Link question related to Google.

[Gravitate]

Hi,

I have a question about Backward Links (I think that is the term) to my site and how Google view this. I am a web design company in Portland, Oregon and am interested in being found for the keyword phrase "Portland Web Design". Many of my clients kindly provide a link back to my site that says "Website Design by Gravitate Design Studio". We have created 100's of sites that have this exact text linking back to us. I have a couple of questions:

1. Should I use slightly different anchor text in these links? I don't want to do anything spammy, but maybe just have my company name in the URL and the words "Website design" won't be part of the link.

2. Typically, I place this link at the bottom of each page in a client's site as part of the copyright footer. Does it matter if I have links from every page, or is it better to have it from just one?

3. Since many of my clients sites have nothing to do with web design, do I get penalized by Google for having these links, or do they simply give it little weight?

4. I provide links in my portfolio to many of my client's sites, and they link to me. Does Google view this as a link exchange. I don't want to do anything weird that would get any of us penalized.

Anyway, thanks in advance for any info that you might have.

Happy Holidays,
Michael

[fathom]

1. Should I use slightly different anchor text in these links? I don't want to do anything spammy, but maybe just have my company name in the URL and the words "Website design" won't be part of the link.

2. Typically, I place this link at the bottom of each page in a client's site as part of the copyright footer. Does it matter if I have links from every page, or is it better to have it from just one?

3. Since many of my clients sites have nothing to do with web design, do I get penalized by Google for having these links, or do they simply give it little weight?

4. I provide links in my portfolio to many of my client's sites, and they link to me. Does Google view this as a link exchange. I don't want to do anything weird that would get any of us penalized.

Anyway, thanks in advance for any info that you might have.

Happy Holidays,
Michael

1. Add a small graphical logo (maybe 30x30) and use the title="" attribute in link and img alt="" in image reference to vary the phrase consistent with the services you provide.

2. Have the link going to a "on-site" page about your company (on their hosting) about you and what you have provided them and then have this page linking to you.

3. It also adds alot if the website owner offers a testament here... first to ensure the owner acknowledges the practice of "your page on their website" but also validates the relationship the client has with you, and add uniqueness to each page (if many websites are linking to you.

4. Link quality is far more important than link quantity - so don't be greedy - 1 page linking to you off a 100 page website is far more powerful than 100 pages linking to you.

5. Don't forget to offer the similar arrangement to your clients off your site... believe me it does wonders... for both you and them.

[minstrel]

I am a web design company in Portland, Oregon and am interested in being found for the keyword phrase "Portland Web Design". Many of my clients kindly provide a link back to my site that says "Website Design by Gravitate Design Studio". We have created 100's of sites that have this exact text linking back to us. I have a couple of questions:

1. Should I use slightly different anchor text in these links? I don't want to do anything spammy, but maybe just have my company name in the URL and the words "Website design" won't be part of the link.

Hello, Gravitate - welcome to WPW - these are excellent questions and I must say in advance I don't have answers for all of them. Regarding #1, I don't see how it could be or why it would be viewed as a problem - that's who you are and what you do. Many of the links pointing to my site have the same or at least quite similar text in the links and I have seen any harm accruing to me from this.

2. Typically, I place this link at the bottom of each page in a client's site as part of the copyright footer. Does it matter if I have links from every page, or is it better to have it from just one?

This is potentially a different issue - I would think that having the link at the bottom of the home page for each site would be sufficient - having it on every page won't provide any increase in benefit and could conceivably be harmful... best case scenario is it will only be counted as one link to you anyway so why risk it?

3. Since many of my clients sites have nothing to do with web design, do I get penalized by Google for having these links, or do they simply give it little weight?

With the exception of identified link farms, as far as I know there is no way such links can hurt you... but see #2 above.

4. I provide links in my portfolio to many of my client's sites, and they link to me. Does Google view this as a link exchange? I don't want to do anything weird that would get any of us penalized.

I don't have a definitive answer to this one but logically I would see this as a fairly standard and legitimate practice - I don't think you'd be penalized for this (anyone with evidence to the contrary please jump in here!).

[ronniethedodger]

Backward Links is correct. People also use the word "backlinks" as well, and probably use it more.

One thing that was wierd is that I noticed that you have three other Metropolitan areas (NYC, Atlanta, and DC) listed in your footer. So I tried doing a search for all of those cities plus Portland and the words "web design" at Google (I made one long string with all of them, not individually) and your site did not even show up in the results.

One would think that asking for all of those cities should reveal your site. It didn't though.

Then I noticed that the cached version of your Home Page did not have the footer info in it. Some of your other cached pages did. Did you just recently add this to the Home Page. If so, it might take a little while longer to get indexed and show up in the results.

