A website’s link popularity, often called “Link Pop“, can be determined by the quality, quantity, and relevance of the other websites that link to its page.

What is Google PR?

“Page Rank“, sometime abbreviated PR, was developed by Google’s founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin.  Here is how Google describes the Page Rank system: PageRank relies on the uniquely democratic nature of the web by using its vast link structure as an indicator of an individual page’s value. In essence, Google interprets a link from page A to page B as a vote, by page A, for page B. But, Google looks at more than the sheer volume of votes, or links a page receives; it also analyzes the page that casts the vote. Votes cast by pages that are  themselves “important” weigh more heavily and help to make other pages “important.” Everything You Need to Know About Links

The best kind of link is an “Inbound Link“. An Inbound Link basically means another site links to your site. This generally happens because the webmaster of the site considers that the information on your site is valuable to his or her readers. Your page ranking will improve significantly if the website has a higher page ranking than yours and if there is obvious relevance between the two sites. 

An “Outbound Link” means that your site offers a link to another site. Outbound links don’t hurt your popularity if they are relevant sites, but they don’t necessarily help.

Then we have “Reciprocal” and “Non-Reciprocal” links. A reciprocal link means that two sites connect to each other. A non-reciprocal link is a one-way link. Search engines are able to tell the difference between reciprocal and non-reciprocal links. Obviously non-reciprocal links are more credible because there is no direct benefit to the linker, and will thus increase your link popularity.

In order to create “link pop,” you should focus on creating as many inbound non-reciprocal links as possible. One of the best ways to do this is through link directories. 

The Importance of Link Directories

Essentially, a link directory provides its users with a collection of links organized by topic. There are thousands of directories to choose from. DMOZ and Yahoo! are the most heavily weighted. 

Directories exist solely to provide users with valuable resources. They are edited and organized by humans, so appearing in a directory can be a measure of a site’s worth. If your website is listed, it is viewed by users as a credible  source.

It is important to get your link on as many directories as you can. There are two benefits. It will generate targeted traffic to your site, and it will improve your page ranking. Once your website has circulated through a few popular directories, you can watch your web sales shoot through the roof!