Why get involved in heavy search engine optimization when you can get the same results with text link advertising? Many site owners face this conundrum right now. The truth is that if you do both, your site may be unbeatable. Or, you may enjoy no benefit whatsoever, as the search engines strive to avoid counting paid text links in ranking any given site. Text link ads are, therefore, a very hot topic.

Yes, text links taint results, and the search engines haven't quite found a way to deal with them as yet. Until that happens, text links will continue to be the ranking technique of choice for many site owners. Why? Because text links can work to increase a site's rankings with the search engines.

When search engines such as Google began to rank Websites based upon the number and quality of sites that linked to them, those search engines created a digital cottage industry called link placement. Emailing for link swaps was wildly popular with some, while others placed banner ads containing direct links to their own sites. Both solutions fit well with search engine's immature algorithms.

Since then, search engines have vastly improved their systems for the filtering or removal of paid advertising links. Some of these steps have turned out to be unfair to many smaller Websites that are not connected to the larger Web publishers. As Google changes its algorithm, so the shape of the Web changes with it.

However, text link ads, or sponsorships as some call them (excluding Google Adwords ads, which Google can screen automatically), fit into the Web page less obtrusively than other ad units, and are often less easily identified as advertisements by the search engines. To this day, the search players have real difficulty distinguishing between a purchased link and a normal hyperlink. This will undoubtedly change in time, though, as the search engines' objective is to produce relevant search results that aren't influenced by advertisers' money.

Although search engines do assess the number of inbound links to a Web page when ranking that page, the quality of the link is seen as more important than the quantity of links. Although your link may be placed on every page of a sponsored site, don't expect Google and Yahoo! to give merit to this plethora of links. Some site owners are now varying the wording of the links they place on other sites, but this tactic will probably be filtered out soon.

The phenomenon of link buying has occurred because Google has tightened its algorithm to weed out links between topically unrelated sites, and within link exchanges. Unfortunately, most Websites have these types of links. This fact means that millions of Websites have been put out in the cold by Google's action. Sites that belong to big corporations or publishing empires are more likely to be topically-related, and they may be able to garner links from authority sites that are on-topic and have high Pagerank. The only way in which smaller Websites could compete is to buy links on these major sites.

One other recent phenomenon has given the minor sites a boost, though: blogs. The success of blogs may actually be due, in part, to Google's new algorithm – they're currently dealing with this problem in unison with Yahoo! and MSN. But in the meantime, comment links on blogs have become the spammer's tool of choice. Once the search engines devise a way to ignore this form of spam, spammers will most likely turn to text link ads.

Websites that are ranked for the same keyword topic as the advertiser's site, or offer material that relates to the keyword topic of the advertiser's Website, are the most valuable places to place a text link ad. If the advertiser's site is about pet supplies, for instance, they'd look for sites that deal with pet supplies, veterinary services, pet shops, kennels, pet care magazines, animal training, or dog shows.

It's best for the advertiser to stick with the exact keywords for which they'd like to rank, but related words and synonyms can also be helpful. If they're placing a lot of text links, the advertiser might consider varying the copy to help prevent their being filtered due to duplication. The keyword supplies is related to suppliers, distributors, and manufacturers. The advertiser would make sure they got a link from their supplier or distributor, and even from the manufacturer in their product category.

The advertiser's text link ad will use their targeted words in the title area. They might also use stemmed variations of those words, and related words, in the description. Some text link ads use keywords only within the anchor text, as in the following examples:

The second example uses keywords, related words and synonyms. It may even sound awkward, but the advertiser's goal is a search engine ranking boost, not ad copy awards.

The second example above is more powerful because search engines analyze the text near hyperlinks to better understand a link's true meaning. It's a complicated process. Advertisers may also use the link title tag, however, if their link is out of place with the rest of the links on that page, as this may tip off the search engine that the advertiser's is not a regular link.

To acquire text link ad placements, many advertisers contact site owners directly, or use any one of a growing list of text link ad brokers. These businesses act as a go-between, matching seller to buyer -- a quick search online turns up numerous such services. Generally, the services allow advertisers either to bid on a link or to buy them outright on a monthly or yearly basis. Most times, though, advertisers aren't able to see the host site before they buy, so they ask a few key questions before they purchase:

Obviously, link buying can be perilous in the sense that advertisers may not get much of a return on their investment. However, companies with huge advertising budgets may buy so many text link ads that even if just half of them produce, they're going to do well.