I also noticed that you are not listing Portland (or any other city) in your META description. Is there a reason for that?

You might want to set up some internal City pages. One for each city. And in your footer you could provide links to those internal pages. If you want to be known for the keyword Portland Web Design...then make that the text of the link as well.

1. Should I use slightly different anchor text in these links? I don't want to do anything spammy, but maybe just have my company name in the URL and the words "Website design" won't be part of the link.

I would mix it up. Use variations on the wording and use others too...such as "web development", "e-commerce solutions", "print design", etc. You have more than one service and should not limit your backlinks to just one area.

2. Typically, I place this link at the bottom of each page in a client's site as part of the copyright footer. Does it matter if I have links from every page, or is it better to have it from just one?

I don't know if this is ethical. I am not in this field, and have not noticed how anyone else does it. But, I would leave the link at the bottom of each page. If possible change the wording as in #1 above.

But instead of the link pointing to your site..have it point to a page internal to the site itself. On that page, insert your own promotional content...and link out from there to different sections of your site. Maybe four links to the four main landing pages at your site.

3. Since many of my clients sites have nothing to do with web design, do I get penalized by Google for having these links, or do they simply give it little weight?
You can never go wrong with links! There is no such thing as too many...hehehe, They add weight, the more the merrier.

As for the non-relevancy...I refer you to my response in #2. And btw, if you do that suggestion you might want to mix the wording up or do complete rewrites before attaching to the other sites. Make them unique....and varied. Give Google more content to go with.

4. I provide links in my portfolio to many of my client's sites, and they link to me. Does Google view this as a link exchange. I don't want to do anything weird that would get any of us penalized.

I would not think so. But what you could do...and I have seen this....is keep the page you have as set up, but change the links to internal pages (one for each client).

Then on the internal pages do some little bio piece on each one and put your external link to their site there. This is the same thing that I suggested for your links out on their sites in #2.

...and Happy Holidays to you to !!!

[minstrel]

Wow... it was pretty much a photo finish but at the wire it was:

Win - Fathom
Place - Minstrel
Show - RonnieTheDodger (who as a result of the dodging had to swing wide around that last turn)

[ronniethedodger]

Wow... it was pretty much a photo finish but at the wire it was:

Win - Fathom
Place - Minstrel
Show - RonnieTheDodger (who as a result of the dodging had to swing wide around that last turn)

You had an unfair advantage too....I want my beanie !!!!

That is all too strange, these coming in all at once like that. I knew I should not have paused to go in for another cup of tea...dang. ;0)

[Gravitate]

Had I known you guys would be responding on Christmas Eve I would have stuck around. Thanks RTD (I have been here 2 days and am already throwing around acronymns), Minstrel and Fathom - your knowledge and advice are really appreciated.

Instead of replying back to each of you, I will summarize what I think I will take away:

1. I will change the anchor text of the sites that link back to mine. We do offer many services and we should recognize that in our links.

2. I see why you are advising me to point to internal pages on their site that explains my service and then link out to my site. I would imagine that would give me a lot more relevance when linking to my site. The only issue there is I wonder what my clients would think of this. Having a simple link at the bottom of a page to my site is usually not an issue with any of our clients, but asking for an entire page might be a bit much, but worth asking because it would sure be more useful. Perhaps, I can offer them a small discount for this.

3. I will change it so that I only have one link from their site to mine instead of one from each page. Geez, I am going to have a lot of work to do on some of my existing sites. Sounds like something for an intern...Well, since we don't have an intern I guess it will be up to me!!

4. Fathom, I agree. I offer a link to a lot of my client's sites, though I should probably offer them a page on my site explaining their services, so that they get the benefit of relevancy.

QUESTION: If I have a bunch of 1-page bios on my site of all of my client's sites, would that dilute the overall message of my site?

5. Hi Minstrel, thanks for the kind welcome. I appreciate the clarification about link farms. That makes sense to me.

QUESTION: And this is in a similar vein. I found a tip about listing in directories from a different thread. In Google I did "Web design Portland + ADD URL" to find directories that had to do with Web Design Portland. When I went to these, they all looked a bit spammy, but I guess any directory with 50-100 links of similar companies will. I guess I want to do things the right way and have trouble sometimes differentiating between a Link Farm and a directory. Is it a link farm if they are asking for a reciprical link in return? Sorry, I am gray on this topic!

6. Ronnie, I reread your thread and realized that you answered my question above, I think. I will leave it there in case I have misunderstood, but I think that is what you are saying. Like I said, my only concern would be the dilution of my site "theme".

Thanks again everyone and Happy Holidays!!

