Search Engine Facts

. Step-by-step guide: How to get high quality links

Link building is one of the most important search engine optimization steps. Without good inbound links, your website cannot get high rankings. Although it is very important that your website has optimized content, without the links to your website, search engines won't consider that content much.

It's important to get the right links to your website. Link spamming doesn't work. You must make sure that you get high quality links that Google and other search engines like.

Step 1: Make your website linkworthy

You must make your website linkworthy. You cannot expect that other websites link to your website if your site is basically a collection of affiliate links or an online shop that looks like a thousand other online shops.

Your website must be different. Try the following:

* Add articles about your products or services to your website.
* Add tutorials and how-to articles about the topic of your website.
* If you have a lot to say, add a blog to your website.
* Add a directory with links to valuable resources on your website.

Step 2: Check your competitors

The best way to start link building is to duplicate the links that your competitors have. Find all websites that link to your competitors and then try to convince them to link to your website.

The link builder tool in IBP makes it easy to find these websites. Just click Add Sites > Find websites that link to your competitors in IBP's link builder and IBP will return all websites that link to your competitors in a clearly arranged list.

You can then check the websites one after the other and convince them to link to your website.

Step 3: Get links from blogs

There are millions of blogs on the Internet and they all need something to write about. Getting links from blogs is a good way to get links from related websites.

To find blogs that deal with your website topic, select Add sites > Find websites by keyword search in IBP's link builder and enter the topic of your website plus the word blog. For example, you could enter "real estate blog" or "music blog" in IBP, depending on what you sell on your website.

The advantage of using IBP instead of manually searching for the blogs is that IBP automatically presents all found blogs in a clearly arranged list.

IBP also allows you to contact the blog owners quickly and easily and it automatically keeps track of the websites that you've already contacted so that you don't contact the same person twice.

Bloggers give out millions of free links each month. Use IBP to make sure that you get your share of these links.

Step 4: Get links from Internet directories

Submitting your website to Internet directories can be a good way to show Google that you have a reputable website. Low quality websites usually don't invest the time and money that is needed to be listed in Internet directories.

An easy way to submit your website to many Internet directories as possible is IBP's directory submitter.

Inbound links are very important if you want to get high rankings on search engines. You should optimize your web page content first to make sure that search engines find your website relevant to your targeted keywords.

If more than one website has been optimized for the same keywords (and that's usually the case) then the website with the best links will get the best rankings.

Search Engine Facts 15 July 2008

1. How to GEO target Google

Do you want to get customers from outside the United States? Is your business located in Europe or another part of the world? There are a few things to consider if your website is aimed at people outside the United States.

Google's market share outside the US:

Google is the biggest player in the US market. They also have a big market share in other countries:
Country Market Share
Google Germany 89.20%
Google UK 70,25%
Google Bulgaria 90.00%
Google France 89.79%
Google Netherlands 95.00%
Google Poland 90.00%
Google Israel 90.00%

Source: Lunapark

If you want to get customers from outside the US then you must make sure that your website is prepared for Google's local versions. For example, Germans who enter Google.com in their web browsers are automatically redirected to Google.de.

Google returns different results in different countries

Google.com and Google.de return different results. For example, Google.de returns totally different results for the keyword "auto" than Google.com.

That means that websites must meet certain criteria to be listed in Google's local versions.

What you can do to get listed in Google's local versions

1. Get a country specific domain name

If you want to get high rankings in Google.co.uk then you should have a .co.uk domain name. This is by far the most important factor. A local domain name makes it much easier to get high rankings in country specific search engines.

2. Make your web page content relevant to your target market

If you're trying to sell something in Germany, it is obvious that your web page content should be in German. If you're website is aimed at people living in the UK, mention your full UK address in the footer so that search engines can associate that address with your website.

3. Check your server location

If the IP address of your server is based in France then Google can take this as an indicator that you're targeting the French market.

Getting high rankings in Google's local variations is easier if you follow the tips above. Note that your web pages still must be optimized for your keywords if you want to get high rankings.

In addition, Google only lists your web pages if you have good inbound links,