Link popularity has become an important factor in the ranking algorithms of most search engines. If many quality web sites link to your site, you'll have a good position in the search engines.
In addition to IBP's Link Popularity Improver, there are a number of ways to improve the link popularity of your web site. Here are the top 10 tips for high link popularity:
10. Cross-link your sites
An easy way to improve your link popularity is to add a link from your own popular web site to a less popular site of your own.
However, it's very important that one site is not only a duplicate of the other and that both sites are related to each other. For example, CheckYourLinkPopularity.com links to Axandra.com and vice versa. Both sites are different but they offer related content.
9. Give testimonials
Everyone has some favorite software tools and utilities. Contact the publishers or developers and explain why you like their software programs. Some of them will request a permission to display your testimonial on their web site, along with a link to your site.
You can also contact web sites that don't offer software programs but interesting articles. Just make sure that you really stand behind what you say as it can backfire to you if you recommend bad products.
8. Awards for you and other sites
You can submit your web site to sites who offer awards. If they reward you their award, then they'll probably link to your site. Just search Google for "awards directory your-keyword" (replace "your-keyword" with a keyword that is important to your business).
You can also offer an award for other web sites. Submit your awards page to the above-mentioned awards directories to make it popular. The web sites who receive your award will link back to your site.
7. Participate in newsgroups and discussion forums
When you post to newsgroups and discussion forums, add a signature file with a link to your web site.
An easy way to post messages in newsgroups is to create a Google account and to post via their web interface:
http://groups.google.com
To find good discussion forums, just search Google for "forums directory your-keyword". For example, if you want to participate in a marketing forum, search Google for "forums directory marketing".
6. Provide a link directory
Offer a link directory on your web site which links to quality web sites with a similar topic. Your visitors will appreciate such a resource and you'll provide incentive for other sites to link to your site.
You can add a "link to us" page to your web site on which you promise to add other complementary sites to your link directory if they link back to you first.
ARELIS, the professional reciprocal links management software, can help you to create and maintain a link directory (among many other useful things). It also checks if other web sites remove their link to you.
More information about the reciprocal links management program can be found here: http://www.ibp.com.au/arelis/index.htm
5. List your web site in the Yahoo directory
If you have a business web site, you might want to pay US$299 yearly to Yahoo to have your web site listed in the Yahoo directory. The Yahoo directory is independent from Yahoo's main search engine:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/suggest/busexpress.html
If you have a non-business site, you can submit to Yahoo without paying: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/suggest/
4. List your web site in the Open Directory Project (ODP) directory
If your web site is listed in the popular directory ODP, then your web site will have a good base for the link popularity.
Rumor has it that Google starts crawling web sites with the web sites listed in the ODP directory. Best of all, you can add your web site to ODP without paying a fee.
3. List your web site in regional and industry-specific directories.
A link in regional and indusstry specific directories is good for your web site because your link will appear on a related page. Links from related pages are much better than links from unrelated pages.
2. Write articles for your audience
Write articles about the topics that your web site visitors are interested in. After a while, other web sites will link back to your articles.
You can also send your articles to syndicate web sites. They'll offer your articles to other web sites. Just make sure that your article contains a link to your web site so that other sites who publish your article will automatically link to you.
1. Get reciprocal links from complementary sites
Search the major search engines for your keywords. They will return many web sites that don't compete with your site, or which offer complementary things.
Visit their site and then write them an email message to request a link to your site. If you link back to them first, they'll be more likely to link to you.
Consider using the reciprocal links management software ARELIS which saves you much time. It also lists which web sites link to your competitors so that you can request a reciprocal link to your site, too.
More information can be found in our free weekly Search Engine Facts newsletter.