Links make the internet go around.  They’re the roadways that guide us to new sites, to new resources, and to new opportunities to engage, interact and learn.

But we’re not the only ones who draw guidance from the many links scattered around the net.  Search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing rely on links to guide them in many ways.

A great example of this is Google’s index and Page Rank system.  Page Rank is one of the factors that helps determine how important a page is compared to other pages on similar topics.  Google creates Page Rank for sites based on the quantity, quality and content of the links pointing to a given page.  Let’s consider those three factors for just a moment.

• Quantity: Volume is important. Every link to your web page is like a vote telling Google that another webmaster favors you.
• Quality: Not all links are created equal. Just one link from a PR 5 site is worth many links from a PR 1 site.
• Content: Links from sites with similar content help Google further determine the value of your page on that subject.

Check out the following statement:

If you click here, you’ll find another amazing website called Blogussion which provides great tips and advice to bloggers.

Notice the link at the beginning of the statement that points to Blogussion’s home page.  The text click here is the text that Google uses as it works to figure out what a page is about.  As a result of that link, Google might as well figure that their site is abut clicking here. It’s common sense to each of us that Bloggussion probably has nothing to do with clicking here and yet many of us are linking to other websites in the same way.

Now let’s revise our sample statement above to improve the quality of our outbound link:

If you’re looking for an amazing website that provides quality blogging tips and advice then you should definitely check out Blogussion.

This improved style of linking will accomplish two main things.  First, it will allow Google a more advanced idea of what their website is all about.  Second, it will allow Google a more detailed idea what your site is about as it calculates the type of resources you are linking to.

It’s also important to note that you can use this same technique to link to external resources and to link to other resources within your own site.

Group Reflection:

Are you linking to other websites and resources with generic, worthless links or are you maximizing the potential of every link on your site?  What about your own links? Are you linking to your other articles and resources with high quality text or with generic labels?

P.S. If you’re not already an active reader of Blogussion, I highly recommend you check them out. They provide some tremendous blogging advice and best practices.

See how I did that?