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Link Popularity Plays A Vital Role.

Link popularity is definitely a ranking factor. The theory is that if a web page links to another page, the receiving page must be important and therefore deserves a ranking boost. Link popularity measures the degree of accumulated value of incoming links to a particular page. Every link is a "vote" from the "sending" page to the "receiving" page.

All "votes" are not created equal. A link from a web page that itself has high link popularity will transfer greater link value than a page with lower popularity. For example?Microsoft.com is an extremely popular site with over 135,000 web pages linking to its index page. If you were fortunate enough to receive a link from Microsoft to your website, it would be exponentially more valuable than a link from Joe's Joespizza.com (fictional).

The Link Popularity System Makes Sense

In the pure sense, link popularity measurement seems to be logical. As a legitimate "source recommendation", a web page would naturally link to a quality informative web page rather than a bad one. However, the system, which intends to assure relevancy results, is not without controversy because there are many ways to artificially inflate one's link popularity. Including "link farms" whose only purpose is to inflate the popularity of "farm participants".


The search engines are now implementing "filters" to detect "link spamming". When detected, an engine may disregard "fraudulent links" and may even apply a severe spam penalty which is difficult to overcome.


The Importance of Link Popularity

Search engine optimization consultants widely disagree on the contributive value of link popularity to higher ranking. Some think it is a powerful factor while others think it doesn't play a vital role at all.

Based upon proven results, research and case study testing, we strongly believe that link popularity can make a significant contribution to higher ranking. The higher ranked web pages, particularly for competitive search terms, will generally have greater link popularity than lower ranked pages. This is particularly true of Google rankings.

A well-optimized web page can achieve high ranking with relatively low link popularity. But, a poorly optimized web page will generally require a high link popularity to overcome optimization deficiency. With all else being equal, the page with the highest link popularity will gain the ranking advantage.

Link Popularity Campaign Strategy

Building link popularity must be an ongoing strategy if you expect to be continually moving up in the rankings. Staying ahead of your competition requires a dedicated effort.