Earned Links Versus Bought Links

There are many discussions about acquiring links from the Internet. While all links matter, some have much more value than others.

Earned links are thought to have much more viral value, as they are links that people place on their sites linking to yours by their own accord. Often, your site provided some value, whether it was in entertainment, information or an offering of a great product or service.

Depending on where the link is placed, the search engines will place a certain amount of value or "weight" on the link found on the site. While this same technique can be falsely accomplished, over time, these earned links will continue to accumulate, with little effort on the web owner.

Bought links offer up a way for your site to get some "web cred" almost immediately. One of the most expensive ways to get this is to purchase a "channel" sponsorship on the website, HowStuffWorks.org. That site is highly ranked by Google, so getting your link placed on that site will not only enhance your site in the search engine's eys, but also from a traffic standpoint, you should expect a boost from that advertisement.

There are also text link brokers who offer up sites that allow you to rent some text link time to get your site a Google PageRank Boost. The problem with most of these sites is that it's a monthly service, not permanent. If you are going to invest your time in paid for links, the best resource are fee based directories. After that, if you can find sites that offer permanent links, you should grab as many of those as you can.

Remember, all links count as a vote to your site, and every link you get is only going to help.