Finding The Right Links

[SEOpro]

Most website owners know by now that content is king in the eyes of the search engines but simply adding articles or blog posts to your site is not enough to get you the first page of the major search engines. The most important factor that search engines like Google use to determine ranking is linking. However not just any links will do. You need the right links from the right sites. Here is good way to evaluate if the site you want to a link from is good or not.

Links that you get to your site need to be relevant. That simply means that links from sites with the same or similar topic or theme will be more valuable than from other sites. For your real estate website you need links from other real estate related websites.

Some sites are considered by the search engines to be an authority in the field of real estate. The more of these authority sites that you can get links from the better your chances of increasing your rankings will be.

Trust is another factor used to evaluate a link. A link to your site from a trusted site will tell the search engines that your site is really about real estate not spam.

It can be difficult to find links that have these attributes but there are ways of finding them. For example if your target keyword phrases is "Washington Real Estate" type "Real Estate" into your search engine of choice. Try to get links from the sites that show up on the first few pages. A couple of hours of search engine optimization a week with greatly improve your rankings and traffic.

[Joelrunner]

Thanks for the tips Stefan. Once you find a site you'd like to get a link from, how do you suggest contacting them?

Pick up the phone?
Send them some content?
Ask for a link exchange?

[kellierhymes]

Thank you for the nice information but I think link exchange doesn't effect search engine results at this time, because many abuse its benefits.

[Joelrunner]

Thank you for the nice information but I think link exchange doesn't effect search engine results at this time, because many abuse its benefits.

I've been following that "best practice" advice for the past couple years, and am beginning to wonder if it's true. I see a lot of websites that rank well and use that as their primary linking practice.

Many of my old pages that I haven't touched for years still rank well because of recips too.

[VRI]

I've been following that "best practice" advice for the past couple years, and am beginning to wonder if it's true. I see a lot of websites that rank well and use that as their primary linking practice.

Many of my old pages that I haven't touched for years still rank well because of recips too.

Couldn't agree more, I often run into sites still ranking well with recips as their primary MO but haven't been using the strategy in a couple of years. I imagine it's a whole lot tougher these days though as most don't even read the emails for link requests. (particularly in this industry)

[Arizona Real Estate]

Link exchange used to popular but Google frowns on them now. I don't think they give you less credit if they are older links, but do them now and you will be in trouble.

[Agnafl]

Google doesn't frown on reciprocal links. That is a common misconception. They are still part of a very diversified linking program. What Google frowns on is the abuse of that practice used solely for rankings. Recips are supposed to be a resource for your visitor!!

[linkbuildr]

Google doesn't frown on reciprocal links. That is a common misconception. They are still part of a very diversified linking program. What Google frowns on is the abuse of that practice used solely for rankings. Recips are supposed to be a resource for your visitor!!

Couldn't agree more. Google was also supposed to ban you for buying links but they *barely* do anything about it. I do dozens of hours a week researching link profiles and I still see the top ranking guys killing it with paid links and other techniques you're not supposed to do. I'm not saying do it but keep an open mind and research the top guys in your niche because what they're doing is working.

[CLTMichael]

Google doesn't frown on reciprocal links. That is a common misconception. They are still part of a very diversified linking program. What Google frowns on is the abuse of that practice used solely for rankings. Recips are supposed to be a resource for your visitor!!

Agreed 100%. The web is made for linking. Just don't make your website to be a link farm. Everyone who says recip linking is a terrible idea needs to look at the SERPs. There are MANY MANY sites abusing this practice and ranking number 1.

I say get a few good links and then build your own network with blogging and good inner linking with your own sites. Contextual text is a great way.

[kellierhymes]

I've been following that "best practice" advice for the past couple years, and am beginning to wonder if it's true. I see a lot of websites that rank well and use that as their primary linking practice.

Many of my old pages that I haven't touched for years still rank well because of recips too.

I see thank you for informing me the importance of link exchange. Up to how many link exchange must be build in your blog? because I've just read an article that a very high number of reciprocal links could harm your website.