Your Web site linking strategy has two goals: 1. To drive traffic to your Web site and 2. To increase your rank with the major search engines.
If you secure links on Web sites that are popular with your target audience, you could gain a new stream of traffic to your site. Also, most search engines consider a link to your Web site from a high-quality site a sign that your Web site offers information that is trusted or valuable. To learn more about what each search engine considers a “high-quality” Web site, click the links at the bottom of this page.
Requesting a Link
The first rule of requesting a link is: Always look at the Web site first. Figure out how your link could integrate with and enhance the Web site’s content. Look for a natural fit.
Once you’ve found a good fit, contact the Web site owner and ask if he or she would place a link to your Web site on his or her Web site. Recommend the placement that you determined would be best. You also can offer to link back to this Web site.
Another way to request a link is to apply for a Web site award. There are many Web sites that give out awards. They often give you an award graphic that can lend credibility to your Web site, and they provide a link to your Web site on their Web site.
Avoiding Bad Links
"Link farms" or sites that include many links just to boost the search engine rank of Web pages are low quality sites and will not help your rank because most search engines consider the value of linking Web sites. Avoid link farms and pursue only quality links.