Weekly SEO news: 9 September 2008
Welcome to the latest issue of the Search Engine Facts newsletter.

This week, we're telling you how to convince other webmasters to link to your website. There are a few tricks that will help you to get better results.

In the news: the good, the bad and the ugly of Google's Chrome browser, Google starts a satellite that can make high-resolution pictures and more.

Table of contents:

We hope that you enjoy this newsletter and that it helps you to get more out of your website. Please pass this newsletter on to your friends.

Best regards,
Andre Voget, Johannes Selbach, Axandra CEO

1. How to convince webmasters that they should link to your site

Suppose that you have a great website with great content. Your web pages are perfectly optimized for visitors and search engines and you have found many related websites that could link to your site.

How do you convince these websites that they should link to your website? Here are five tips that will help you to convince other webmasters.

1. Offer something in return

The easiest thing that you could offer is a link in return. However, not all webmasters want to exchange links.

There are many things that you could offer in exchange for a link. This could be a discount for your products, an ad on your website or even a simple hint.

If you find a broken link on a website, inform the webmaster about the link. Tell him that your own website might be a good replacement for the broken link (if it is).

2. Ask your current link partners

If another website already links to you then they might add another link to a different page on your website.

Getting a second link from existing link partners is much easier than getting new links because you don't have to explain yourself anymore. The other webmaster already knows you and your site.

3. Make friends with people from your industry

Networking can help you to get links to your website. This works best with blogs that are related to your website.

Contact the blog owners and compliment on their sites. Do not ask for a link in your first contact. When you've a good relationship with the blog owner, you might inform him about a new product or a new article that you've written.

Chances are that you'll get a link from the blog then. These links from related blogs have a great impact on the position of your website in Google's search results. IBP can help you to find blogs that are related to your website.

4. Show that other webmasters already linked to your website

It's easier for people to do something if they see that other people have done the same thing before. If many other websites link to your website, you could mention this in your link request.

If a well known website mentioned your site, that's even better: "As you might have seen on NYTimes.com, we've published a new product. This might be interesting to the visitors of your website."

5. Offer something that other people don't have

This is the easiest way to get links. If you have a report with ground-breaking new information or something other that's very interesting and only available on your website then it will be very easy to get links to the page that contains that information.

Getting links from other websites isn't difficult if you know how to do it. Further information about link building can be found in our free SEO book. The book explains everything you need to know to get links from related websites, Internet directories and other sources.

Back to table of contents - Visit Axandra.com

2. Search engine news and articles of the week

Google ChromeGoogle Chrome receives heavy criticism in Germany

"The Federal Office for Information Security warned Internet users of the new browser Chrome. The application by the company Google should not be used for surfing the Internet [...] It was said to be risky that user data is hoarded with a single vendor. With its search engine, email program and the new browser, Google now covers all important areas on the Internet."

Related: Chrome is a security nightmare, indexes your bank accounts, Google Chrome bait and switch?, When does Google Chrome talk to Google.com?



Google Chrome reviews

"In terms of reviews, Chrome is pretty good, as a 1.0 product. And since it's building on the same base WebKit as Apple's Safari browser, you could argue that it's already a 2.0 product. Still, it's not likely a coincidence that Chrome was released around the same time as IE 8.0."



Private domain registration does not influence your Google rankings

"The use of a domain name privacy feature generally does not influence crawling, indexing or ranking of a website. [...] Using a privacy service is fine if you still get those emails and get any calls forwarded. Inaccurate or incomplete whois data can be the basis for having a domain name taken away from you - so make sure that you're not listed as living at 1060 West Addison."



Google now shows the geographic location of clicks

"This report provides you with an understanding of the geographic distribution of your impressions, clicks, and conversions down to the ad group level. Do you know if you're getting more clicks from snowy Juneau, Alaska, or sunny Miami, Florida? Now you can find out."



Google-focused satellite enters orbit Google Satellite

"The GeoEye-1 satellite that launched into orbit Saturday is on a mission from Google. The GeoEye-1 will zip around the Earth at about 4.5 miles per second, taking both color and black-and-white images from a distance of 423 miles. Its camera can distinguish objects on the ground as small as 16 inches in size."



Search engine newslets

  • Google now digitizes newspapers.
  • At 10-year mark, Google's glossy facade shows cracks.
  • Google starts the Googler for a day competition.
  • Big marketers challenge Google-Yahoo deal.
  • Revamped Google Picasa site identifies photo faces.
  • Google cedes Belgium to Germany.
  • Google Chrome changes how Yahoo Publisher Network ads are displayed.
  • Google v.s. Hakia.com.
  • Google at age 10.

Back to table of contents - Visit Axandra.com

3. Success stories

"IBP has really helped the success of our website."

"For over eight years I have worked to build the most ethical, legal, moral, proficient website of it type in regards to publishing books.

Without the software we purchased from Axandra would could never ever achieved the rankings we have on all our search terms or keywords with all the major search engines.

To this day I have never come across a web designer etc. who has subsequently not been overwhelmed at what the Axandra system can do to promote a website, if the person using the software simply follows Axandra's guides, advise and tips."
Graham Cook, www.writersworld.co.uk


Share your success story with us

Let us know how IBP has helped you to improve your website and we might publish your success story with a link to your website in this newsletter. The more detailed your story is, the better.



The IBP manual is now available as a book

SEO bookThe IBP manual is now available as a paperback book. In addition to information about how to work with IBP, it explains everything you need to know to get your website to the top of the search engines.

You can download the manual for free by clicking the "PDF" link in the "Help" panel in IBP's main window or you can buy a hard copy of the book here.

Back to table of contents - Visit Axandra.com

4. Previous articles

Back to table of contents - Visit Axandra.com

Do you have a minute?