Linking strategies by Ecklund Marketing Group

Linking strategies by Ecklund Marketing GroupA good internal linking structure is a must for any complex website. It's common these days to build sites that are several layers deep: in other words, individual pages within the site have their own mini-menus. For example, your menu bar may have a link to a page for widgets. On the widgets page are additional submenu items- purple widgets, green widgets, etc. Proper and clearly labeled links are crucial for both human site visitors and the search engine robots.

You'll also want have your site's link appear on other web pages that appeal to your target audience without being a direct competitor. There's a myth running rampant throughout the SEO community that buying links is a no-no. This is not exactly true. The fact that you paid for it does not matter so much as the quality of the link itself. If you are a litigation lawyer, there's nothing harmful about purchasing a link to your page from reputable legal directories such as FindLaw or LawyerLocate. But paying for inclusion in a link farm that sandwiches your link between a teenager's angsty blog and the Britney Spears official site is something you want to avoid.

When you do buy a quality link, make it clear to the directory's webmaster that you want a DIRECT link. Although this is rarely an issue with smaller sites and directories, larger ones funnel the link through third party tracking software, so that they can monitor how much traffic they drive to your site. Search engine robots can follow the link, but as one forum member on the Search Engine Watch board commented, "You won't get any Google love from it." The third party software deadens the SEO effectiveness of the link.
Proper external linking is a great way to be ranked by the search engines as a trusted source for whatever it is you're looking to sell.

At Ecklund Marketing Group we can help you realize your linking potential.