of :

Cloaking a website by displaying one website to visitors and other one to Google’s spiders. The most common way to do this is using the “iframe” redirect code.

Using Hidden Text or “white” text written on a white background to stuff keywords within webpages.

Creating Doorway pages which involves having a website optimized for one set of keywords, then redirecting its traffic to another website once it is indexed.

Using Automated Submission/Link Building Software that submits your site to hundreds of directories that probably have no relevance to your site. This is also known as Link Farming.

Keyword Stuffing or adding a large number of keywords in the meta-tags.

Buying Paid Links indiscriminately to try and build inbound links.

In the pursuit of obtaining first page results on the Search Engines, optimizers employ a number of on and off page strategies such as adding custom metatags, calls-to-action, link-buildiing, blogs, article submission, e-PRs and so on . If you look closely at these strategies, you realize that the one element that lies at the core is : Great Content.

One way to add fresh content is through Page additions, which can supplement the existing content and help to gradulaly build the site into an authority.

The one important thing to remember is that when it comes to pages what matters is not so much sheer quantity but the quality and the consistency of the pages.
Just having a large number of pages will not be beneficial for SEO, those pages need to be original with relevant content and should be well linked within the site.

While scheduling page adds we should ask ourselves if the new content is relevant to existing topics, if will it add to the overall value of the site, and if the content is simple to understand but thorough in its information.

Adding new pages gives optimizers the opportunity to target keywords and phrases and improve linking. It’s very important to ensure that the pages being being added have original content and are in no way duplicates .

Great Content is the most crucial factor that can affect website rankings. Online visitors usually turn to search engines for up-to-date information. Google and other search engines are always judging sites based on the kind online experience to their users. Especially with the introduction of Google Caffeine, having fresh, relevant content has become almost mandatory.

Creating high quality, custom content and posting it in different forms at a a pace which will keep attracting the interest of search engine crawlers is a sure-fire way to forge your way to the top of the search engine rankings.

Miracle Max is not happy to be disturbed by unexpected guests. They have a proposal for him. Inigo and Fezzik heard he’s got some skills they need as well as some clout with the King. Would he do them the favor of raising The Man In Black from the dead? He’s not all that inclined to do it. What’s in it for him? He only agrees once it’s established how he will benefit.

Our clients often come to us with unsolicited emails they’ve received from websites proposing a link exchange. “Should we do this?” they ask us. “Is this a good idea?”

The answer is, “It depends.” While a reciprocal link is generally less valuable than a naturally occurring one way link, a link exchange is not always a bad idea. Here are a few tips for evaluating a website that wants to exchange links with you.

1. Is the site relevant?

Let’s say you’re a cosmetic dentist. You get an email from a ferret breeder asking for a link exchange.

Just say no. Ferrets have nothing to do with dentists, and there is no benefit for either of you. On the other hand, if you get a request from a family dentist in the next town over, that’s worth considering. Why? Although you’re in slightly different markets targeting slightly different customers, their content supports your content. Your content supports theirs. Search engines will note the discordance between a dentist and a ferret and write it off. They see the harmony between a dentist and another dentist and give it a thumbs up.

(more…)

Google’s Matt Cutts recently explained that the Mayday search algorithm update focused on improving search results for “long tail” queries. A long tail query is a longer, less searched term or phrase that may not by itself generate much traffic, but when combined with other long tail phrases the total search volume they can generate is significant.

It has been speculated that the algorithm update takes a closer look at the originality of the content and incoming links for pages that ranked for long tail searches. The more original the content, and the better the link profile for these “long tail friendly“ pages the better that they now will rank. (more…)