A more effective way of swapping links?

[seafoam]

My new website has a links directory in which the links are a bit different than the norm. You can see what I mean if you take a look at these examples:
http://www.seafoamwoodturning.com/Si...arm_winter.htm
http://www.seafoamwoodturning.com/Si...l_porridge.htm

The system and the benefits I anticipate are explained here:
http://www.seafoamwoodturning.com/Si...foam_model.htm
but essentially by linking from keywords in the description of the site, rather than sites title, it will improve ranking for that keyword, as well as PR.

I would appreciate your comments on

- does this make sense to you SEO experts?
- does the explanatory page make sense, and is it persuasive?
- will website owners make the effort to do implement this?

[cbp]

The use of keywords in anchor text is not a new model - it is well know as one of the more powerful ways of letting Google know the relevancy of a site.

BTW - it does not improve PR anymore than any other type of link.

CBP

[seafoam]

The use of keywords in anchor text is not a new model - it is well know as one of the more powerful ways of letting Google know the relevancy of a site.

Yes, but why do so very few people make use of this in their link exchanges! Typically the link is made on the business name, which is often not a very good keyword.

BTW - it does not improve PR anymore than any other type of link.

Sorry, I didn't word that very well. What I meant to say was "as well as improve PR it will improve ranking for that keyword".

[Mel]

It makes sense to me and addresses one of the major deficiencies of links from most directories that normally do not use anchor text in thier links.

As mentioned anchor text is one of the most powerful ranking tools and when googles recent emphasis on expert site is also considered anchor text from directories (or even links pages) should be very helpful.

[Jurgen]

At first it made sence to me, but when looking at your site it sure was getting tiring reading all the stuff you have on there. What good does it do for a link partner to show up at the very end of the page. You might be good with your 'content', but me as a link partner.... no, I wouldn't go for that. Very few people will read through all that, and chances are, if I am not at the top of your page I would never get any clicks.

Customers go through your links, glance at them, and find something in the very first words.... and click... I call it "customer support"....

Well, I am in the same boat your are and want customers to come to my site. I did read through part of your page and I got tired..... I don't even know what is "down there". If my link would be on one of these pages nobody would ever know. And belive me, a lot of visitor of mine come from links.... (Hands up for Janeth who always vote for link exchange).
PS; I am not talking about SEs, just plain link exchange.

Nope, nothing for me, and I don't belive this will fly..... :-)


Jurgen
www.absolutelyfabulousflowers.com

[Mel]

The search engines will know the links are there Jurgen and reward the site with a nice anchor text link to help the pages rank better.

There are other ways of getting traffic your site besides clicking from the directory page.

[Jurgen]

Originally Posted by Mel

There are other ways of getting traffic your site besides clicking from the directory page.

That's what I am saying Mel. Linking is good and linking gets you traffic. But when customers have to read through all these pages they will get tired of reading and just leave.....

Jurgen
www.absolutelyfabulousflowers.com

[Mel]

Yes Jurgen I understand what you are saying, but what I am saying is if those links get you good rankings in Google the searchers don't have to read all the stuff on the directory pages - they can just click thru directly to your pages from Google where there is a lot more traffic.

You may not get a lot of traffic from a more or less unknown directory, but if that directory helps you get a good rank on Google you will get heaps of traffic.

[seafoam]

Thanks for your input Jurgen. Some good points.

...What good does it do for a link partner to show up at the very end of the page. You might be good with your 'content', but me as a link partner.... no, I wouldn't go for that. Very few people will read through all that, and chances are, if I am not at the top of your page I would never get any clicks.

Page length is definitely something to be considered when writing these pages. But my plan is start with pages that are more general in scope, and when the content gets too long, split it into two pages of more specialized topics. I don't really want to get into speculation about the Hilltop algorithm, but from what I have read, one criteria it might use to define an expert page is that the page should have a certain minimum number of links to external websites.

As for being listed at the bottom of a page, I would agree somewhat, but I think that will be a problem no matter what style is adopted for the links page. What I do on my old site is shuffle the links around periodically, to give those currently at the bottom a fairer crack of the whip, and make it look like a freshened page to the search engines.

Take the Garden Decor page as an example. When you scan the page, don't the bright blue links 'hand painted functional birdhouse' and 'Outdoor cedar furniture' leap out at you, tell you what the paragraph is about and tell you what the link will take you too? A more typical links page would just be pointing to their home pages with "Sherry's Keepsakes" and "The Cedar Station". Not terribly useful IMO.

Thanks for the feedback! Keep it coming folks:-)

[Nargule]

Originally Posted by seafoam

Take the Garden Decor page as an example. When you scan the page, don't the bright blue links 'hand painted functional birdhouse' and 'Outdoor cedar furniture' leap out at you, tell you what the paragraph is about and tell you what the link will take you too?

Hey Seafoam,

I can't find the Garden Decor page you mentioned. When doing a search of your site from the SiteMap page I found a cached version of
http://www.seafoamwoodturning.com/Si...rden_Decor.htm
but going straight to this URL gives me an error page.

Did you take the page down since Wednesday when you posted?

What cbp said is true, there is nothing new about keywords in anchor text or anything else that you mentioned.

The only thing you are doing different is taking the time to provide quality links to the other sites instead of just slapping them up there and saying "Well, I've done my part". This surely helps the sites to which you link.