SEO and Linking Strategy

[logodesign77]

What is your opinion on this? Do away completely with links and resources page and have all inbound and outbound links spread throughout the site on industry and topic specific pages.

I am sure this question has been asked before but I havent seen it. I think for overall SEO of a site this would benefit in the long run instead of one page for outbounds and all inbounds coming to the index page.

My opinion would be save the inbound links to the index page for directory listings and all other website links to go into various pages of the site.

[mjtaylor]

I think you are on the right track.

Yes, I think it makes SEOnse to have inbound links to many internal pages. Definitely.

Yes, it is probably better to have outbound links on content pages - or add content to links pages as I have done on my link pages such as What to Look For in an SEO Consultant or Firm? Results! and to make links contextual as the Baby's Coffee link is here: Web design and development resources ...

I do think there is still a place for a links page when the links are all or 80% plus outbound. If you are providing a true resource of links relevant to yur site, I think a directory or resources page is still a very viable tool for SEO and visitors.

That's really the key, isn't it? If a page has true usefulness to a human it will probably please a search engine, too.

[incrediblehelp]

I agree having you IBLs pointing to deep product/service pages, based on relevancy is the correct way to go. Link pages mean little to nothing for ranking puposes any more.

[mjtaylor]

Originally Posted by incrediblehelp

I agree having you IBLs pointing to deep product/service pages, based on relevancy is the correct way to go. Link pages mean little to nothing for ranking puposes any more.

*Reciprocal* links pages mean little to nothing to ranking anymore - agreed. But I think a links page with a collection of truly relevant resources will have some weight with Google. Agreed?

MJ

[incrediblehelp]

So building a directory then? No.

You have to look at this from a Google perspective. A page full of links simply is not ideal for end users. Of course if this page full of links that have a ton of backlinks then the page itself can rank and then deliver some link juice if the links are all targeted on on relevant topic. How much? My bet would be not much at all.

Of course we know most link pages seem to be just a list of reciap links dealing with all types of business niches. Totally worthless.

[dvduval]

I think a multi-pronged approach is always best.
Don't depend on a single strategy
1. Submit to directories and get one-way links
2. Exchange links with sites in your niche (but not with just anyone that wants to trade links).
3. Write articles that are worth reading so people will actually WANT to link to them.
4. Create strong sub-sections of your site that are a great resource of their own. For example, maybe people would be willing to link to your blog or directory that is in a sub folder.

[fctoma]

Originally Posted by incrediblehelp

Of course we know most link pages seem to be just a list of reciap links dealing with all types of business niches. Totally worthless.

Really have to disagree here, as far as "totally worthless". Even in Cutt's blog, Google Webmaster forum, the various SEO podcasts says it's ok and a good practice to have an HTML page with links to other pages within your site. Whether it be to other directories in your site, or a listing of pages, broken down by categories.

This helps in two ways; for SE spiders checking out the site. (yes, I know a sitemap.xml or txt does the same), but there is ABSOLUTELY NOTHING wrong with an HTML Page of links or a online sitemap. The second reason is for your visitors. I'm sure you've clicked on a site map of a web site before... hopefully viewing a nice categorized group of links.

Another reason, a GREAT place for your 404 redirect. What better then to display a "map" of your site to someone who came to a page no longer their, or typed in wrong.

Worthless? no... helpful... YES

[incrediblehelp]

fctoma, your totally confusing two different pages. I personal feel reciprocal link pages are worthless. Yes SE's and other SEO websites may have said they are OK, but how much will it help with your SEO? My opinion is not much at all.

OK now this reciprocal link page has nothing to do with sitemap or list of internal pages on your website. This shouldn't even be on the same page as the reciprocal linking page anyways.

Please don't confuse the two as they serve two very different purposes.

[weslinda]

In my opinion, link pages are a thing of past, in terms of simply providing a list of "other options". Only in extremely rare cases are these even used, and more importantly, links should flow in your content.

