Successful organic search - 5 easy tips you can follow

Search engine rankings are partly determined by the way in which links to your websites are structured.  A small number of high quality, well structured links are more valuable than lots of small poorly structured ones.

Below are my top 5 tips to consider when requesting links in an attempt to improve your search engine rankings.

1. Tracking re-directs

Links that point directly at your website are far more effective than those routed through a third party server.  Third party servers are mainly used with banner advertising, the click is first routed through the advertiser’s server for tracking purposes before going to yours. 

When the tracking code is removed, the advertiser will not be able to tell you how many clicks you have had, however, with use of website analysis system you can track how many people come into your site through this route – allowing you to monitor the success of each campaign.

2.  JavaScript vs. HTML

Links created using JavaScript and flash coding can not be read by search engines.  Ditch the java in favour of standard html code.

3.  Keywords within links

Text links are more valuable than image links for search engine optimisation.  They allow you to add more meaning to the link by using relevant keywords.  If you are using an image as a link be sure to embed keywords within the html image tag under the alt element.

4.  Target page – deep links

It is not just about ranking your homepage; your other pages are just as important.  Links to additional pages can be very effective for boosting positions on a wider range of search terms, so it is important to get links in directly to these with the appropriate keywords.  This is especially important if you customers search for you by product rather than company name.

5.  Avoid nofollow

Websites can add coding to a link that tells search engines not to rate the link.  This was originally designed for blogs and forums where people could add a link without the website owner’s permission.  Some websites use this code in order to hoard all the link popularity for themselves not passing on the benefit to the site they are linking to.  Make sure that the sites you publish links on are not using nofollow so you get both the search engine and click through benefits.