What do you look for when you exchange links?

janeth · #1 (**permalink**) 10-04-2003, 02:58 PM

Hi all this is my question when you are going to exchange links with someone what to do look for.

Ninety-five percent of the most popular Search Engines now use link popularity.

WebSeed compliments the use of link popularity, calling it, "... an extraordinary success," and declaring the technique, "... impossible to counterfeit." Link popularity is a highly-successful method for determining the relevancy of Web pages. WebSeed says, "those marketers who don't recognize the accelerating trend of site popularity will be left behind."

There are no shortcuts to the process of building link popularity. You are going to have to work hard to achieve it.

But what do you look at to determine what a good site would be.

This is my list I would like to know what everyone else thinks about it and would like to be corrected where I need to be and add please add to the list.

1. Your web site needs to be linked to quality web sites in categories related to your subject.
2. Although I do not use page rank to determine whether I will link to a site I do look at page rank if a site has a page rank of zero I want to know why before I link to it. I realize everyone has to start some where but I want to make sure this is the reason.
3. I want to make sure the sites look good and have good content or something that would serve my customers.
4. I know this is not proper but I want a link back. If you do not put a link back I will not link to you.

Always try to include your best Keywords in the title rather than just your web site name. Many Search Engines will boost your rankings when it finds sites linking to you that include your Keywords in the linking text.

drummin · #2 (**permalink**) 10-06-2003, 04:11 PM

Yes, Yes Janeth,
But, There are times when you don’t want links from the same specific product line as yours, as they would be your competition. And to find a related topic that is not competing for your business can be hard to find, though not impossible. When I find a site that falls into these categories, then I judge it by content. I have added their link to my site and asked them for the same and gotten no response. Because of this I didn’t include them on my last site update. Though I have done some searching I haven’t devoted the time needed build up link partnerships. I believe this is important. I will probably broaden the field of allowable categories in order to reach a larger target and lessen the chance of competition.
Drummin

janeth · #3 (**permalink**) 10-06-2003, 11:10 PM

Hi drummin,
Yes I understand what your saying 100% but I look at competition different then most people. If I see a site I feel like is better then mine then I will go back and work on my on site. I'm not scared of competition and look at it in different ways.
Most people build websites and sit back and wait for the customers. They do not try and fine to there sites or give the customer any information I do not feel like the sites are competition.
Then you have the people that feel like you should wait 24 hours before you answer an email. I love these people I already sold the site before they answer there email.
Another words I feel like the competition makes me better and I welcome it.
But I'm different then most people.

janeth · #4 (**permalink**) 10-06-2003, 11:10 PM

Hi drummin,
Yes I understand what your saying 100% but I look at competition different then most people. If I see a site I feel like is better then mine then I will go back and work on my on site. I'm not scared of competition and look at it in different ways.
Most people build websites and sit back and wait for the customers. They do not try and fine to there sites or give the customer any information I do not feel like the sites are competition.
Then you have the people that feel like you should wait 24 hours before you answer an email. I love these people I already sold the site before they answer there email.
Another words I feel like the competition makes me better and I welcome it.
But I'm different then most people.

info202 · #5 (**permalink**) 10-07-2003, 01:34 PM

1.I look for sites that I feel are relevant to mine.. I link to competitive sites, as long as they are not in my own geographical area (although I realize that clients come from all over and not just in your back yard - but I feel the norm is that clients would rather work with somewhat local designers)..
2.I also want to make sure that whatever site I link to is of good quality... some of the sites I have looked at are pretty awful (I'm not saying that mine is that superior, but.....)
I look at ranking somewhat, but if everyone else were to do that, no one would link to me... when I first starting looking for links, my Google rank was "zero".. now I am up to "3" and I do beleive it is because someone took a chance a linked to me..
3. I will not link to sites that I feel are trashy.. that is, x-rated or racist or hate filled... I have one casino site linked, but I would prefer no more of them.
4. I want sites that are think are useful - either to a client or to other designers, as in resource sites.

Now... I have a question.... When I request a link, I put that site's link on my page... How long should I keep that link up if I have not heard anything from that site? I try not to be impulsive... I just got a confirmation of a link that I requested on 9/23/03 (I guess they were backed up with requests.. LOL).. How long do any of you keep an un-reciprocated link on your site?

