Building Links - No real easy solution

Over the years Google has been improving it's algorithms to make sure they get the best results for it's surfers. Much of their new algorithm is based on how many links you have to your site. The reason for this, is Google figures that if you have a good content on your site people will naturally link to it.

This is an absolute nightmare for self catering owners as your website will probably be quite small and won't attract many links. Also many owners don't want to link to someone else's website as they may loose valuable bookings.

Many website owners have resorted to reciprocal linking, which is when two websites swap links. Again Google is aware of this and discounts how much a reciprocal link is worth. So how do you then compete against agents and directories, well in short, it's difficult to battle with them head on. The trick is to work with good local sites first and then work your way out.

Good local sites in your area maybe a golf courses, outdoor activity centres, castles etc. These types are sites are happy to promote local accommodation as it helps sell their services if accommodation close by.

Things to avoid:

• Avoid just linking with just any website. Google likes links from sites that are related in some fashion. For example you are much better getting a local golf course to link to you than a car hire company in Florida.
• Use the keywords in your Anchor text. Try not to use just your website e.g. www.selfcatering-scotland.net much better to link from Self Catering Scotland This helps tell Google what your site is about.
  
• Don't join these link buying schemes, or at least be very careful. I have learnt this the hard way, Google has caught onto these types of schemes and has been known to penalise websites that take part in it.
• Page Rank (PR) can also be a bit of a myth, don't just link from a site because the page has a high PR. Many directories have been concentrating on this try to increase their PR so they can charge people to be on their site. If the site has little to do with self catering, Scotland or travel you are better of putting your hard earned cash somewhere else.
• Sneaky tactics - many Self catering directories don't allow you to link direct to your website through HREF. Many use frames or Java Scripts which can stop search engines following the links hence stopping any value reaching your site. (Don't get me wrong directories still play a part in generating business, but don't rely on them improving your site's ranking).
• Another couple reasons directories can be a pain in the rear end, if you write content for the directory you are in fact helping them move up the search engines. To compound the effect, if the directory is not link out properly to your website then they are keeping all the value of their site to themselves. This is where the 2nd issue may occur, if you have just copied and pasted the content from your site into the directory this can cause a duplicate content issue. Google will not show two pages with the same content, it will only show one, Google will decide which page is more likely to be better. 9 times out of 10 the directory will have more authority than your site because it probably has 1000's of pages. So the danger is your site could suffer and the directory does better and starts to appear in Google for search terms you would expect your site to appear for.
  

Will continue...