We all know that link building is a vital element in your search engine optimisation strategy. But we should also know that not all links are created equal.

If Google really values the site linking to you, it is likely to generate more link juice for your site.

I found a great little tip earlier today (courtesy of the guys at SEOMoz.org which helps to hack the search engines and give you and idea of what Google considers to be the most important/relevant site in a particular location, without any keywords being entered. This can be really useful if you are link building to target a particular country.

Just use the following in your search box:
“inurl:co.za site:.co.za”

Google Search

In Googles eyes here are the top 50 .co.za sites within South Africa:

1) .co.za
2) www.google.co.za
3) www.ananzi.co.za (Can you believe it!)
4) www.thetimes.co.za
5) www.southafrica.co.za
6) www.mg.co.za
7) www.weathersa.co.za
www.statetheatre.co.za
9) www.businessday.co.za
10) www.iol.co.za
11) www.standardbank.co.za
12) www.engineeringnews.co.za
13) www.tourismcapetown.co.za
14) www.reservebank.co.za
15) www.thestar.co.za
16) www.jobs.co.za
17) www.bluetrain.co.za
18) www.citylodge.co.za
19) www.legacyhotels.co.za
20) mybroadband.co.za
21) www.krugerpark.co.za
22) www.districtsix.co.za
23) www.scienceinafrica.co.za
24) www.wheretostay.co.za
25) www.careerjunction.co.za
26) www.sagoodnews.co.za
27) www.mountnelson.co.za
28) free.financialmail.co.za
29) www.tourismnorthwest.co.za
30) www.cycletour.co.za
31) www.winemag.co.za
32) www.wineroute.co.za
33) www.tourismgrading.co.za
34) www.ushakamarineworld.co.za
35) www.africatrade.co.za
36) www.moneyweb.co.za
37) www.yellowpages.co.za
38) www.redribbon.co.za
39) www.dieknoop.co.za
40) www.proudlysa.co.za
41) www.capepoint.co.za
42) www.nafest.co.za
43) www.arrivealive.co.za
44) www.aatravel.co.za
45) www.cellc.co.za
46) www.eatout.co.za
47) www.whalefestival.co.za
48) www.goldreefcity.co.za
49) www.germanchamber.co.za
50) www.3am.co.za

Add the following to your search and see the sites within a niche:
~”keyword”

Read more posts by Mike Perk

Mike is the Managing Director of digital marketing agency World Wide Creative and co-founder of The Heavy Chef Project. A video blogger who happens to know a fair amount about web marketing; presenting on SEO, Usability and Analytics at digital conferences and marketing courses worldwide. A passionate Spurs fan, Mike also co-hosts the popular football video blog: Free-Kick.tv.

Follow Mike on Twitter: www.twitter.com/mikeperk

Related posts:

1. Optimising our Blog for the keyphrase “Profitable Websites”
2. Creating profitable websites
3. Putting your blog on your main websites domain
4. Launching a new site and keeping the Search Engines happy
5. The model for the young South African e-commerce company