Posts Tagged ‘backlinks’

Using a Press Release Service As a Form of Link Building

March 21st, 2010

We all know that when distributing a press release throughout the web that the benefits as far as traffic goes can sometimes be short lived, because naturally a press release is a news story and most likely will be at the top for a week or two. So how can you get the most out of your Release? The answer is also combining a compelling press release for the short lived traffic with well optimized keyword selection and links.

Why settle for a simple PR when you can have two benefits, that will be the traffic from readers and also the long lasting SEO value from the links and anchors. Not all PR sites will allow HTML in the body but a good amount of them do, so for the PR sites that allow HTML you will be more concerned with their SEO value and those that don’t you will get the traffic. When you want to write a press release with the intent to also have it boost your SEO you first have to figure out what keyword that you want to focus on, after you have decided which keyword you will use its important to use your links that are also relevant to them.

Once you have your keywords selected for your PR you should now come up with a headline, but keep in mind having that keyword in the headline is important. I do not suggest using more then 2-3 keywords in one PR because the more keywords you have the less value each one will get. Another thing to keep in mind is that you do not want to over optimize your release this means inputting keywords just for the sake of it. I never suggest using more than 2.5% of the total word count for any keyword but around 2% is optimal for your main keyword.

Most people in general do not have the creativity or maybe even the free time to write a well optimized press release, this is why there are quite a few press release service companies out there who do all of this work for you and ensure you will have a well optimized release, this is probably the better option although do not settle for the first one you see as some may charge an arm and leg.

Lastly I want to talk about the two different types of PR sites you will come across, there are some that will only allow direct links in your press release and they do not want people to abuse using embedded links in the release. Then you will have other PR sites that do allow Html these specific sites are much better to use if your overall aim is to improve your SEO, normally they will allow you to input 2-3 keywords and hyperlink them so when the press release is submitted they will be clickable links.

If your looking for a Press Release Service that can take care of the compelling content and optimization then take a look at Nationsubmit, they have a wide range of SEO and link building services like their Article Submission Service.

Author: Todd Daon

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Posted in SEO and Search Engine Marketing

Tags: backlinks link building press release SEO and Search Engine Marketing

Backlinks – Quality Over Quantity

January 21st, 2010

While coaching people on their SEO practices, I often see a very common thread with beginners starting to try a hand at link building. When they catch a glipse at the logic behind getting other websites to link to them, their knee-jerk response is to go out and try to get as many links as they possibly can as quickly as they can. They’ve missed, however, the key to effective link building – you must focus on the QUALITY of the links that are pointing to your site, and not so much on the QUANTITY.

While we certainly don’t know the specifics of the algorithms that the search engines use to decide who shows up on the highly coveted first page, we do know some of the general things that can help or hurt you. The following is a short (and by no means comprehensive) list of a few things that will effect the quality of your backlinks.

What is the Webpage’s PR?

Google uses something they call PageRank (PR) to give a general gauge of how authoritative a website is. The higher the PR the better. Using the Google Toolbar you can see what the PR for any given webpage is. Essentially, the higher the PR of the page, the more value it will bring to you when it links to you.

Now, the true value of PR is certainly debatable. And I’m one who doesn’t put a ton of weight on PR. But having said that, all things equal, it’s a decent gauge for you in your link building efforts. So when searching for links, use PR as a guide, but don’t let it make your decisions for you.

How Related is the Website?

As you’ll often hear, each link pointing to your website is seen by the search engines as a “vote” for your website. The anchor text (the text of the actual link) tells the search engines, “For my vote, I say that this website is related to this particular keyword.”

But if my website is about dog cleaning and I’m “voting for” (linking to) a website about construction loans, the search engine isn’t going to put much weight in my vote (just as I wouldn’t go to a dog cleaning company for advice on getting a construction loan). You links coming into your website will be MUCH more effective if they are coming from highly related sites (e.g. a website about financing new businesses linking to a construction loan website). For this reason, you want to make sure that most of your links are coming from related sources.

How Many Outbound Links Does the Webpage Have?

For each additional outbound link on a webpage, the value of any link on that page is decreased. For example, all things equal, a link from a webpage that has only 2 outbound links is caries much more value than a link from a webpage that has 50 outbound links.

If it helps, think of a webpage having a set amount of “link juice.” Each outbound link on that page has to share the amount of “juice” with all the other links. So when you’re searching for sources for links, and you find one with a particularly high PR, you will want to pay attention to the number of outbound links. It may not be as good of a find as you think.

While these are pretty basic guidelines for those involved in link building, the beginner should make a conscious effort to remember them when building links. For those more experienced, a reminder is always a good thing.

Jaron A. has been heavily involved with SEO and Internet Marketing for over 7 years while running a successful SEO consulting company as well as promoting his own websites. You can read his tips and strategies as well as tools to help you in your link tracking efforts at BacklinkReporter.com