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Link popularity is the measure of the quality and amount of external websites that link to your website. Link popularity allows search engines to determine the quality of content on any given website. The idea is if numerous external websites link to your site, then your content must be valuable and worth reading.
Link Popularity and Search Engine Results
Few people know it, but link popularity plays a role in search engine rankings. Search engine powerhouse Google uses a link analysis system to rank websites. It’s believed that a website having high link popularity must be good, and one with little to no link popularity probably isn’t worth reading or ranking high in the search engine. But, you’re asking yourself, can’t I just set up dummy websites and link to myself? Well you could, but it would be a waste of time.
First of all, search engines hate dummy websites. Your link popularity will be damaged once the search engines figure out what you’re doing. Secondly, link popularity hinges on more than just having a bunch of incoming links. An incoming link from a major directory or big-name website packs a powerful punch. If you can get a link from Amazon.com or AskJeeves then you’re in good shape. On the other hand, links from obscure pages like personal or hobby sites may or may not help. The quality of the incoming links actually counts more than the quantity.
Increase Your Link Popularity
There’s no way to completely control the quality of the websites that link to your website. Anyone can stick your link on their website without you knowing about it. This can hurt your link popularity if you end up linked to a website that participates in deceptive SEO practices (like spam). However, there are some steps you can take to help increase your link popularity:
- Provide links on your homepage to other pages in your website. This doesn’t carry a lot of weight, but it will provide some link popularity to the other pages in your website.
- Link popularity is helped immensely if a page with a high search engine ranking links to yours. The site should be somewhat related to the content on your site. In other words, stick within your field or related area. You can approach website owners about linking to your page, but they’ll probably want a link in return. This may not be such a good idea. Reciprocal links don’t always help link popularity as much as one-way links. The rationale is if a website owner links to a site without anything in return, then it’s probably a good site. When the search engine robots scan your page, they’ll be able to tell which links are reciprocal.
- List your website in directories. Many people forget about directories in their quest for high search engine rankings. However, getting listed in major directories such as Yahoo or the Open Directory Project helps improve link popularity.
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