While most SEOs will tell you that links are extremely important, most small business owners really don’t have any idea of why links matter beyond the simple concept that links will help them rank better.

Jennifer Laycock of Search Engine Guide has recently published a new series of articles entitled Why Links Matter – that examines why links do matter so much to both search engines and to Internet users.

In part one, Jennifer raises the concept of links as the “threads of the web”, helping both search engines and humans find their way from one site to another :

Links Are the Internet’s Road Map
Perhaps the single most important reason why links matter is because they act as a sort of road map to the content on the Internet….

In the early days of the World Wide Web, links were the ONLY way to get from point A to point B. Since there were no search engines you had to rely on people to make note of good sites and to add links to them to their own sites. Once the first major search engine with a “crawler” or “spider” popped up in 1994 it didn’t take long before search engine programmers realized that following links was the most efficient way to find and index new sites.

By the early part of the 2000’s Search Engines were beginning to realise that a site with no incoming links probably didn’t contain valuable enough content to be worth indexing anyway. These days links are essential to making sure that the popular search engines will both find and index all of the pages on your web site. In fact, without links, your site might as well not even exist as far as organic search is concerned.

Why Do Search Engines Need to Follow Links?
It’s important to understand that search engine spiders simply do what they are programmed to do. They aren’t capable of thought or independent action. That means that search engines are unable to visit sites by typing in URLs that they’ve seen on television or by running searches for whatever query strike their fancy. As such, they must rely on links to help them find their way from one site to another.

This is why a good link building campaign will help your site get indexed more quickly and more completely by the major search engines. Spider-based search engines such as Google, Yahoo! and MSN find new sites to include in their indexes by following links from one site to the next.

By working on building links to your Web site from other spidered sites, you’ll eventually receive a visit to your site from one of these spiders and will find your site listed in the most popular search engines.

It’s also why links are essential to the indexing process.

The more links you gain, the more quickly you will be indexed. In fact, the more links you have and the more search engines begin to recognise you as an authority in your topical area, the more often the search engines will visit you and the more time they will spend digging through your site to make sure they’ve included all of your pages.

So, you may have a fabulous site, full of great information and content… but if no-one links to you, chances are the search engines (and by extension just about everyone else) will never find you…

Link building has been critical component of the online marketing mix since the first commercial sites and Internet resources originated.

As search engine optimisation has evolved over the past decade or so, links have become fundamental to defining the value of a site. Whether links are obtained via the old fashioned email request, building or buying relevant authority sites, directory listings, blog comment participation, and the recent phenomena or link baiting; link building has become an important, sometimes frustrating, and ometimes entertaining challenge for SEO’s.

Some of the most valued links can be obtained via payment, and many successful SEO campaigns begin with buying links or paying for editorial review.

Before there were search engines, there were Internet directories. Yahoo, MSN, LookSmart and Netscape have all been involved in the directory business at one time or another, and directories can be an effective way to define a site’s niche while generating some valuable links.

Netscape’s Open Directory Project (DMOZ) took the ‘free’ approach of having volunteer editors review directory submittals, but the realistic business model of paying editors to review the quality of directory listings can assure a fast and efficient turn around.

Below is a list of a number of valued web directories which you can submit your site to and have that listing reviewed (and hopefully approved) in a relatively prompt fashion (all prices are in US$):

1. Yahoo! Directory : The most popular and possibly oldest web directory still lists and reviews sites on an annual basis and these listings are long term traffic generators. $299 per year.

2. Best of the Web : Another older and well used web directory which takes pride in the listing and categorisation of quality web sites. $69.95 per year or $199.95 lifetime.

3. Business.com : A proven and well priced directory of business, both brick & mortar or online. $199 first year, $149 to renew.

4. Aviva Directory : One of the newer directories in this list, Aviva has built its reputation with Web 2.0 oriented marketing, link baiting and blogging. It’s a sleek and well thought out directory which your site should be listed in. $34.95 review fee.

5. RubberStamped : offers a clean, user-friendly, up-to-date directory that features human reviewed sites. $29.95 review fee.

6. JoeAnt : Like Best of the Web, Joe Ant is an older and valued directory which is a hybrid of paid and volunteer editing. $39.99 review fee.

