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What Is Link Popularity?
By:
Published: January 19, 2007
Everyone has suffered a popularity crisis. Whether it’s running for homecoming queen or being the last to be picked for dodge ball, we all desire to be well liked. Websites, just like people, also suffer from a thirst to be more popular.
Many search engines, like Yahoo and Google, use link popularity to determine the quality of a website’s content. Link popularity is calculated by the number of websites that link to an individual website. For example, CNN.com is a popular website that many other websites link to for news updates. Its large number of links from other websites is a measure of the website’s popularity.
Theoretically the best sites will be the most popular and the most popular sites will be linked to the most. Perhaps the easiest way to think of link popularity is in terms of a vote. A link to a website is similar to a vote for the website's content. The level of a website’s votes or links is a measure of the quality of the website’s content. A high level of links indicates that a website must contain high quality content in order to receive so many endorsements from other sites.
Another thing to understand is that the vote is heavily weighted. The more powerful the endorsement, the more the vote means. Search engines favor link exchanges with higher linked websites. For example, it’s better for a website to exchange links with a website containing a thousand links instead of a website containing a dozen links. The idea is that one quality website would only link to another, so the sharing of links brings greater benefit.
Search engines also use link popularity as a way to determine which sites best match specific search terms. Because link popularity is an indicator of content, websites with a higher number of links will receive a higher ranking on a search engines results page or SERP. A high ranking on SERP will guarantee more visitor traffic because the website will be used more often to match a visitor’s search terms.
There are ways to track a site's link popularity. The most common is to enter the phrase link:http://www.sitename.com, where sitename is replaced by the name of the website that is going to be tracked. This will give a pretty good idea of how a site's link popularity is determined.
There are a few different ways webmasters can increase link popularity for their websites. Perhaps the best method is to exchange links with websites that have similar interests and a very popular link status. This will increase the popularity of both websites and provide the benefit of an improved visitor base.
Exchanging links with popular online directories, like Yahoo's Directory or Google's Sponsored links list, will also increase link popularity for websites. Additionally, subscribing to automatic link exchanges or so-called link farms will provide a significant boost to a website’s link popularity. However, most major search engines discourage this practice and may delete a site's listing if it is discovered.
Ultimately, everybody wants to have the biggest site on the block and tracking a site's link popularity is a great way to gauge how quickly it's growing. With a little bit of hard work and planning, a web owner can improve his or her website’s link popularity and greatly increase the visibility of the website.
Sources:
Link Popularity. Wikipedia. 11 Jan. 2007. 15 Jan. 2007 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Link_popularity&g t;.
Yahoo Directory Listings.2005. Yahoo!, Inc. 15 Jan. 2007 <https://ecom.yahoo.com/dir/submit/intro/>.< br />Link Popularity.com.2007. The PC Edge, Inc. 15 Jan. 2007 <http://www.linkpopularity.com/>.
Many search engines, like Yahoo and Google, use link popularity to determine the quality of a website’s content. Link popularity is calculated by the number of websites that link to an individual website. For example, CNN.com is a popular website that many other websites link to for news updates. Its large number of links from other websites is a measure of the website’s popularity.
Theoretically the best sites will be the most popular and the most popular sites will be linked to the most. Perhaps the easiest way to think of link popularity is in terms of a vote. A link to a website is similar to a vote for the website's content. The level of a website’s votes or links is a measure of the quality of the website’s content. A high level of links indicates that a website must contain high quality content in order to receive so many endorsements from other sites.
Another thing to understand is that the vote is heavily weighted. The more powerful the endorsement, the more the vote means. Search engines favor link exchanges with higher linked websites. For example, it’s better for a website to exchange links with a website containing a thousand links instead of a website containing a dozen links. The idea is that one quality website would only link to another, so the sharing of links brings greater benefit.
Search engines also use link popularity as a way to determine which sites best match specific search terms. Because link popularity is an indicator of content, websites with a higher number of links will receive a higher ranking on a search engines results page or SERP. A high ranking on SERP will guarantee more visitor traffic because the website will be used more often to match a visitor’s search terms.
There are ways to track a site's link popularity. The most common is to enter the phrase link:http://www.sitename.com, where sitename is replaced by the name of the website that is going to be tracked. This will give a pretty good idea of how a site's link popularity is determined.
There are a few different ways webmasters can increase link popularity for their websites. Perhaps the best method is to exchange links with websites that have similar interests and a very popular link status. This will increase the popularity of both websites and provide the benefit of an improved visitor base.
Exchanging links with popular online directories, like Yahoo's Directory or Google's Sponsored links list, will also increase link popularity for websites. Additionally, subscribing to automatic link exchanges or so-called link farms will provide a significant boost to a website’s link popularity. However, most major search engines discourage this practice and may delete a site's listing if it is discovered.
Ultimately, everybody wants to have the biggest site on the block and tracking a site's link popularity is a great way to gauge how quickly it's growing. With a little bit of hard work and planning, a web owner can improve his or her website’s link popularity and greatly increase the visibility of the website.
Sources:
Link Popularity. Wikipedia. 11 Jan. 2007. 15 Jan. 2007 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Link_popularity&g t;.
Yahoo Directory Listings.2005. Yahoo!, Inc. 15 Jan. 2007 <https://ecom.yahoo.com/dir/submit/intro/>.< br />Link Popularity.com.2007. The PC Edge, Inc. 15 Jan. 2007 <http://www.linkpopularity.com/>.
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