How Does Link Popularity Work?

When it comes to search engine ranking, how do links work when it comes to determining a website's rank? Well, it all has to do with link popularity.

It's all about how many incoming links a given website has. Although none of the major search engines will reveal exactly how their algorithms work, for the most part, sites with a higher number of back-links seem to rank higher in the search engines.

However, there is more to getting ranked in the engines than just having more links than other sites. For example, the anchor text associated with the incoming link is read by the search engines, which use it to determine what the target page is probably about. If a web page has a lot of back-links with the anchor text 'puppy food,' for example, the engine's algorithm will likely conclude that the content of the page is related to puppy food, so the page will rank higher for that term.

The authority of the sites doing the linking also makes a difference. If a site receives a link from a huge site like Wikipedia it is usually more heavily weighted in determining rankings than a link from an article directory no one has ever heard of. So even though link popularity is important, a site could outrank another site with many back-links from smaller sites with fewer back-links, from the larger, more trusted sites.

It is also possible for a link to have a negative effect on a site's ranking. This usually happens when a link appears on a site that is known to sell back-links or that has been penalized by the search engines for having low-quality content.

So how do links work to improve search engine rankings? The only people who know for sure are the people who write the search engines' algorithms. However, as long as you don't pursue linking from questionable sites, generally the more back-links you get, the higher your website will rank for the anchor text that is used.

Steve Duval is a Successful Internet Marketer Helping Others Learn the Skills required to Be Able To make Money Online http://www.your-online-income.com. To Find Out More About Steve and how he can help you http://steve-duval.com/profile/profile.html. To your Success