Tim Harman - Webmaster

In case you're unfamiliar with the concept of Search Engine Optimisation "SEO," it refers to the art of modifying a web site's properties in order for that site to appear in the top search engine results on Google, Yahoo, Ask and MSN, etc. Organic search results refer to achieving a top search result without using 'pay per click'. Whenever you do a search, the results highlighted at the top and on the right-hand side are bought positions. This article will not discuss buying your way into the search rankings, but focus on how you can optimise your own website to achieve 'organic' page rankings. 

Think of the search engine optimisation (SEO) process as a puzzle made up of three distinct types of pieces: code, content, and last but definitely not least, incoming links. You need to put all the pieces together to see results; if you focus too much on one single aspect of SEO, you'll have a third of the visibility and you'll still be missing the rest of the pieces.

In this article, I'm going to talk specifically about link building, and how this tactic is a critical component to successful search engine optimization. For those unfamiliar with this tactic, link building is the process by which you get incoming links to a website. Link Building is initiated to get incoming links to a website from other websites. The whole purpose behind link building is to improve the link popularity of a website, or to improve the number of incoming links to a website.

The reason link building is so important to high organic positioning is that all the major search engines use link related variables in their ranking algorithms, the complex equations that evaluate a site on a myriad of factors and then use this data to determine which sites appear where on the results pages. So what incoming link related variables do the search engine algorithms consider?

- Number of Links

- Quality/Origin of Links

- Relevance of Links

- Anchor Text Within Links

- Links Must Present Value to Users

Confused? Let me explain. Google, Yahoo, MSN, and Ask all consider the number, quality, and relevance of incoming links to your site when determining its rank (Incoming links are those links that point to your web site). Google has a system called PageRank, and the other engines operate within similar frameworks. Google has stated, "PageRank relies on the uniquely democratic nature of the web by using its vast link structure as an indicator of an individual page's value." In essence, Google interprets a link from page A to page B as a vote, by page A, for page B. But, Google looks at more than the sheer volume of votes, or links a page receives; it also analyzes the page that casts the vote. Votes cast by pages that are themselves 'important' weigh more heavily and help to make other pages 'important.'"

As mentioned earlier, your links need to be from quality sites that share some degree of relevancy with yours. The major engines are all conscious of the origin of these links, and lately, they've been known to penalize sites that build massive networks of irrelevant links. This penalization stems from something known as link farms, which were created in the late 1990s for SEO purposes. Link farms would sell links to sites, but none of these links presented any real value to users. Now the major engines evaluate a site not only on the number of links, but the quality, relevance and origin of these links. For example, a site supporting content about publishing would be a great linking opportuníty for an author, while a cat food site would most likely incur a penalty.

Lastly, the anchor text of your incoming links needs to be optimized in order for the search engines to know what kind of site this link directs a user to. Anchor text is the colored or underlined text that indicates the existence of a link.

For example, if you have just published a new crime thriller, you don't want links that point to your site to say something vague like "new crime thriller." While this is true, it won't help you get ranked for the keyphrase you want to be ranked for.

Instead, have your links' anchor text say "New Best Selling Crime Thriller by Tim Harman" Not only is this more specific and better for users, it allows the search engines to better determine the relationship between the content of your site and the links that point to it. After all, the strength of this relationship is surely one of the most important factors in achieving high organic positioning.

So now that you know what kind of links you need to acquire to achieve high organic search positioning, where do you start? The easiest way is to try searching for your book using Google, Yahoo, Ask and MSN, etc. Make a note of the 'directory' websites that keep coming up on the first page of the search results. Then check those sites to see if you can list your book. If it's a Forum, join the forum and promote your own work. For more ideas on getting backlinks click here.

On a final note, remember to follow the philosophy of utility when conducting any link building campaign: Present users with links that connect them to useful, relevant information, and the search engines will reward you with high organic rankings.

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