orientation of keyword rich backlinks

[nelsonez]

I agree that keyword rich backlinks seem to carry the most weight with Google and probably also with Yahoo.

It also appears that relevant out bound links (OBLs) make a difference also. Many of my clients do not want OBLs on their sites and because of this it seems that it has been difficult to move from say positions of #5 to #1 on Google. The sites above us has many very relevant OBL links. As we all know "content is king" in the eyes of the search engines I really believe quality OBLs makes a difference also.

I do have a related question that I am not sure I have seen addressed and that is whether their is an orientation weight to the keywords within a backlink. For example I have generally used this backlink, All inclusive Belize resort, for one of my clients. But it only seems to help the phrase "all inclusive belize". I was hoping to get two for the price of one so to speak and also boost "belize resort". That doesn't seem to be happening and I am wondering if maybe using something like "Belize resort - all inclusive style" might be better. Has anyone else tried to experiment with the order and orientation of the keywords in the link text?

Anyone know if the weight of the keywords in a backlink decreases from left to right?

[cbp]

Anyone know if the weight of the keywords in a backlink decreases from left to right?

I do not think anyone really knows. I always work on the ASSUMPTION that it MIGHT, so make sure important words are first (like in the page title).

CBP

[rlrouse]

Many of my clients do not want OBLs on their sites...

Same here. I educate them and the ones that listen usually end up thanking me. If done in an intelligent manner and for the right reasons, outbound links can be of benefit for virtually any type of website.

[montytx]

I have always heard that you should mix up your link text. That makes the engine believe that the links are more relevant. When I exchange links I try to use 3-4 different versions of my link with different keywords to help boost my sites profiles. SO you might want to do just Belize vacations. You probably should work on carribean vacations too. I would think that would be the most popular search term of all.

[ticketauction]

On a side note you mentioned they are big for yahoo and google but recently I noticed they may count even more in the new MSN. All my text links are simple and short saying 'ticket auction' because of this, I now rank 1st out of 32 million for the word ticket in msn (only explanation I can think of) where I am no where near that high in other serps

[virtualtraveller]

Recently I've started adding a couple of OBLs to each page on my site in the belief that this will do more to convince google that the content on the site really is useful. Generally I have sourced decent sites randomly from the top 20 SERPS on google for the page's keyword, I suspect google will take these more seriously than a link to a low PR, low profile site.

Now, obviously this means giving away great kw-relevant links to your competitors, though I don't give them the benefit of anchor text.

All things considered, I feel it's better to boost your chances this way at the expense of giving competitors a few decent links here and there.

Does anyone agree with this? As far as I'm concerned it has an organic element to it, even it the intention is clearly manipulative. I doubt it will make any major difference to SERPs but at least it will balance out my massively increasing amount of IBLs.

[GapBridge]

I agree. It is very much about balance. I always say, if you don't have enough content yourself, link to someone who does. When the creawlers are looking for the keyword content you have optimized for, it is better for you if they find it somewhere else thru your site than nothing at all.


I call it the "open site effect" . Imitate Google and Google will like you.



Also from a common sense aspect: a visitor will be able to find what he is looking for, even if it's another click away.

[nelsonez]

Thanks for the comments everyone. I have found these forums to be an extremely useful resource.

I am glad that other people have had similar experiences with trying to convince their clients of the benefits of good quality OBLs.

Finally, I agree that I should probably mix up my keyword rich text links a little bit. If I can generate any good data on the orientation and weighting issue I will post what I find out.

[GapBridge]

It's hard for me to understand why so many clients don't get that give a little and gain a lot beats counting the few clicks they get and protecting those rather then being proactive.