Build link popularity for top rankings.

One measure used to rank one site higher than another is called link popularity. This term refers to the number of links pointing to your site from other--hopefully related--sites. These are called "incoming" or "inbound links."

It's often considered one of the most important elements of a site's relevance in search engines. Always remember, your keyword phrase in the (inbound) linktext is essential to increasing your own site's link popularity. More items to keep in mind:

Every web page has a theoretical link pop to begin with and you can use this fact to your advantage. Make sure all of your site's internal pages link back to the home page. If you control any other sites, let them link to yours also. Use your keywords in the text comprising the link, and do not let the index page link to itself!

If your goal is to rank well in Google, you need to get your keywords in every one of the ten areas of your web page(s). When you search for a phrase, the results "cache" listing contains a version of the page which highlights the query words.

Placement in two directories is recommended for the best results. The first is the Open Directory. Google factors a dmoz listing into their calculations, but not as much as they formerly did. There's no charge, but they are sometimes slow to add a URL.

Second, if you are serious about better ranking, consider buying the annual Yahoo! Business Directory listing. Tip: use the same site description for this listing as you have in your meta tags. Consistency across all "add url" opportunities will add up for you!

After submission, a "spider" robot visits your site, indexes all text and puts it in the database. Google updates its database two or more times each month and maintains the largest index--more than 25 billion web pages!

Ask for inbound link partners.

Find other sites compatible with your subject area in the major search engines. Be proactive and link to them first. Then send a short email request soliciting those sites to link to yours. This is called reciprocal linking, or a link exchange.

Google refines the link popularity concept through their special process and produces a number, called PageRank. Little known fact: Google will not index a site that has no incoming links. Use a Link Pop Tool and check how many incoming links your site has.

When you promote your site, beware that some directories and sites really don't help improve your page rank. Pay per click search engine links, such as Overture, may add traffic and increase sales, but will not add to your link pop. The same is true of affiliate link programs. Commission Junction, for example, uses traceable redirects, not direct links, to send traffic to your site.

Therefore the search engines do not count affiliate sites for link pop. Do not use link exchange sites and link farms. Some engines have blacklisted them and could blacklist yours! So-called free-for-all (FFA) sites are not helpful: posted information changes too quickly to become beneficial. They just want your email address to send you spam!

Do you really need to submit your URL to 500 search engines and directories? The quick answer is no. The search engine "spiders" will find your site pretty quick. Check your site's statistics for the last time the "Googlebot" spidered your web site. Well over 95 percent of search traffic flows through the "Big Six:" Google, AOL Search, Yahoo!, MSN, AltaVista and Lycos.

Take a look at my seo tools page and you'll find many links to help your site climb the rankings!