Search Engine Optimization - What Can A Text Link Do For You Today?
Links make the World Wide Web go around. We use links to get from this site to that site, from this page to that page, or even to a different section on a single page. But did you know that a text link can also help to increase the rankings of a site in the search engines?
Here are a few things you can do:
Use Descriptive Keywords as Your Linked Text
How many thousands, ok, millions of times do we see the words "Click Here" on the Web? Unless you're selling clicks on your site, this linking strategy could be working against you.
Take a look at these examples, paying particular attention to the underlined words which we will assume are links:
- Click here to buy your baseball bat and ball covers!
- Purchase your baseball bat and baseball covers today!
Example B uses the keywords baseball bat and baseball inside the link's text. Choose keywords that visitors would actually use to find your site.
Attributes Attributes, Attributes!!
Hidden in the code of any HTML document you will find many opportunities to add keywords to your site's content. Link attributes are one such opportunity.
The Title attribute: The Title attribute lets you enter descriptive text about a link. This information is displayed when the mouse moves over the link (with a compatible browser, listed below). Add descriptive information about the link (using keywords) and even where the link will take you.
For example:
Mom to Mom Chat.com
The code for the link above looks like this:
<a title="Mom to Mom Chat.com - A friendly place to meet for all Moms. Resources, Forums, and more!" href="../index.html">Mom to Mom Chat.com</a>
If your browser is compatible (Netscape 6.x+, Explorer 4.x+, and Opera 3.x+), you should see the link's title attribute, Mom to Mom Chat.com - A friendly place to meet for all Moms. Resources, Forums, and more!, when you move your mouse over the link.
The ALT Tag: For images that are links, the alt text is the descriptive text used to describe images. Because you are using the image as a link, you can enter the Title attribute as well!
For example, place your mouse over the Mom to Mom Chat.com logo at the top of the page. With a compatible browser, you should see the alternative text: Mom to Mom Chat.com - A friendly place to meet for all Moms. Resources, Forums, and more!
The code for the image link looks like this:
<a title="Mom to Mom Chat.com - A friendly place to meet for all Moms. Resources, Forums, and more!" href="../index.html"><img src="../images/m2mlogo.jpg" alt="Mom to Mom Chat.com - A friendly place to meet for all Moms. Resources, Forums, and more!" height="68" width="246" border="0">
This also increases a site's accessibility for visitors using screen readers who can't see your images and for those who browse with images turned off.
Additional Notes:
*Not all browsers will handle these attributes in the same way. For example, Explorer and Opera display the TITLE attribute only when both are used. Netscape 6.x browsers won't display the ALT attribute. Use the TITLE attribute to show your keyword text over links and images.
*Be careful not to overdo it or your site could be considered as spamming. Too many keywords on a page, intentionally or not could hurt your page rank.
*Exchanging links with similiar sites is a great way to increase your search engine rankings. Use descriptive text as your link, even if its NOT your site's title or company name. And always use the same URL.
Even though the URL will take you to the same place, stats wise, each different URL variation can be considered a different URL completely.
For example, each of these URLs will bring you to the home page of Mom to Mom Chat.com, but are considered different URLs completey as far as linking is concerned:
http://www.momtomomchat.com
http://momtomomchat.com
http://www.momtomomchat.com/
http://momtomomchat.com/
http://www.momtomomchat.com/index.html
http://momtomomchat.com/index.html
It would be difficult at best to find our way around the Web without links. By incorporating a few simple linking strategies, we can make our sites easier to navigate and even (hopefully) easier for people to find!
Copyright © 2005 Robyn M. Harper
About the Author:
Robyn M. Harper owns and operates RMH Hosting, RMH Web Design, The Brightest Candle Co, and is the Webmaster and partner for Mom to Mom Chat.com. She is a married mother of 2 and enjoys helping Moms get themselves online!
