There are many factors to consider when trying to rank well in the search engines.  But, once you have determined your keywords, through proper research, you can begin designing your linking strategy.  One of the strategies everyone has to start is an inbound linking strategy.

An inbound linking strategy is one where you go out and find other websites that will link to your website.  You will want to mix this up using link exchanges, one-way links through article submission, bookmarking, etc.  But you have to do this correctly if you want you website to rank well.

You must be very meticulous with how these websites link to you .  You want them to be using your chosen keywords… not your name or your website name or some random phrase.  Let me say this again, these places MUST link to you using your keyword phrases.

There is a second part to this that you MUST also follow… you don’t want every link to your website to say the exact same thing!  That is why I always suggest having at least two keyword phrases for every page you design on your website… three is actually better.

You want to have approximately a 60/30/10 ratio for your phrases.  In other words, if “dog training online” is your main phrase, you want places to be linking to your website using the phrase “dog training online” 60% of the time.  Then your second phrase 30% of the time and the third phrase 10% of time.  Following a 60/30/10 guideline when designing your inbound linking campaign will make your links seem more natural to the search engines, 100% “dog training online” would appear unnatural to the search engines and have the opposite effect on your rankings

So, how do you get these places to link properly to your website, using your chosen keyword phrases?  Most will simply ask for your “title” or “anchor text” in which case you simply enter your keyword phrase there.  But if you need the html code, is a template for you to follow:

<a href=”http://www.YOURDOMAIN.com”>KEYWORD PHRASE</a>

Yep, it is that easy!

On page keyword placement is very important to the search engines and so are inbound links.  We will discuss on-page factors in another lesson but for now, make sure your inbound links follow the above guidelines and you are 60% of the way to achieving top search engine placement with your chosen keywords.

Have fun with this everyone!  I promise the work will payoff

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Inbound Links, Linking Strategy, Search Engine Ranking with Links