Link Popularity and Press Releases
By Gary Sims (c) 2006
The quantity of links to your site is used by the search engines (like Google)
to calculate the importance of your site. This measure of incoming links is
called "Link Popularity". Press releases are a powerful way in which you can
promote your site,
service or product while at the same time increasing your link popularity.
Search Engine Optimization
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is a process of fine tuning your website to get
higher rankings on Internet Search Engines like Google, Yahoo and MSN. Broadly
speaking there are two types
of optimization, "on-page" and "off-page". On-page optimization deals with the
layout and format of a web page to make it attractive to a search engine.
Off-page optimization deals with
external factors like the number of people linking to your page. Let's look at
off-page first.
Off-Page Optimization
In trying to quantify the importance of a website, search engines have developed
sophisticated algorithms that rank web pages for their quality. The largest
factor in determining quality is the
number of links to a web page. Links are an almost impartial method of
determining how popular a website or a web page is. Or to put it another way,
quality websites are the most popular and
so have the most links to them. As previously mentioned this is called "Link
Popularity". So to improve your standing on the search engine you need a higher
link popularity.
Another very important factor in off-page optimization is the text used to link
to your site. This is called the anchor text. Adobe ranks the highest in the
search engines for the words
"click here". Why should that be? The word "click here" isn't in the title of
the page, nor is it in the page itself! So why does a search engine like Google
rank Adobe so high for this term?
Because many of the websites linking to Adobe used the words "click" and "here"
many times in the anchor text of their links to Adobe. You know... Click here to
download Acrobat Reader...
Press Releases
A press release is a written communication that you submit to journalists in the
media (newspapers, radio, television, magazines, etc.) They are used to make
announcements which are
newsworthy. The mistake that many people make when writing press releases is
that they don't find the angle necessary to make their announcement newsworthy.
Press releases aren't for
customers or consumers they are for reporters, journalists who will use them as
a starting point for a larger story or feature. Press releases written as sales
pieces will be completely
ignored.
There are various ways to submit free press releases on-line. Some of the
popular sites are:
How can a press release help with building your link popularity? Most of the
free press release services are text-based which means you will not be able to
add any HTML tags and so you can't
add any keyword-optimized links into the press release. However others like the
Free Press Release Center (FPRC) allow you to also supply some keywords for that
press release. When that page
is viewed by someone, including the search engines, the keywords will be used to
create links within your press release back to your website.
This means:
There is a one-way link to your website The link uses the anchor text of your
choice The link is within a natural context of the press release.
Traditionally, a press release is short-lived, it has a limited amount of time
to make an impact on the media before it becomes old news and is replaced by
fresh press releases. Some services
like FPRC allow you to buy a cheap upgrade, which means your press release will
remain permanently in their system. This means that your "in context" links with
the anchor text of your
choice remain permanently for search engines to find and so help improve your
rankings.
When preparing your press release you should optimize it for the keywords which
are important for your site, product or company. This means that when someone
searches for information in your industry, your press release will be seen as
relevant by the
search engine.
On-Page Optimization
There are several factors in on-page optimization. The first is the title of the
page. This is almost the first thing the search engine reads when it visits a
page. All of the free press release
services use the title of your press release as the title of the web page. So
when preparing your press release try to put some of your important words in the
headline, however don't force
them in as then you will alienate your readers (the journalists).
After the title is the heading tags on the page. Like the title of the page,
your headline will become the first heading on the page. Again you should
optimize your headline.
If you prepare an optimum press release and select good keywords you can gain
valuable incoming links to your site as well as gaining exposure through the
media.
About the Author
Gary Sims has a degree in Business Information Systems from a British
university. He worked for 10 years as a software engineer and is now a freelance
consultant and writer.
http://www.free-press-release-center.info
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We will tailor your website to rank higher in any search engine, but we
specialize in the biggest engines like Google, Yahoo and MSN.
Our
Client's smile as they watch their website raise in search engine rankings
for the Keywords and Phrases that drive business to their virtual door!
the
Internet the work we have done to optimize your website for
the
best keywords and phrases in your market area will ensure they will find you
regardless whether they are using Google, Yahoo, MSN or any search engine! 