Best,
Michael

[ronniethedodger]

Had I known you guys would be responding on Christmas Eve I would have stuck around. Thanks RTD (I have been here 2 days and am already throwing around acronymns), Minstrel and Fathom - your knowledge and advice are really appreciated.

Golly "G" thank you for that complement! Some of us seem to be here 24/7 and I guess that would include Xmas day too.

2. I see why you are advising me to point to internal pages on their site that explains my service and then link out to my site. I would imagine that would give me a lot more relevance when linking to my site. The only issue there is I wonder what my clients would think of this. Having a simple link at the bottom of a page to my site is usually not an issue with any of our clients, but asking for an entire page might be a bit much, but worth asking because it would sure be more useful. Perhaps, I can offer them a small discount for this.

.
.
.
4. Fathom, I agree. I offer a link to a lot of my client's sites, though I should probably offer them a page on my site explaining their services, so that they get the benefit of relevancy.

QUESTION: If I have a bunch of 1-page bios on my site of all of my client's sites, would that dilute the overall message of my site?

I wanted to address these two questions together.

What you basicly have here is more than a link exchange. It is more like a "page exchange" when I look at it. And as such, would be more advantageous to both parties in my opinion.

On the concerns of existing sites or sites that may balk at the one page links, maybe a short one paragraph with link perhaps on either their Contact Page, About Us page, or both of them. This paragraph would be unobtrusive to the viewer, but still picked up on by a spider. At the bottom of all the site pages you would have one of those jump links with the # sign in them...when clicked on, it take you to the internal page at the place where you bio is.

On your site, you can have two type of pages in your portfolio now. Full blown pages that describe what the site is about and what they do (their promo story plus their links, followed by all the techniques that you designed into the site (with links pointing internally to those services). The other type of page would be more like a general links page like you have right now...but fill it with your technical jargon and not theirs.

Thanks again everyone and Happy Holidays!!

You are most welcome again....and bah back atcha! ;0)

[Mukul]

Hi Micheal,

You have the gift of design! I saw your portfolio and you are good.

In case you are targeting to achieve better rankings from the search engines by the method of posting links on your client’s website, you can do the following:

1. Create a case study page for the project in which you describe the website, tools and may be cost of development.

2. On the case study page use the left column to display you list of services with 2-3 lines of text and links to individual section. For example link "web design services" to web design services page and print to print services page only.

3. Do not make generic listings in this case study page like portfolio etc. Try to embed a contact form in the very bottom of the page.

4. Make sure there is no external link going out of this page. All links from this page should point to your domain only.

5. Create a link like "Website Design by Gravitate, Portland" and put this link on the client’s website.

6. This link points to the case study page and not the index page.

Advantages You Get:

1. Since the case study has not external link the incoming PR gets evenly distributed in your own website. The individual services page also gets more PR and your search engine rankings gets better

2. The people who clicks in to you website from the client website are generally people with same interests or business as your client. So they see all your services, your experience, prices and they might just fill out the form.

How to link client’s website from your own?

On the image that you will put in the case study page, open a java script popup with large picture of the destination website. Put three links here:

1. Your Index Page on top in H3 possibly
2. Clients Website in Plain text
3. Your Site Map In plain text

This ensures that with each incoming link of the client you are just sharing 1/3 rd of the PR back.

Happy Holidays to you too.

[Gravitate]

RTD, Thanks for the clarification. Have you coined a new SEO term "page exchange"?? Whatever it is, I think it makes great sense for our company and our customers. I am going to talk to a couple of my clients about this tomorrow to see if we can get that going. This should be a win for both parties if done correctly.

Mukul, if I understand you correctly, you are saying to link from the "Case Study" page

Also, thanks for your kind words about our design ability. Unfortunately, I can take none of the credit. While I am one of the founders of the business, I have absolutely ZERO design sense or ability. I have just been very lucky to have found such fantastic, loyal employees that I have made for the Gravitate team. We have some very talented people and I think it shows in our work. Though, the nice work that you are complementing is, as you can probably tell, not very Search Engine Friendly and as many of the savvy veterans will be quick to point out...it doesn't matter if you have the most beautiful site in the world, if no one can find it, well, it isn't so beautiful. We are now trying to strike a compromise as a company to build site that are aesthetically pleasing AND sites that rank well with the search engines.

I also went to your site and find that for a development company you have a good sense of design style yourselves. I was impressed because I have been looking to outsource a bit of our overflow work and have had trouble finding a Development company whose site was coded in proper HTML. Developers are generally better at making things work than making them look good. It appears you do both. Perhaps we can chat sometime about what your company offers and if there might be a fit for us to work on a couple of projects together.

I feel bad that when I post I get responses in such a short period of time while it takes me the better part of 2 days to respond. Once my in-laws leave I will be able to post more promptly.

Cheers,
Michael