Mary Ann

rlrouse · #6 (**permalink**) 10-07-2003, 01:47 PM

I believe that you need to be flexible in deciding who to exchange links with. At least for now, Google doesn't seem to care how related your site is to your link patners'. At least I can't see any evidence of this in the rankings. And if Google ever does place an emphasis on theming, I believe that the worst case scenario is that an unrelated link will be given less weight or simply ignored. I don't think a penalty of any kind will be involved.

My experience has been that a link from almost any non-penalized site is worthwhile, for targeted traffic as well as ranking, as long as you use your target keywords in the anchor text and a very accurate and useful description. An obvious exception would be a link or or from an adult site.

esiegel · #7 (**permalink**) 10-07-2003, 02:41 PM

OK..what about in a case like mine....Competitors won't like to us (or us to them) for ovbious reasons.

Customers don't link to us...because it makes it too easy for their competitors to figure out their chemistry (technology).

We don't really want Suppliers linking to us...because it makes it too easy for our competitors to figure out our chemistry (technology).

So that leaves the limited number of industry publications and organizations...which are the same links that our competition has....no advantage.

Where do you go from there?

rlrouse · #8 (**permalink**) 10-07-2003, 03:01 PM

Quote:

Customers don't link to us...because it makes it too easy for their competitors to figure out their chemistry (technology).

How do you know that your customers won't link to you? Have you asked them or is this a guess?

Quote:

We don't really want Suppliers linking to us...because it makes it too easy for our competitors to figure out our chemistry (technology).

Have you considered the possibility that the benefits of being able to gain a number of quality reciprocal links may outweigh the benefits of all of this secrecy?

If no one visits your site, does it make any difference that your competitors don't know your chemistry? Only you know enough about your business and your industry to be able to answer that question, but it is something worth considering if you haven't already.

Also, have you considered exchanging links with sites that are in related industies? Every industry has related industries that complement it without competing with it.

esiegel · #9 (**permalink**) 10-07-2003, 03:08 PM

[quote="rlrouse
How do you know that your customers won't link to you? Have you asked them or is this a guess?
).

Have you considered the possibility that the benefits of being able to gain a number of quality reciprocal links may outweigh the benefits of all of this secrecy?[/quote]

In many cases our customers will not even allow us to tell anyone we are doing business with them...let alone WHAT we are doing for them. You'd be suprised how secretive package makers can be.

rlrouse · #10 (**permalink**) 10-07-2003, 03:13 PM

Wow, that's a secretive bunch! I guess your only options are to seek out reciprocals with sites outside of your industry or buy a few high-quality links from large sites. At least a few high-quality inbound links are essential, whatever the source.

b2phat · #11 (**permalink**) 10-07-2003, 06:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rlrouse

I believe that you need to be flexible in deciding who to exchange links with. At least for now, Google doesn't seem to care how related your site is to your link patners'. At least I can't see any evidence of this in the rankings. And if Google ever does place an emphasis on theming, I believe that the worst case scenario is that an unrelated link will be given less weight or simply ignored. I don't think a penalty of any kind will be involved.

My experience has been that a link from almost any non-penalized site is worthwhile, for targeted traffic as well as ranking, as long as you use your target keywords in the anchor text and a very accurate and useful description. An obvious exception would be a link or or from an adult site.

This is such a good topic!

And I am pretty much in agreement with rlrouse on the flexibility issue.

When we first started our site I was pretty much green. And I took alot of lessons from my "mentor" site boogiejack.com .... and one of the articles that he wrote "The Worst WebSite Design Advice I've ever Seen" goes on to explain how he believes NOT linking to competitive sites and/or other sites is a huge mistake. And he has one of the most linked to, popular sites on the net. And he links to anyone. So we did pretty much the same and .... got indexed and rated fairly well pretty quickly. I made sure the sites I changed links with had some sort of PR ranking .... but that was it.

Now that we're more "established" I've changed our reciprocal link policy to only quality, high ranked PR sites of a related nature.

But ... I'm wondering if this is a mistake? Since it has worked well for us taking any and all links ... I wonder if taking off some of those and changing our policy is going to be something that is not necessary and ... maybe even a mistake?

Any ideas?

rlrouse · #12 (**permalink**) 10-07-2003, 07:00 PM

I would never remove a link to one of my link partners unless there was a compelling reason to do so (such as the page that I link to becomes penalized).

