Google might not dominate the search engine world like it did last year, but it's still a big player and can account for a lot of your traffic. It's no secret that acquiring PageRank is a big part of doing well with Google. I've personally seen my own pages receive huge jumps in traffic after PageRank updates. By now, you probably know PageRank comes from the number of incoming links to your web site; the higher the PageRank of the incoming links, the more PageRank your site will receive.

The problem with link building campaigns is you rarely get out of them what you put in. You're doing pretty good if you get responses from one in four people you contact. In order to make things simpler, people often join traffic exchange programs, or simply post forms on their page and wait for link partners to come to them.

The problem with these methods is you often get offers from sites you don't particularly want to link with. Maybe they're selling something you'd rather not be associated with, or their site is brand-new and sloppily put together, and it's not going to be much of a boost to

Step 1: Do a Google search for your target keywords.

Step 2: Visit the highest ranking sites, and use Google Toolbar to check their back links.

Step 3: Ask for links from the sites that appear in the back links.

Simple, hunh? What this does for you is thus: gets you in contact with people who are willing to exchange links with sites in your keyword area, and perhaps more importantly, gets you in contact with sites that have a high enough PageRank to appear in Google's back links (typically, only PageRank 4 sites and above appear here).

This should help you find the links that can truly help you, and it should cut down on your wasted link hunting time. Now, don't you have some links to find?

About The Author

TC Thorn makes a living from advertising and affiliate programs. This article first appeared at Webmaster Articles. It may be reprinted so long as it is not altered and the link is included.

• Power Packed Linking Strategies - Part One


• Viral Marketing Technique Creates a Chain Reaction with One-Time Action!


• The Basics of Asking for a Reciprocal Link


• The Power of Link Popularity


• Top 10 Traffic Building Mistakes To Avoid


• How to Get Non Reciprocal Links


• Link Exchanges


• Traffic Building - Understanding the Basics


• How To Find Relevant Web Sites For Link Exchanges


• The Most Useful Way To Utilize Traffic Exchanges


• Using Free Publicity to Build Your Web Site Links and Traffic


• Jump-start Your Link Building (without Getting Sandboxed)


• Is There Such A Thing As LAZY Way To TRAFFIC?


• Linking is Queen


• Power Packed Linking Strategies - Part Three