Link Farm vs Directory

[ozchris]

When is a link farm not a directory?

In the neverending search for valid email addresses on sites I want to exchange with, or people who reject me because I don't have enough pagerank yet, sometimes a sense of desperation results, as I try to find people to swap with.

Some obviously messy sites, with over 50 links per page, in no order, don't get a look in.

But the trend of the month seems to be sites setting up organised directories, purely to get good ranking.

For example, a site on fish. Creates a resources page (none of that nasty link.html naming). And the resources page is an organised directory structure covering every subject known to (wo)mankind. From cars to beer to fishnet stockings.

Do you think the engines will get smart one day, and not bother indexing/ranking the pages in the directory that are not fish-related?

AskJeeves says it uses Teoma's smart algorithm that values a link from a related subject site/page higher than an unrelated one.

Do you think the engines will get smart enough to say, hey, this is a car page on a fish site, so I won't value it's link to salmonhappy.com?

Or is my example above valid, and shall I expand all my sites to have wide-ranging directories that include off-topic subjects, as long as each individual page has a consistent theme?

These directories just seem to contain a little bovine faecal matter, to quote one of my faviourite books.

[mantawebsolutions]

For example, a site on fish. Creates a resources page (none of that nasty link.html naming). And the resources page is an organised directory structure covering every subject known to (wo)mankind. From cars to beer to fishnet stockings.

Do you think the engines will get smart one day, and not bother indexing/ranking the pages in the directory that are not fish-related?

hi Chris, good question...

i was wondering the same thing. i used to have a links page with all the links on one single page, this i changed into a more structured setup with links to different categories using seperate pages (see http://www.divesouth.co.za/links)

However, I have limited the categories to only what seems relevant to our business for exactly the reasons you mention.

I think that all links count in the end, but i also agree with your comment regarding the SE's wising up to not index the non-related links. They might just be doing that, i wonder how long it will take...

[Spyzilla]

I have had good luck with organized link directories. I include some of my own "affiliate" links as well as offer several links in each category. ( http://www.venturenetworking.com ) I will admit that several of the incoming links are my own sites. Advertising and adwords seem to do well also. I was considering creating a directory for just one or two search terms but I think that may just look like a ranking ploy to the engines. ( I do not know why I worry about that, Google hates me :) I do not consider this site a link farm as I do moderate the links submitted. What do you think?would you call it a farm or a directory?

[jseamless]

I think it is best to have your links at least divided to themed category pages. I would also not name your links page link. I had a mylinks.htm page with a PR of 4 just drop out of the google index.

I think google is looking for ways to discredit link farms. I think google is also interested in trimming the fat from there directory. So be creative with your url names.

[DrTandem1]

The reason a link page may be dropped from Google is not because of the page's file name. More than likely, there is a link on the page to a link farm.

A site is generally considered to be a link-farm when the sole purpose are links generated without much form or relevancy to the site's purported content.

Putting too many links on a single page can also cause problems. Certain spiders will abandon a page when the number of links counted reaches a predetermined amount. Unfortunately, I can not give you a specific number, because I don't know. I would estimate less than 50, but not much more than 25. That is just a guideline.

It may only take one suspect external link on your site that will cause you problems. So, investigate the sites to which are going to link.

[damarzee]

Designing Online has, for over 4 years, provided a very nicely organized resource area. There are currently 36 categories related to Home and Garden with over 1250 current link listings.

Since we did not want to be classified as a Link Farm and since we wanted to be sure that all link placements were indexed by search engines, we have our link pages broken into sections. For each category, the first page lists the 20 most recent listings, the second page lists the next 40 and the page after that lists all remaining link requests.

Our popularity grew nicely because of the inbound links, but eventually, we were receiving over 10 requests a day (70 or more a week) and it was becoming a real job to check and add these links.

Because of the numerous issues of link requesters not placing the required reciprocal link, or not providing a path to their link area or just being a very bad site that was not applicable to our resource area, it started to become more work than it was worth, so we enacted a $3.25 link application fee. This is just enough to pay for actually processing the request and we no longer get all the low quality and cookie cutter site requests.

Link requests now average about 2 per day and there is almost no issue with the individual having performed the easy requirements we ask for a link exchange.

You are welcome to take a look at http://www.designingonline.com/links/

Our resource area is very valuable to us since it has also become a source of individuals we continue to work with and generate sales from. Yes, having links does help with search engine placement, but if you organize nicely and don't stick the reciprocal link on a page with 1000 other links, the individual exchanging links with you just might like you and do more business with you.

You do get back what you put out.

[AjiNIMC]

Link Farms and Directories
----------------------------

Directories are useful collection of sites , you will never link to bad sites and donot expect a link back. You will always have constant look to eliminate bad links.

Links farm ... reciprocal links and few bad links as well, categories not well defined e.t.c

So its the outgoing links which will get you a ban

[sandis.viksna]

And ofcourse, remember the rule

if THEY links to you - it is okey.

but since you link to them - you're bastard! and can get easily penalized for doing that.

btw, on linking, I recomend Stephens Pierces The Whole Truth material, altough it covers more than linking, but there is some serious 30-40 pages of the right linking strategies included!

just my 2 cents (maybe euros?)

Sandis Viksna, Latvia

[ozchris]

Good feedback, thanks.

I have a guideline on my links pages to say no more than 40 links per page.

In practise I usually limit it to 30 on my pages, as my average internal menu takes up around 10.

And yes, my recent sites are using resources.htm instead of links.htm.

But the downside of going back to my older sites, and renaming the links.htm page, with associated loss of PR is daunting. Altho I guess I could create a duplicate links page, with its themed directory menu, and wait until the new page has PR before deleting the old one.

ta
Chris

[itsdonny]

I know this thread is old, but still relevant anyway. If a site is a link farm would google give it a zero page rank?

Do you think this site below would be considered a directory or a link farm.

http://www.execulink.com/~photo4u/links.htm

Thanks,

Don

[ebusiness4all]

The decision is in the hands of the search engines and hence no one really knows whether it would be considered a directory or a link farm.

My view? Well the page has very little content and a huge number of outbound links, but they all seem to be on category. The site has few link directories so I would think on balance it tends towards being a link farm.