The world of search engine optimization for persons new to the game can be confusing and mysterious. Building a marketing campaign through the use of an Internet marketing technique such as linking can sometimes cause more harm than good if you’re not careful.

In order for linking to be effective you must fully understand how this internet marketing technique works. First, be aware that building up a series of links all over the internet is not effective. It is far better to create a few quality links than an abundance of links that do nothing for you. Never, ever place links on your web site that connect to a competitor’s web site. While this may seem patently obvious, it is a mistake that is made far too often. There are much better ways to drive your target audience to your site.

Think about who you want to visit your site. What is their lifestyle like, what are they interested in, what kinds of websites are they likely to visit? Think in terms of complementing similarity not competition. For example, if you sell children’s educational toys and games, you wouldn’t want to link to another site that sells the same type of product. However, your demographic audience is likely going to be interested in visiting parenting sites and other sites that provide information that is valuable to parents or those interested in the educational development of children.

Another concept to keep in mind regarding the internet marketing technique of linking is that it is always better to link up rather than down. What this means is that you want to check out the hits of any website you are considering linking to and only allow a link to your site to be placed on a website that has at least as many hits as your own site. More is always better. It simply doesn’t make any sense to link to a site that has significantly less hits than your own site.

Finally, consider reciprocal linking. This internet marketing technique is simply a matter of exchanging links with another website. In fact, many sites make reciprocal linking a requirement before they will accept a link from your own site. Placing links to other websites on your site can actually be advantageous, if done in the correct way. You don’t want to have links all over your pages in an unattractive jumble. Consider dedicating one page, or a section of a page to links. You might even have a pointer that will direct readers to those links. If you are linking to other websites that will provide beneficial information to your readers, they are more likely to consider this a benefit than an intrusion.