10 Ways to Improve Your SEO Ranking Through Inbound Links

The Google algorithm relies primarily on inbound links to determine your web site's ranking. Inbound links may be defined as clickable text on someone else's site that goes to yours.

There are a number of ways to increase both the quality and the quantity of your inbound links.

1) List your URL in major web site directories.

These include Yahoo, DMOZ, Best of the Web and Business.com. And don't just stop with the free directories. There are many with a minor charge between $20 and $100, and Google values their links because of the barrier to entry.

However, you must always consider the quality of your links as well as the quantity so determine and limit yourself to the most popular ones.

2) Send out online press releases over PR Newswire.

Releases sent out over PR Newswire generate very strong links because they are picked up by major publications such as Forbes.com,  Yahoo! Finance, etc. And each time they are added to a new web site, your contact information and URL are included, thus a new inbound link.

3) Submit articles to content provision sites.

Such as this one. Content provision sites serve as a clearinghouse of material for other web sites. And each time an article is chosen, the author's name and URL must be reproduced.

4) Join professional organizations.

These organizations will provide an online list of members with contact information. Because the URL is in your field of specialty, Google gives it even more emphasis.

5) Start a blog and contribute to it at least once a week.

Each blog entry is published on a new web page with all your contact information in the blog template reproduced. Blogs are considered one of the most powerful ways to generate a plethora of inbound links.

You can also get your blog and URL listed in specialized blog directories.

6) Contribute to local search listings.

There are a number of online local directories that will list your company name and URL.  These include Google Maps, Yahoo Local, Live Search Maps and several Internet Yellow Pages (IYPs).

7) Get links to interior pages of your web site.

These links, known as "deep links," tell Google that there is interesting information on your web site besides just the home page. Ideally, up to 30 percent of your links should be deep links. There are a number of ways to create deep links such as inbound links to content provision articles, press releases or newsletters added to your web site.

In addition, if you create a blog on your web site (wordpress.org allows this), then any links to your blog will be deep links.

8) Exchange links only if absolutely necessary.

Because of the importance of inbound links, some people created "link farms," pages and pages of links to various companies. Google's algorithm recognizes the structure of links, and if you have a large number of reciprocal links, your web site's ranking could be penalized rather than helped.

9) Publish articles in prominent industry trade magazines with an online edition.

Again, inbound links from publications in your field are valued much more highly than links in general.

10) Obtain links from .edu or .gov domains.

Because of their non-commercial nature, inbound links from .edu or .gov domains are particularly valuable. Sometimes, schools or government agencies can be approached through auxiliary organizations such as the PTA or veterans' organizations.