When you think about search engine optimization, you probably think about keywords, including density and placement, in your content. Of course, those keywords are an important part of your efforts but they are not the only element of search engine optimization you need to be concerned about.

Another way to increase your site's rankings in search engines is to focus on links.

Adding Outbound Links

In the early days of web sites, it was common for people to add a separate Links page which suggested other sites visitors might want to visit. Often these links were added because of some type of payment exchange. The bad news for these people is that those links were useless for search engine optimization and really didn't generate much traffic to those other sites.

That doesn't mean you shouldn't add links to your sites. In fact, you should have plenty of links on your site but these should be naturally incorporated into your content. For example, if you sell life insurance and you want your visitors to know the cost of funeral expenses today you could add a link to that information on a reputable site.

Some site owners get angry about the idea of adding links to their pages because they don't understand the purpose. They fear the links will take visitors off their site and they'll never return. That's only the case if you don't have anything to offer those visitors. That link to useful, up-to-date information, however, proves that you do have plenty to offer visitors and that you are committed to providing reliable data. Because the information supports your statements, it also boosts your credibility.

Adding Inbound Links

Outbound links are easy to add because you can pick and choose those links. However, if you really want solid search engine optimization rankings then you need to also have a number of inbound links, preferably from quality sites.

What you don't want is to use so-called link farms. These are services where you can pay a price and links to your site will be placed on other sites. Generally, these links are completely worthless. They are just thrown onto sites that area already full of hundreds of links to other sites. Unfortunately, most search engines are concerned with the quality of the sites which contain links to your site.

If you're wondering how to gain these inbound links, there are a few ways. For one, you can simply provide great information that people will want to link to because it's useful and up-to-date. However, it can take awhile for that to produce results. Another way is to engage in link exchanges with other legitimate sites, particularly sites that may appeal to a similar audience but which are not in direct competition with you. For example, if you sell books on dog training then you might exchange links with a site that sells dog toys or dog food.

Another idea is to do nice things for organizations, such as non-profits and schools, and request only a link to your site on their web site in return. That way your good deed will pay off for your search engine optimization.