Inbound links

Links from other sites to yours are called "inbound" or "back" links. In general, the more sites you have linking to your site, the greater your popularity and the higher your ranking on major search engines.

If six links are good, then 6,000 must be great, right? Wrong. Google and Yahoo are pretty smart. Not only do they reward you when you have good, solid, popular links to your site, but they also punish you if they find you are participating in "link farms."

Link farms are websites that promise to increase your search engine ranking if you'll agree to trade links with them. (They would like you to link to them and they will link to you, in exchange.) Not all link farms trade links, some merely want you to trade a few hundred of your dollars for a few hundred of their inbound links.

Don't be tempted. While it's not clear that Google or Yahoo will ban you for participating in link farms, it is clear that they can simply stop counting your inbound links completely. (This means that any good links you had won't help your popularity or organic ranking.)

Instead of resorting to short cuts, you can help your SEO efforts by legitimately building some good inbound links. Be sure you have links from all of the following (where available):

Hub pages

Sister stores

Trade associations

Chambers of Commerce

Your OEM or Franchisor (if and when available)

Website provider

Vendors

Your local newspaper or other media

Search engine friendly text

Content is king. Saying relevant things about your business is critical for your site. Be certain that what you say (the text) contains the words and phrases for which you want to rank highly on Google and Yahoo.

If your company has been awarded numerous franchisor quality and service awards - congratulations - though be careful about using up all the available real estate on your homepage to inform the public about this. Consumers don't search for "president's award winner."

All text on a well-constructed website can be indexed by search engine spiders - make certain your content contains the key search terms your customers are using on Google.

Consumers do not type "best in class service" into Google when looking for what you provide. Put this information in a small area with a link to the award specifics. Additionally, place this information on your About Us pages and save the bulk of your pages for search engine friendly text.

Don't forget to avoid using industry terms whenever possible. Instead, try to include words and phrases that consumers are most likely to use when searching on Google. A few quick examples:

Used Cars v Pre-Owned Vehicles

New Hondas (or whatever you sell) v New Inventory

Repair v Service (where it makes sense)

Honda Parts (or whatever you sell) v Parts Department

Damage Estimate v Service Request

Body Shop v Collision Center

Homes For Sale v Real Estate

Lawn Mowing v Landscape Maintenance

You can read Steve's complete list of DIYSEO tips on the Pladoogle website.


Steve Stauning is a respected ecommerce industry veteran and owner of Pladoogle, LLC. Headquartered in beautiful Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, Pladoogle is a new breed of ecommerce solutions firm with a sole aim of optimizing of clients' online business. Through goal-focused products and services, they help clients maximize new technology, create and formalize processes, and deliver turnkey innovations that drive traffic, boost conversions and increase online revenue. http://pladoogle.com Phone 208-503-3863