Link popularity is without doubt one of the most important aspects of a search engine ranking algorithm - this variable tells the search engine how many web sites out there are linking to your web site, which gives a really good indication of how popular or important your site is.

Your web site NEEDS links, it can't survive at the top of the search engine rankings without them. In this article I am going to explain how anyone can get good quality links for their web site, without paying for them...

Link building for your web site is not technically difficult, it just requires some time and dedication to do the job properly. If you don't have the time and discipline to do the job right, I strongly suggest hiring someone - WCR Internet Marketing provides this service in some of their Web Marketing plans.

I recommend only looking for links from sites that are related to your site. If you can't determine a relationship between your site and theirs, move along, there are plenty more sites out there that are more relevant!

Always remember why you have a web site - you want people to find your site useful, so make sure you are only linking to useful, relevant content. Think about this - if a surfer is browsing a site about rebuilding a car engine, they aren't likely to find a mortgage broker link very useful, are they? Stick to linking amongst relevant sites, and I guarantee you that in the long term your site will benefit greatly.

This is the 6 Step process we use when building links for clients:

1) Determine what sort of links you want.

This is extremely important. The types of links that you're looking for are industry specific. If you have a web site that is focussed on the rebuilding of car engines, you will be looking for links in the automotive or car related areas in directories. If you are selling electrical contracting services, you will want to look for regional listings or general business listings to find possible links.

2) Find your source of links.

So we're looking for links that are relevant to your web site. The best place to source your links are directories such as DMOZ. Go to a directory, browse through to a category that suits your site (a lot of the time there will be more than one suitable category) and you will see a whole lot of other relevant sites, perfect for sourcing quality links. Try the directories below, they should keep you going for a while:

http://directory.google.com http://directory.yahoo.com http://dmoz.org

3) Determine whether or not a site is relevant.

It's time to start visiting web sites. Have a look at each site one by one to see if a link to your site would realistically fit in. A webmaster isn't likely to want to change the structure of their site just to add a link to you, so if you don't think you're going to fit in, close the site and move along to the next. If you think you have a chance of getting linked, move on to the next step.

4) Determine where on the site your link would fit best.

If it's a directory that you're browsing through, find the most appropriate category for your site. If it's just a web site, have a look for a links page or any other pages that have links or might be suitable to have links on it.

5) Submit your site.

If it's a directory that you're on, once you are in the appropriate category for your web site, look around the page for a place to submit your site. Quite often you will find something like "Add URL", "Submit your site" or "Add a link" etc. Use this link to submit your site.

If you're on a relevant web site and there is no "Add URL" function, you will need to find an email address for the webmaster. Keep in mind that when emailing the webmaster, always personalize your request - don't just copy and paste a template to thousands of different webmasters - that's a sure way to have your request sent straight to the recycle bin.

Take the time to look around for a name, it won't always be available, but when it is - use it. Let the webmaster know where you think it might be suitable to have a link to your site and let him know if you are happy to reciprocate the link. At the end of the day, the easier you make it for them, and the more polite your request is, the more likely you are to end up with a link.

6) Document all of your work.

I can't stress this point enough, it is absolutely the most important part of any link building campaign. Create a Word document with all your site information in it (Title, Description, URL). Also in this Word document, have a few email templates prepared for different scenarios - I know I said don't use templates, but you don't have to type out every request every time you want to ask for a link - make up a template that you can fill out specific information on like the web site address, where you would like your link to be placed etc.

Make sure you also document each individual link request you make - every time you ask someone for a link, write it down in your Word document. That way, at a later date, you can go through the list and check who is linking to you and who isn't.

In Closing

Remember to be patient and keep your eye out for new potential links. Improving your web site link popularity won't send your web site straight to the top of the search engine rankings, but it will help you in the long term. If you plan on building a successful web site over a number of years, a properly organized link building campaign will do you the world of good. Remember, Rome wasn't built in a day.