Using the Link Colon
It would probably be an understatement to say that links have an enormous impact on search engine optimization. Building and managing inlinks is a significant duty of a website owner or manager. Thankfully, there is a quick and easy method for checking links. It's called a link colon. In this post, I'll explain how we can check the backlinks for any site.
Let's use Submitawebsite.com as an example. A link colon search will check the total number of web pages that are currently linking to the domain www.submitawebsite.com. To perform a link colon, go to Yahoo! (http://www.yahoo.com/). In the search box, type in link:www.submitawebsite.com and hit enter (be sure there are no spaces after the colon). You'll find a listing in the top right that displays inlinks. When I conduct this search for http://www.submitawebsite.com/ I see Inlinks 1-50 of about 48,088. Notice that there is a drop down box above the results. In the drop down menu, select show inlinks Except from this domain. This will exclude any internal links of Submitawebsite. When I do this, the tally drops to 47,803. The result indicates the total number of web pages that have a link to Submitawebsite.com. You can check the backlinks for any site. Now try it for your own site. In Yahoo's search box type in link:www.yoursite.com.
The results near the top are the strongest links. That's great because stronger links have a large impact on search placement – and we need to know which links are the most important. Strong links tend to be from a page with a high Google Page Rank or from a very trusted and well respected domain. One very good link can be worth more than a hundred of weaker links.
Clicking on a result will take you to the page that is linking to your site. You many have to do a bit of searching before you find the actual link, but it is usually found fairly quickly (there is a chance that the link has been removed since it was discovered and indexed by Yahoo). It's also possible to do a link colon on Google and MSN, but those search engines don't reveal the majority of their links. For that matter, neither does Yahoo!, but they do reveal nearly all of their indexed links and far more than the other engines.
Now that you know how to check you backlinks you should begin to manage them. Keep track of your best and strongest links. Fortify the relationships you have with linking website to keep links intact. Links get stronger with age, so it's important that you maintain your oldest and best links. Also, you should be attempting to grow your links. Set monthly goals to increase the quantity and quality of your inlinks. Search engines want to see link growth, so try to show growth on a monthly basis. It's a good idea to set aside fifteen minutes a day for link farming. Find a relevant and informative site to your industry and email them with a request for a link. You may also find it helpful to do a link colon on your main competitors. You'll be able to judge their online strength relative to yours. It may help explain why you outrank them, or why they outrank you.
The link colon is perhaps the most useful tool when it comes to search engine optimization. Keep using it and keep building your links!
Let's use Submitawebsite.com as an example. A link colon search will check the total number of web pages that are currently linking to the domain www.submitawebsite.com. To perform a link colon, go to Yahoo! (http://www.yahoo.com/). In the search box, type in link:www.submitawebsite.com and hit enter (be sure there are no spaces after the colon). You'll find a listing in the top right that displays inlinks. When I conduct this search for http://www.submitawebsite.com/ I see Inlinks 1-50 of about 48,088. Notice that there is a drop down box above the results. In the drop down menu, select show inlinks Except from this domain. This will exclude any internal links of Submitawebsite. When I do this, the tally drops to 47,803. The result indicates the total number of web pages that have a link to Submitawebsite.com. You can check the backlinks for any site. Now try it for your own site. In Yahoo's search box type in link:www.yoursite.com.
The results near the top are the strongest links. That's great because stronger links have a large impact on search placement – and we need to know which links are the most important. Strong links tend to be from a page with a high Google Page Rank or from a very trusted and well respected domain. One very good link can be worth more than a hundred of weaker links.
Clicking on a result will take you to the page that is linking to your site. You many have to do a bit of searching before you find the actual link, but it is usually found fairly quickly (there is a chance that the link has been removed since it was discovered and indexed by Yahoo). It's also possible to do a link colon on Google and MSN, but those search engines don't reveal the majority of their links. For that matter, neither does Yahoo!, but they do reveal nearly all of their indexed links and far more than the other engines.
Now that you know how to check you backlinks you should begin to manage them. Keep track of your best and strongest links. Fortify the relationships you have with linking website to keep links intact. Links get stronger with age, so it's important that you maintain your oldest and best links. Also, you should be attempting to grow your links. Set monthly goals to increase the quantity and quality of your inlinks. Search engines want to see link growth, so try to show growth on a monthly basis. It's a good idea to set aside fifteen minutes a day for link farming. Find a relevant and informative site to your industry and email them with a request for a link. You may also find it helpful to do a link colon on your main competitors. You'll be able to judge their online strength relative to yours. It may help explain why you outrank them, or why they outrank you.
The link colon is perhaps the most useful tool when it comes to search engine optimization. Keep using it and keep building your links!
posted by Patrick Knauer at
5:03 PM
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