It is a well known fact that adding incoming links to any website is a great method of promotion and search engine optimization. Quality links can increase your page rank and ultimately get you consistent traffic and sales at seemingly no cost. Nothing comes for free, the creation of a quality link directory for your website is no different. It will require time and some careful planning to really get the most out of this valuable tool.

Keep these tips in mind to create a powerful content rich link directory for your website.

1. Do a little planning. The first thing that always leads to success is a clear game plan. Decide what needs to get accomplished and how you can get the job done. Make some lists of keywords and link categories relevant to that of your own website. Avoid using categories which are not related.

For instance, if your site is a work at home affiliate web page you would not want to include the categories health & beauty, science, autombiles, etc. To increase your Search Engine Optimzation your links must be related to the overall theme and content of your website.

2. Don't become a link farm. Search engines hate "link farms". If each page in your link directory has too many links to other company oweb sites your site may be labeled a link farm. Keep the amount of links on each page low, I suggest 15-25 and no more.

3. Ensure every page is keyword rich and has a few links back to your home page. Content is so important for a powerful link directory so keep it filled with keyword rich titles, meta tags, paragraphs, etc. relevant to that pages theme. This will increase the quality of your content and improve the quality of your link directory as a whole.

Its also important to include links back to your home page. This will increase your search engine optimaztion as the web spiders register more back links to your home page.

4. Use link directory software that checks links automatically. There are a lot of different programs and web sites that offer linking services. Be sure to check into them before choosing, some offer a lot of "instant" links for a monthly fee. These links usually do not provide much help if not hurt your SEO, so be wary.

I suggest using linkmarket.net. There are more than 60,000 potential link partners in every category of the online business world. Links are checked automatically and I've found that at $24.95 a year you cannot go wrong! But there are many other programs and services out there, finding one that works for you will require a little research on your end.

5. Keep it up! Simply following these simple steps and setting up your link directory is far from the end. You will want to test and retest many different aspects of the linking world. You want to be sure that everything is working correctly and is content rich before visitors and search engine spiders arrive.

Taking some simple steps can ensure that your link directory works smoothly and increases your Search Engine Optimization. Keep in mind that getting the best links will require some requests from you to other web owners, and be sure the software you use automatically checks links for effectiveness and removal.