7. Gimpsy : Very similar to JoeAnt, this is also an authority directory and excellent for link building. $40 review fee.

8. GoGuides.org : Because all submissions are human reviewedGoGuide is considered a trusted source for finding quality spam free content by the major search engines. $69.95 review fee.

9. Umdum Directory : Umdum receives high traffic, has over 100,000 inbound links, has been well received by the SEO industry and is growing daily. $40.00 review fee.

There are many, many other valued web directories out there which offer paid express reviews. More can be found via resources like Search Engine Colossus , Paid Directories and SEOCompany.ca.

There is also a very wortwhile list of some of the Strongest Directories (based on the page strength tool at SEOMoz) compiled by Aviva Directory.

Note : A good number of web directories offer featured or sponsored listings which will list up to two or three sites at the top of the directory categories, above all other directory listings. Listings such as these can be very valuable in terms of traffic generation and building your site’s reputation and authority.

Updating your pages frequently is one way of encouraging regular visits by search engine spiders, and News sites and blogs, where the content of the site changes on a regular basis, can expect more frequent crawling. However simple updates it’s insiginificant in terms of your ranking compared to the effect quality inbound links will have.

The point is not to get Google to crawl your site as often as possible, but to build links to your pages that tell Google your pages are important enough to keep in the main index (and out of the supplemental index). From that perspective, regularly updating your pages is not a critical ranking factor. Automatically streaming RSS feeds onto your pages in order to make Google think your pages are being updated is mostly useless in terms of getting regularly indexed.

The Rise of Deeplinks

So how do you keep Google coming back and indexing your pages on a regular basis? Simple: You need links to those pages. Getting links to your homepage is not enough. If you want your pages to stay in Google’s main index, you’ll need some quality links pointing directly at those pages.

You don’t need an external link pointing at every page on your site, but making sure your most important pages get some links of their own is a very good idea.

And forget about link popularity. These days, getting lots of little links through traditional methods (reciprocal link swapping, submitting to large numbers of directories) is mostly just a ticket to the Google Sandbox for new sites and a waste of time for older sites.

The key to ranking in Google is not link quantity, but link quality. A small number of legitimate, high-quality links can have an amazingly positive effect on a page’s rankings. And the most effective links are built by creating viral content and networking with other related businesses.

A less labor-intensive approach to link building is to go after some free authoritative links. What’s important is that you determine which pages on your site are bringing in the most money and point quality links at those pages so you don’t lose them to the supplemental index.

If your money pages aren’t link-worthy (if they’re just product listings, for example) and you’re having trouble getting links to them, then create some valuable content on your site that can build links. Once those content pages have built up some strong incoming links of their own, then link them to your money pages.

And when implementing your link-building campaign don’t just focus on links to your home page, but make sure that you also get some deep links to other key pages in your site.

For many site owners, link building is a drag. It’s just another thing that “has to be done” in order to build and grow their site. Most are looking for quick and easy link building methods because they consider it to be a necessary SEO evil instead of a long-term marketing opportunity.

In a recent article on Search Engine Land, Debra Mastaler discussed three highly effective tactics anyone can use to jump-start linking efforts.

Debra describes the following Link Building Strategies :

Refer & Recommend.. Getting recommendations and endorsements from highly visible industry experts almost eliminates the necessity of selling yourself and is the epitome of getting business in general to link to you. When you look at it from this point of view it makes sense to focus your efforts on getting links from the power players in your niche rather than chasing down reciprocal links or buying site-wide ads. Consider creating a company advisory board and invite the movers and shakers of your industry to be part of it. Tap into the collective business knowledge and link power these people hold.

Show and Tell. Whether you offer a service or product, dangle a carrot and give away something of value in exchange for the link. Step away from the mindset that you have to swap a link for a link and offer a free or lite version of your product as the incentive instead.

Expose Yourself. Now, now, not that kind of exposure! I mean the type of editorial exposure you get when you work the media. Explore alternative angles in addition to doing the standard press release submission. Write a letter to the editor of a newspaper, podcast, blog, periodical or trade publication in your niche about an issue that’s relevant to your business. Editors who are presented with well written cogent pieces will most likely reprint the piece and/or link to you in response. After all, everyone wants good content these days so make sure it’s yours their getting!

Link building is like anything else worth having— if you want the good stuff, you have to work for it. No matter what marketing strategy you use, it’s the passion and drive you have for your products and business that will be the single greatest element in attracting links to your website.