Intra-Linking and Back-Linking For Google Page Rank
ByGoogle puts a LOT of emphasis on how many backlinks a site has. A backlink occurs when another site on the web has a link to your site. These links must be one-way and not reciprocal in order to count the most.
Any website owner can and should begin the process of getting backlinks to their site at a slow and steady rate. NEVER buy backlinks directly for the purpose of improving a site’s relevance in Google’s eyes.
Some of the methods any web site owner can use to obtain initial backlinks are:
- Submit original articles to free article directories like EzineArticles, ArticleBase, GoArticles, etc. with the site’s backlink listed in the bio area.
- Submit the website to the many free directories available online.
- Find relevant blogs and forums that allow “do-follow” links and begin submitting quality posts to them.
If your site is good quality, other sites will eventually begin linking to it naturally. These are the BEST backlinks.
Most web site owners neglect the all important task of intra-linking their pages together. Intra-linking is a great way to build that initial page rank with Google. It’s not enough to just have a good navigation system.
Great video. My wordpress blog has a plugin that identifies tags and makes them link to posts labeled with those tags. Does Google look at these links with the same value as a link described in the method above?
You’d have to look at the code for that page to see if it’s showing as just a standard HTML link or some type of PHP coding.
Hey Steve,
This is a great on-page topic that is totally overlooked and not well understood. And yet the concept is so fundamentally important. After all, Page Rank is the foundation for Google’s algorithm, and named for one of it’s founder, Larry Page.
Each page only has so much PR that it can pass along. Optimizing the internal linking structure to focus that PR back to the Index page (basic) or specific Hub pages helps those pages (advanced).
To maximize PR for a simple site…
In a basic set up, the Index page links to every other page and then every other page ONLY links back to the Index page. In this “closed” loop, the Index page garners the maximum amount of PR from the internal pages.
In a more sophisticated site, you can build similar loops to direct PR from specific internal pages to a category or Hub page that is optimized around a particular KWP or search term. Then these Hub pages pass their PR on to the Index page.
Either way, mapping this out and knowing exactly what KW’s you want a page to be optimized for is very important. A little knowledge and planning up front can save you a ton of time later.
Also, it’s important to note that a page must be indexed in order to pass along PR.
Hey Keenan….great comment! I didn’t know that about how they named Page Rank! …..I’ve always cussed them for naming it that because the term confuses beginners. They get “page rank” and how their sites rank in the search results mixed up. Those two things are related, but do not always go hand in hand. …stay in touch!