Continued from page 1
Next, I visit one of 6 sites listed as a resource in Anywhere, USA. I find local address, and it has same zip code as pizza site I was just at. Now I know how these two sites are related to each other.
Taking into account fact that this local pizza shop has also linked to major pizza chains, as spider, I am lead to believe that this shop has relevancy to zip code of Anywhere, USA.
So, as spider returns information to database to be processed in algorithm, it has pre-sorted some search results based on links your site points to.
Another benefit of outbound linking is Geo Targeting, or Local search. There is a lot of speculation that local search is next big trend in Search Marketing. While only time will tell, it won't hurt to have your physical address listed on your website for those who will be embracing local search.
As an experiment, I created a site with a very unique url (to avoid possibility of people finding it by accident), and I made it only 1 page long. The only thing page consisted of were 80+ outbound links to relevant sites in SEO industry, tools, forums and some tutorials. When PageRank was first updated for site, it came out of box with a PR of 3. It has since fallen to a PR of 2 (now that I’ve pointed a few sites to it!).
The whole point of this experiment was to see how outbound links affect your own rankings of your site. I was able to generate a PR of 2 based entirely on linking to authority sites in SEO industry. So, take time to link to some relevant sites, big names (if any), and enjoy power of easy, outbound link.
-To your online success!
Paul Bliss
Paul Bliss is a leading authority in the emerging field of search engine optimization. Paul has more than four years experience in the field and has produced some truly amazing results. Email Paul at pbliss@seoforgoogle.com or visit his site at: http://www.seoforgoogle.com