Today's PR3 page might well be PR5 or higher in a few months. And 50 links that each produce 2 unique referrals per day (on average) provides 3000 unique visitors a month.

But I do believe that after your site is fairly established you need to work toward getting lots of unreciprocated links. I'm pretty successful at this by offering something of real value for free, including software, ebooks, and advertising (most of which costs me very little or nothing at all to produce).

Reciprocals are best used for jumpstarting your link popularity. One-way links represent the next level in linking strategies. And believe it or not, if you have something of real value to use as a carrot, one-way links are easier to get than reciprocals.

jus2 · #13 (**permalink**) 10-07-2003, 08:36 PM

But ... I'm wondering if this is a mistake? Since it has worked well for us taking any and all links ... I wonder if taking off some of those and changing our policy is going to be something that is not necessary and ... maybe even a mistake?

Consider this: What ever you are doing that gives you the results you are looking for should remain in place. I'm convinced if it is not broke why fix it. When links are exchanged there is a reason for it. Each party is depending on the other for a desired end. As you are depending on them, do you think perhaps they maybe depending on you. Consideration should be made before agreement. Once you make the agreement then your loyalty should take over. If more people were to do that the network would a more stable environment.

Daniel B Stewart
http://www.internationalbibles.com

janeth · #14 (**permalink**) 10-07-2003, 09:37 PM

Hi rlrouse,
He said something about buying links from high pr sites.
What would you pay for a pr7 or pr8 site and how many out going links would you want on the page with you.
Also if your a pr5 how much do you think a pr7 or pr8 would help you. Could it make you a pr6?

rlrouse · #15 (**permalink**) 10-07-2003, 10:00 PM

Hi Janeth,

I have never really found it neccessary to purchase links for my clients so it's kind of hard to answer the $$ part of your question.

My best guess is that a link on a PR7 or PR8 page with just 4 or 5 external links on it would at least boost a PR5 to a PR6. It would partly depend on how high the PR5 actually is before getting the link.

In early September, I secured a PR8 home page link (with 6 other external links on the page) to a PR4 home page. This was a no-money deal. In exchange for the PR8 link, my client bartered a link on all 82 pages of her site (most pages were PR3). After the next PR update, the home page was PR6 and the internal pages were mostly PR5s except for a couple of PR4s.

Several pages jumped from oblivion into the top-10 for some good keywords and traffic tripled. I believe this was mainly due to great anchor text in the link on the PR8 page.

The site did receive 7 or 8 other links during that time period, but nothing really special.

b2phat · #16 (**permalink**) 10-07-2003, 10:07 PM

Quote:

I would never remove a link to one of my link partners unless there was a compelling reason to do so (such as the page that I link to becomes penalized)

Thanks for that.

Guess I was feeling a little guilty. But I went to my links page sometime last week and it just didn't "look" right because .... well, someone had gone and moved a viagra settlement in while I was snoozing ;o)

I had been reading steadily in here and the harder I looked at my links page .... the more "out of place" some of those links looked. Yep .... they all had great PR ... but they just looked like they were in the wrong neighborhood .... so I notified the owners that we had changed our link policy and took them off. It was a good 10 - 15 links that I took off. And it's been bothering me ever since.

Anyway .... I guess I'm going to stick with my original plan .... flexibility is key.

janeth · #17 (**permalink**) 10-07-2003, 10:08 PM

Hi rlrouse,
I have never nor would I ever buy a link. But I had it brought up to me that someone had a pr8 link for sale for $350.00 per month. I was just wondering if that was what they sold for.

rlrouse · #18 (**permalink**) 10-07-2003, 10:23 PM

Hi Darla,

In your case I think it was appropriate to remove the links. If the link is to a page that you feel will induce a negative reaction in your visitors, that should take precedence over the ranking benefits. What's good for your visitors should always trump what's good for the search engines unless you can come up with a good compromise.

Janeth,

I would think that a link on a PR8 page with just a small handful of links would be worth at least $350, provided that the site has the potential to send you some good targeted traffic. This would require a static link with great anchor text and description on a page that is related to your theme.

Before I would even consider paying money for a link, it would have to be able to send me a decent amount of targeted traffic. But I have learned that great links from high ranking pages can be had with some creative bartering.

The thing to remember is that you (or your clients) should be looking to buy targeted traffic, not PageRank. Of course, a nice rankings boost will make a great side effect.