Link popularity is a measure of the quantity and quality of other web sites that link to a specific site or web page on the World Wide Web. It is an example of the move by search engines towards off-the-page-criteria to determine quality content. In theory, off-the-page-criteria adds the aspect of impartiality to search engine rankings, like an endorsement by others of the quality and usefulness of another site.

Link popularity plays an important role in the visibility of a web site among the top of the search results. It is very important that your site has the right title, keywords and description and a few links from other sites in order to be found on the top pages of search engine results.

Search engines such as Google use a special link analysis system to rank web pages. Citations from other WWW authors help to define a site's reputation. The philosophy of link popularity is that important sites will attract many links from other sites. For example you will see cnn.com and nytimes.com get so many links from other sites. Content-poor sites will have difficulty attracting any links. Link popularity assumes that not all incoming links are equal, as an inbound link from a major directory carries more weight than an inbound link from an obscure personal home page. In other words, the quality of incoming links counts more than sheer numbers of them.

To search for pages linking to a specific page, simply enter the URL on Google or Yahoo! this way:

link:http://yourdomainname/pagename.html

Here are some strategies that are generally considered to be important to increase link popularity:

There should be links from the home page to all subpages so that a search engine can transfer some link popularity to the subpages. Since home pages usually get the maxium link backs and rankings, tt is not wise to have a flash only home page with no links to the subpages other than 'Enter Site'.

Appropriate anchor text with relevant keywords separated by commas should be used in the text links that are pointing to pages within a site (technically, this helps link context, not link popularity).

Getting links from other web sites, particularly sites with high Page Rank, can be one of the most powerful site promotion tools. Therefore, the webmaster should try to get links from other important sites offering information or products compatible or synergistic to his/her own site or from sites that cater to the same audience the webmaster does. The webmaster should explain the advantages to the potential link partner and the advantages his/her site has to their visitors.

One way links often count for more than reciprocal links but link exchanges work at times too.

The webmaster should list his/her site in one or more of the major directories such as Yahoo! or the Open Directory Project like www.dmoz.org.

The webmaster should only link to sites that he/she can trust, i.e. sites that do not use "spamming techniques".

The webmaster should avoid link exchange programs or link farms, as search engines may ban sites that participate in such programs.