Do Links To Your Website Matter?

Do links from other related web sites to your website matter? Do they drive traffic to your site by bringing in new visitors? Do links to your site really help with search engine rankings?

In a nutshell – in most cases the answer is ‘yes’.

Many of the search engines use ‘link popularity’ as one ingredient in determining how your site is ranked. Visitors to your site often arrive through links from other websites.

We generally recommend a links page when we’re building a website. Visitors to your site appreciate resources for similar sites and additional information related to your products or services.

Another reason for having a links page is for reciprocal linking with other websites. It may be easier to get other sites to link to you if you’re linking to them. It’s a win-win situation.

How can you increase links to your site?

1. Visit websites that you feel would be related or complementary to your own site, and request reciprocal links. This can be done with a simple email request.
2. Check out their links, too. Often those will lead you to interesting sites that would be a potential link to yours.

Tip: Common sense dictates that if you have a hardware store, you wouldn’t want a link to the hardware store around the corner, as they are a direct competitor. You would be interested in trading a link with a website that offers home repair tips, for example.

How can you check your link popularity? www.linkpopularity.com has a free service that lets you check your link popularity on several major search engines, including Google.

If you don’t have a links page and would like one, please let us know and we will set it up for you. We can also offer suggestions for simple ways to get reciprocal links quickly without having to seek out possibilities one by one.

If you haven’t visited www.webdesignpartners.com this month for our specials at the bottom of our home page, we invite you do to so. We offer links to many free items that can help promote your business.

Wishing you a successful month,

Janet and Phil Winter
Web Design Partners
770-664-0848
janwinter@mindspring.com
www.webdesignpartners.com

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