Wikipedia states, “Link popularity is a measure of the quantity and quality of other web sites that link to a specific site on the World Wide Web.” Most folks today understand what link popularity is but what they do not understand is that link popularity is an important factor in the visibility of a web site within the top of the search results. Some search engines even go as far to require at least one or more links coming to a web site, otherwise they will drop it from the index. Google, as an example, uses a special link analysis system to rank web pages.

Since link popularity is such an important component of search engine ranking, it would be very important to look at how link popularity is measured:

The total number of links to your Web site is definitely not just a measure of quantity. Quality of the links can easily outweigh the total number. For example, if a Web site that offers travel information has 5,000 inbound links but the majority of the links have nothing to do with travel, then the algorithm that search engines use to determine link popularity will take that into account lowering the link popularity score. Looking at another travel site that has only 300 inbound links but all the links are related to travel then this travel site will receive a higher link popularity score increasing the rank within search results. To take this one step further, if links are acquired by using link farms or FFA (Free For All) pages, not only will it hurt your search engine ranking, but you might get permanently removed from the search engine listings.

Inbound links from a content source that relate to a Web site’s keywords gets a higher score. For example, if your site is about sports equipment, and another sports equipment website has posted a link to your site, that link is not as valuable as a link to your site coming from an article, blog or a message board where sports equipment is being written or discussed.

An inbound link from anchor text that matches one of the keywords that describes your site also increases your link popularity score. Wikipedia states, “The anchor text or link label is the visible, clickable text in a hyperlink. For example, if a furniture store with “dining room tables” as a keyword has an inbound link from a source with content about furniture, the link popularity score is increased if the source of the inbound link uses anchor text such as “dining room tables.”

A final measure to increase the link popularity score is the diversity and quality of keywords contained on the Web sites linking to you. For example, if you have a site that sells bicycles, and all the links to your site are from other sites that contain nothing but the keyword “bicycles,” this is considered to be irregular and can hurt the link popularity score. To get a higher score, it is best to have links coming from sites that contain an assortment of keywords related to bicycles, such as bicycle accessories, buy bicycles, bicycle rentals, etc…

Now that you are more aware of how your link popularity score is measured, it is time to put a plan in place to improve your score. Consider reviewing your current inbounds links for quality of the link related to the content and keywords for your Web site. Also consider writing articles and posting to a blog or forums that contain information that is related to your site. When you post, include an anchor text link to your site. Increasing your link popularity score will not happen overnight but if you stay diligent and persistent you will begin to see the effects of how your link popularity score is measured.