By now, most webmasters know that link popularity is single most important factor in driving top search engine rankings. But did you know that some some links can actually kill your search engine rankings?

The importance of links has led to creation of "links programs" such as LinksToYou and others. If you're already in a links program, hold on to your hat, because I've got bad news for you.

How Links Programs Work: In a links program, every member of program uploads a page or pages to their website. These pages carry links to other program participants' websites.

Why They Don't Help Search Engine Rankings: All of major search engines are aware of these programs, and most of them use automated processes to weed out "identical" pages. Even if a search engine recognizes link, they won't give it much weight.

How Links Programs Can Kill Your Business: The most popular search engine in world today is Google. In late 2000, Google began a systematic campaign of permanently removing links program participants from their index. Altavista has begun a similar program, although recent problems kept them from executing it.

Don't operators of links programs know all this? Of course they do, yet they continue to operate and proliferate. Tobacco companies know cigarettes kill people, yet they continue to sell them. I'm sure both would tout "benefits" of their product as a justification.

What To Do If You're In A Links Program: First, immediately remove all of program's pages from your site. Second, remove all links they had you set up on your other pages. Third, if possible, cancel your membership... then get to work creating some legitimate link popularity.

Creating True Link Popularity If you want your site to have lasting popularity and relevance with search engines, you need links from related sites. Dedicate 10 minutes a day to locating and contacting other webmasters to swap links, adding your site to directories, and publishing articles in your area of expertise.

So I navigated to Yahoo, typed in keyword, and gasped. The trusty Yahoo search ranking page we had come to know and love (because our site was ranked #1) was gone! It had been replaced by what appeared to be a normal, non-categorized search listing like you would find at most other search engines. And more importantly, our site was no longer on top of that list!

By now you probably know that Yahoo has changed way that it delivers search results. The old way, of showing a page of categories (Business and Economy > Business to Business > Construction > Metals) in response to a search has been replaced. Visitors now see a few one-line category links followed by a list of sites that rank well against that search term.

What does this mean for Internet Marketers? First, it probably means that your site has changed in ranking on Yahoo. You might be lucky and your site is in much better position now than it used to be. But you also may not even show up in listing, especially if your success was based on having an alphabetically-prominent company name (Yahoo used to list sites alphabetically).

Second, it means that search engine battleground has probably changed yet again. Yahoo currently represents about half of all searches on net. My prediction (and I’m sure Yahoo’s hope) is that since this change makes information easier to find, it is going to make them significantly more popular, resulting in greater market share, and hence more searches, going through Yahoo in future. (I’ve already called my broker…)

Keys To Ranking High on New Yahoo!:

The formula for getting ranked high on Yahoo used to be one of easiest to understand in search directory/engine world. Now that formula’s not so obvious, and more importantly, it may become a moving target, just like most of other search engines. What works well this week, possibly won’t next. But that’s life!

In spite of that, it’s fairly clear that Yahoo will be utilizing several factors in their equation to determine what comes up first in their ranking. Keep these in mind as you register new sites:

1. Presence in their database. They won’t list you if you’re not there! So if you haven’t done it yet, get off your duff, dust off your credit card, and fork over $299 to get your site listed. You can’t afford not to, period!

2. Presence of keyword in your URL, Yahoo title and Yahoo description. Yahoo still doesn’t appear to be ranking their search results based on page content of your site itself, but rather by information in title, description and URL that is listed in their database for your site. Your site must provide valuable information to be accepted into Yahoo directory, but when it comes to determining who gets ranked first on any given search, it’s words in titles, descriptions and URLs that determine ranking order, not actual copy on your site.

Ideally, keyword that people will most likely find you under will be listed in your URL, your company name (which Yahoo will use for title of your site in their listing) and right at beginning of your site’s description on their database. For example:

http:compostmakers.com Compost Makers Inc. Compost makers, tools, and equipment for making your garden healthy

will score considerably better for a search on “compost makers” than would http:gardenstuff.com Bob’s Hardware Store Compost makers, tools, and equipment for making your garden healthy