As we explained it in the description of a quality link, the link context is very important. In the case of PageRank for example, a link between two pages will bring more PageRank if both contexts are identical.
In fact, the context may only be based upon
- the title of the page A linking to page B,
- the anchor text (text used to establish the link within the <A> HTML tag).
Then it is better that page A talks about the same subject as page B, and that the anchor text comprises the best selected keywords for page B. The optimal format of a text link of a site A towards a site B must be the following:
<a href="http://www.siteB.com/pageB.htm"> put here the optimal keywords for site B</a>
When you ask to another webmaster to make a links exchange, give him (her) a code like this one, stuffed with all your keywords (in general the text should be the title of your site).
Do not forget that to optimize the contribution of a link in terms of PageRank, the page which will contain the link to your page must have a good PageRank (let's say more than 4), and must have the least number of links. Check for example that the links page is not orphan, and that it does not contain a META tag prohibiting the crawlers from indexing it...
If you prefer making a banners exchange, the image must contain an ALT attribute with your keywords:
<a href="http://www.siteB.com/pageB.htm">
<img src="thumbnail.png" alt="put here the optimal keywords for site B">
</a>
This directory can be freely re-used by anyone, the most famous of them being Google without any doubt. The Google directory is an adapted version of DMOZ, updated approximately only one time per month, where the sites are ordered according to their PageRank instead of the traditional alphabetical order.
The inscription of your site in DMOZ will have two consequences:
- your site could be found in a research on DMOZ or all the other sites using it, including Google.
- the PageRank of your site should increase, often by one unit (except if you have PageRank of 5 or more).
To be included in DMOZ, browse the categories of the directory, under one sub-category of "World > " according to the language used by your site if it is not english. Once you have found the best category, click on the link "Add URL" in the top right of the page, and follow the instructions.
You must strictly respect the instructions, in particular for the title and description. Otherwise your site is likely not to be approved. Check your spelling, do not put superlatives like "the best site of..." and build a true sentence for the description, which should not be an accumulation of keywords.
You can check on dmoz.org if your site is approved, then on directory.google.com if the directory has been updated. Then finally you may see the category displayed on the Google Toolbar.
Yahoo!, creator of the most famous directory of Internet, still remains a must. An inscription in Yahoo! will have two considerable impacts for your site:
- thanks to the great traffic of Yahoo!, you will obtain regular visits.
- Google seems to attach a larger importance to a link from Yahoo! or DMOZdirectories. It will thus increase appreciably the PageRank of your site.
Before submitting to Yahoo!, read our advices for submitting to DMOZ, or choose to pay your subscription if you are in a hurry (or fortunate!).