Anytime you can spread links deep into your content and get links to your deep content, then your life is bound to improve.

There is really only one real question here. What is best for your vistior? Would they expect the link to be within an article they are reading, or on a link page. With the attention span of most vistors today, on page links are the only way to go.

Build them into your content and make them solid links to high quality content.

[iowarth]

Originally Posted by incrediblehelp

So building a directory then? No.

You have to look at this from a Google perspective. A page full of links simply is not ideal for end users. ..........

On this occasion I am replying exclusively as an end user. I find that as a search engine Google is the best of a bad bunch. Almost all of my searching relates to wildlife conservation and bio-science in which it is barely adequate and gets its ordering totally inappropriate most of the time. And in these fields - ie NOT selling products, a page of relevant outbound links is the single most useful thing those sites can offer outside the content itself. Methinks "selling" sites and informative sites actually need totally different ways of indexing.

Chris

[mjtaylor]

Originally Posted by weslinda

In my opinion, link pages are a thing of past, in terms of simply providing a list of "other options". Only in extremely rare cases are these even used, and more importantly, links should flow in your content.

Also as an end user, I must disagree. In my non-working life, I spend a lot of time researching things that interest me and I *often* use the "other" links pages, as they are usually a much better collection of relevant sites than the rest of Google's results ...

As a web developer I will continue to develop directories and resource pages for visitors on client sites; I do believe Google sees those as valuable and gives weight to a site for providing a strong collection of relevant information. I think Google loves outbound links.
And even if I am wrong, I believe those sorts of links pages are good visitor info.

During the recent PR update I saw links pages lose their PR where the links were largely reciprocal, but pages that had more outbound than recip links seemed to retain PR.

Just my opinion, MJ

[weslinda]

Except that it is odd that I look for these "link lists" and most people that create these don't keep them on topic. Sure a list isn't bad, but from an SEO point of view, I'm not sure how solid they are versus intermingling links into your content.

You want each page to get some of that outbound link love also. If you are linking to reputable sites, you want to do this from deep content and within the context of a relevant article.

This is the entire point of social and viral marketing. Blogging lives off of the philosophy of interlinking sites. I don't see these huge lists on the large sites that people are trafficking on a daily basis.

[cvos]

I always recommend to clients that they get as many deep links as possible. Linking to internal pages is natural and important for the semantic web to remain alive.

If subpages are not linked to, vast amounts of information will not be available to search engines.

[craigmn3]

Think Globally.

Discern where to invest the majority of your SEOpportunities...but give NOTHING up. Even if you leave an area alone for a whileit will continue to garner benefits.

If you pick up every coin you find on the ground as you walk the path you will have a happy piggy bank

[stuart888]

Completely agree with removing link exchange pages, as the value they provide relative to the time wasted is worthless. Sites like these are a better method. But even better, is put some serious thought into how to push real value to your read community. Outstanding content will get IBLs by themselves. Finding relationships with other similar sites, deep content exchanges are ok as well.

[Adam_S.]

First of all I've been doing link trading for years and, if done properly, does work. I don't create pages just for links, what I do is create content pages that I can place relevant contextual links on - this is good for the user and good for the internet. I also place contextual links in relevant blogs. I'm able to do all this with a great tool called lavalinx. It allows you to do reciprocal, triangle and parallel trades.

There's a lot of talk about IBLs from link baiting and viral methods, but in these efforts, for the most part, you don't get backlinks with your targeted keyword phrases. I'd rather use methods that will get me ranked for particular keyword phrases than methods that just get my company name or domain ranked.

[espectations]

I have been doing away with link exchanges as to me it is a waste of time. I have been writing articles with links to internal pages and a little box with relevant outbound links now for the last two years and those pages never moved as far as pagerank is concerned.

Proof of the pudding lies in the eating and this has been time well spent with results that work for me so I will continue to do that.

