|
|
Link
Popularity And Press Releases
|
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 largër story or feature.
Press releases written as salës pieces will be
completely ignored.
There are various ways to submit frëe press
releases on-line.
Some of the popular sites are:
http://www.free-press-release-center.info
http://www.prweb.com
http://www.prleap.com
How can a press release help with building your
link popularity? Most of the frëe 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 Frëe 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 frëe
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 universïty. He worked for
10 years as a software engineer and is currrently
a freelance consultant and writer. http://www.free-press-release-center.info
Subscribe to
Monthly Online Marketer Newsletter
and Receive a Bonus Gift.
|
© 2006 1st Internet Marketing Solution
|