In the past, we have reviewed many tools that can be used to insure your META tags are correctly populated and coded, and then bulk submit your web pages to the most popular search engines and directories on the Net. 

There is, however, another important element critical for achieving improved search engine ranking -- and that is link popularity. In the past, one could purchase multiple domains and cross-link them to create a domain or server farm. This helped to proliferate the number of links quickly. Some webmasters stooped lower and lower and started using invisible links and keywords while others concentrated on the creation of complex gateway pages specific to each engine. While some of these tactics are questionable, and many no longer work, the easiest way to increase your popularity is simply to get other sites to link to you.

As easy as this sounds, it can still be a nightmare. First, you need to scour the search engines for people who have complimentary web sites and who do not compete against you. Second, you need to contact all of these people with an engaging email that invites them to cross-link to you. Lastly, you need to manage these relationships for the long-term. Unless you are exceptionally well-staffed, this is a full-time job.

Axandra's Reciprocal Links Solution (ARELIS) may be just what you are looking for . . . it automates the entire process of searching for possible peer web sites, sending them emails in batch, and managing your history of communication with them. If used judiciously and wisely, you can most likely uncover hundreds of non-competitive web sites who will be happy to cross-link to you. As a result, your popularity across the search engines will rise, and so will your ranking.

When Axandra is first launched, it asks you for keywords and competitive web sites. It then searches the search engines and directories to compile a list of possible target sites. Depending upon the speed of your Net connection, the number of keywords, and the possible number of sites related to those keywords, the initial search could take a long time. I left my system running for about 20-30 minutes over a cable modem connection, and when I returned there was a list of 2000 sites compiled  . . . and it was still going.

Upon review of the listing, you will see a relevance ranking, the URL, title, etc. There is a place for noting the status of the relationship. In the lower portion of the screen, you can preview the site in an internal browser window, or you can launch and review the site more fully through own browser. The review process takes a long time. 

Once you select the sites desired, you can use an existing email template to contact the webmaster of the sites you are interested in. Axandra will pull the email address off the site if it is available -- a time saver, for sure. Then you simply customize the email and send it off. As the responses come back and cross-links are established with other sites willing to participate, you can go back into the system and update the records accordingly.

Admittedly, there are some other tools out there which specialize in finding peer sites -- for instance, to build your affiliate sales channel -- but we have not come across a tool that also handles the emailing of the invitation or handling the contact management tasks of building these relationships.

Axandra comes in a few different flavors including Standard, Professional and Business based upon the number of domains. You can download a free trial to see if it is for you. In addition, they offer a great free Link Popularity Checker which is worth the download, too. For more info, click here.