My sites are up for redesign etc. and there would be no link pages on the new sites - I would rather put the links on relevant pages with content and advise the link exchange companies that their links moved.

[brucet]

Link pages mean little to nothing for ranking purposes any more.

If that's true, how come so many of the top pages on Google contain nothing but links? Our own links page ranks very highly on Google for relevant searches. I think the issue is the quality and relevance of the links. Links should be placed on, and point to, relevant pages. If the most relevant page is a deep page, put the link there. If it's appropriate to have a page with nothing but links - for example, if you are a pet shop, and you want to set up a page that points to further sources of information about rabbits - then do it.

Search engines try to anticipate what their users (who are also your users) are looking for. So whatever is appropriate for your users will be appropriate for SEO as well.

[steverobinson]

its true that link building and optimization both is important

[steverobinson]

link tracking, link exchange, link building all is very helpful in encreasing the ranking

[Chris]

brucet, i've heard Yahoo and Goog engineers basically say they don't even pay attention to link pages anymore... they get crawled and usually ignored. however, they do still have value, like mjtaylor said, for the end user/visitor.

if i'm on a site of interest and they still have a links page, i'll check it out to see if there's a site i'm missing out on.

but for ranking purposes, they might as well be invisible.

[marcel]

Get as many deep links as possible. Buy them, ask for them, exchange favors to get them.

To replace recicprocal link, try exchanging favors.

If you want to offer a links page, go ahead it's your website. Just keep it obviously relevant and useful.

[DaveHoffmann]

Link pages is actually something that comes from a time when there was no search engines.
I can remember back in 1994 we really needed them to get to know other sites.
But now I try to put all links that are relevant to the content on those pages where they fit best.
Only things that I cannot put anywhere else I put in a "links page".

[kgun]

Originally Posted by weslinda

Anytime you can spread links deep into your content and get links to your deep content, then your life is bound to improve.

Even if XML Linking Language (XLink) Version 1.0 has been slow to take off it may revolutionize the way we browse the world. Webapplications will be more important, and then SEO will be more difficult since pages is no longer unique. With XML driven sites, where XLink will be an important part, content will be linked into your documents without having to refresh the page. But links are content that may make your site more valuable for the surfer.

Related WPW thread:
AJAX and SEO.

Related Links:
Scroll down to XLink or (CTRL + F + XLink) Two times

Other links to programming tools on OopSchool.com

[logodesign77]

WOW.... great replys and comments. I appreciate your input. I have been thinking about this in depth and I think I am going to take a new approach (at least for me) in obtaining inbound quality links.

I am going to start writing articles on my blog and then submit them to digg, delicious, etc... in hopes they get picked up. Once they get picked up then hopefully other sites will want to sample it and then link back from their pages....

See how that goes..........

[weslinda]

Logo, let us know how it works out. Solid content always wins out.

[kgun]

May be a good resource and inspiration: http://www.binarything.com/binarythi...DavidLowe1.pdf

If you know mathematical set theory, this is not difficult. You use XPath, XPointer and XLink on XML documents and their nodes etc.

Find more resources on my site:
Digital Start NET. Help desk on web marketing, SEO, SEM, MySQL, PHP and object oriented programming at digitalstart.net

[Webnauts]

I thought of sharing with you here an excellent article about linking strategies I was reading last night: Avoiding Low-Quality Links and Link Networks

[kgun]

John, quote from that article:
"One common signal of low-value links is a situation where they are from a network of sites, all owned by a single person or company. These sites will often posses the same look and feel, in addition to the same common backlinks. Often, these sites were created for the sole purpose of selling links. If a company tells you it can get you 50 links by next week on 50 different sites, that very company will most likely own the sites".

Here
DigitalLogistikk, digital kommunikasjon, informasjon og data fra et til annet sted
is a link to an article, XML driven sites ("XML drevne nettsider"). Even if the article is in Norwegian, I hope that you understand what it is about and that you find the links in that article valuable.