You have to be aware of and serious about linking strategies if you are adamant about a great ranking on google. There are innumerable ways of obtaining links. Our focus will be on strategies which are free or low cost, fast and provide the very best output. I will recommend three tactics that will push you to the top of the lot in google before you can blink your eyes.

We shall start off with obtaining incoming links from various directories. Google attaches great importance to links from directories because google looks at them as forms of endorsement. Some of the popular or not so popular directories are yahoo and DMOZ.org i.e. the open directory project. They power most of the search engines like google. No directory is similar and for getting links to sites they offer various kinds of options. Featured below is a list of the different ways in which various directories link to different sites:

FEATURED HOMEPAGE LINK
On the homepage of a website you will find this link featured. It will cost you a bomb!

FEATURED LINK
If you pay the stipulated fee your link will grab a premium spot.

RECIPROCAL LINK
You have to first link to the directory. Only then will they link back.

PAID SUBMISSIONS
If you shell out the stipulated fee, the link that you have submitted will be reviewed and the page will possibly be listed. They might charge you an annually recurring fee or pay in installments. Yahoo will charge a whopping $300 to review a commercial site.

FREE SUBMISSION
Yes, it is free. And they are not taking you for a ride. Submit your link to DMOZ. It is the best. Yahoo search, AOL, GOOGLE are all powered by it. However submission guidelines should be strictly followed and carefully choose the most suitable subcategory to include your link.

Yahoo in spite of being so expensive and the most popular cannot be called the best in any way. If you list yourself with DMOZ, you will be more benefited than if you list yourself with the damn expensive yahoo, and to top it all, DMOZ is free! Yahoo’s popularity can be attributed to its being a directory that is frequented by people. Whereas, search engines account for the popularity of DMOZ and the latter is more value for worth. Being nominated by DMOZ is a great thing.

TOP 5 DIRECTORIES
Apart from DMOZ.COM, there are four other top directories where you can enlist for free like visitalink.com, getlistedrightnow.com, domaining.in and directoryvault.com. Affordable expedited listing services are also offered by some of them, as well as featured listings.

An updated list of directories can be found in one site, but all these directories do not offer free enlistment. You have to check all of them individually to see which ones are free.

THE PROCESS

1- First Visit TopWebSiteTips.com

2- Next Scroll down to the bottom of the webpage till you reach the drop down box

3- Thirdly Choose the google PR you like

4- Then Search

5- Fifthly , Click on the general directories only box after 1st return set if you want to do away with niche directories that will be displayed in the results

6-Finally Rerun the search

You can also avail yourself of the paid submission service to make the major directories enlist your site. However this doesn’t come free and will cost you some money. Check out that they do the following:

1- They are submitting it only manually.

2- Verify to see whether your site is already enlisted or not

3- They have to provide you with proof of submission [screen captures generally]

SEONext offers an extremely viable directory submission service but you can check out on google to see if there are others. There are many in fact and many of them are pretty good. The slow submission service that they offer makes the process of creating links appear even more natural to various search engines including google.

Conventional reciprocal link campaigns can be a tad slow if lacking in automated software, but it is the best way to obtain quality links.

TEN STEPS FOR RECIPROCAL LINKING CAMPAIGN

1- you have to first enlist the important attention grabbing keywords

2- using the customization tips given at the end, prepare a standard letter which you can easily customize for the various sites

3- run searches on google for all the keywords. Note the matching URL for each

4- from the list strike out direct rivals

5- run a check through your list. Each site has its contact information. Jot them down properly.

6- build links to all the pages from which you want to obtain links. It is not the homepage however. It should be from that page on your website that is most suitable. Limit yourself to a maximum of ten outgoing links per page. Remember, less is more.

7- customize the email. Outline the considerations below. Send the mail

8- you should verify the back links given

9- if there is any outgoing link that does not reciprocate within 30 days, strike it out

10- every fortnight, check your incoming links. Conduct another check to see whether you have been relegated to a not so viable page by the people linking to you and whether you are still receiving the links you were promised or not.