Links 101 – Puritans, The Puerile & Pragmatic
Links, and the acquisition thereof, is a subject which has accumulated vast misunderstandings and no end of illogical pontificating. This is not entirely unusual in SEO circles, where the ill-informed preach to the unenlightened on a daily basis. Conspiracy theories notwithstanding, there is a general lack of comprehension on how to achieve real value from efforts expended on gaining links. Everyone agrees they’re needed… but that’s about where consensus ends… There are three main schools of thought – the puritanical, the puerile and the pragmatic…
The Puritanical View
Only GOOD links are good! All links to your site should be from sites specifically relevant to your site. Links from non-relevant sites will put a world of hurt on you. Quality is crucial! Or Google will disinherit you, banish you, consign your site to galactic oblivion etc. Build wonderful content, and links to it will come as of right… These people are muesli-munchers – vagrant vegetarians who view the world in a mosaic of black and white…
The Puerile View
You desperately NEED links! Leave no stone unturned. Get links from anyone, anywhere, anytime… infiltrate forums, buy links, babble out blog comments, gush into guest books – use any means to get links back to your site… Never mind that inserting your links into someone’s website without asking is plain rude… These people are unshaven vodka-drinkers, viewing the world dimly through fake Raybans… dismal, and bereft of class…
The Pragmatist’s View
The truth lies like a mid-river island emerging from the murky waters, protruding clearly and plainly mid-stream…
Personally, I think the puritanical view is as relevant to SE rankings as vegetarianism is to good health. Many sites selling products or providing services are never going to naturally accumulate links in any significant volume. The puerile view is discourteous, frequently offensive, and in the long term, counter-productive.
So… What to do?
At the outset of a website’s life cycle, the world is unaware of its existence. Incoming links will not happen by a process of osmosis, and the theory of divine intervention is (as yet) unproven. Still, links are crucial. A website cannot achieve any prominence without incoming links or, more to the point, relevant keywords within anchor text in incoming links.
Don’t Spam
My advice is to certainly avoid the blatant spam approach. Don’t begin any journey by alienating anyone. Don’t go and buy a link-builder software program that is guaranteed to streamline the process of building links with similar sites… the conversion ratio is far, far worse than pay-per-click advertising and even more costly! Don’t buy links specifically to increase your Page Rank – Google is deeply offended by that. On the other hand, you could buy into an exorbitant site review that might get you included into a prominent directory (or two)… And, if approved, such a link might inadvertently increase your Page Rank. Apparently, that’s ok… which is why the puritanical can’t get their head around this stuff – there are 256 shades of grey at work in here…
Build 1-Way Incoming Links With Keywords in Anchor Text
Everyone says that’s what you have to do… Applied logic would suggest that what you ought to do is consider who on earth wants or needs links, gives them away for free, and is likely to have pages or sections of content relevant to your site’s focus. Impossible, I hear you say? Simplistic, far too easy, I hear you scoff… Au contraire!
Since the web began life as a few optimistic IP packets seeking to connect intelligent life-forms across vast distances, the very first source of relevancy has been web directories. By definition, a web directory describes the “Who & What” and tells you the “Where!” Some of the earliest examples are still in existence – notably Yahoo and Open Directory. Respectively, they are excessively expensive and virtually impenetrable. They both still wield considerable power with blithe indifference to what’s really required, remaining resolutely devoid of customer focus… After a decade of observing no discernible improvement in any respect, I think the www would be better off without them. Best render them irrelevant – and if we all ignore them, maybe they’ll go away and re-invent themselves!
There are many other directories – optimistic, welcoming, organised, nurturing and practical, catering for both general and niche areas. Many are desperately in need of good quality listings as a path to growth, and onwards to fame and fortune. Seek them out!
Your goal is to get your site listed in a compatible category, nestled comfortably with sites offering similar products and services. Relevancy personified… A description encapsulating your reason for existence helps – nothing warm and fuzzy! Crisp, to the point, with an “exact match” high-search-volume keyword phrase foremost in the title – but only if its written to make sense. And don’t settle for one title – by all means, create and use a handful of relevant title & description combinations that expand the keywords the search engines will find pointing to your site.
“Wrong” Links Will Hurt You? Yeah, Right…
Regardless of the opposing views, simple logic should tell you that its quite unlikely for a normal, mainstream link-building strategy to visit harm upon you.
- Lets get real here – this is how links have been garnered since the inception of the Internet. Its a basic, fundamental process of indexing www content. How could it be “bad” to be listed in web directories?
- In the main, a directory assesses site quality before inclusion in their listings. Human-edited listings are the hallmark of a good directory, intended to provide users with the most relevant sources of information, products and services. Why would such a link be a bad thing???
If such links could hurt you, then your shadiest competitors would most certainly spend weeks building directory links in an effort to cause you grievous bodily harm! It would be far easier to shaft you than fix up their own sites…. Don’t for one moment think that some toe-rag has not considered it, tried it and failed…
Frankly, the pointy-heads over at Google are a decidedly smart lot, and are well aware of what the lazy and unscrupulous are capable of… Give the Google-dudes due credit for having the sense to not only be aware of the possibility, but for actually taking some care to protect you from such rancid and distasteful acts.
Fear Not – Go Ye Forth and Multiply
Seek links in appropriate directory categories, particularly in relevant niche directories if they exist. For example, don’t you dare try and list your cattery in a Business-to-Business software category… That would be stupid, and unlikely to be accepted! And don’t cheat… automated directory link submission schemes are a pointless waste of time.
Work is required – an anathema to many! Do your homework, select good directories and seek placement where it will both do you some good, and increase the possibility of acceptance.
Exchange Links
Don’t be frightened to exchange links with other sites, especially where there is a commonality of interest. Car sales and car insurance – boats and motors – houses and mortgages… obvious relationships are reputedly better, although proving that theory is harder than you might imagine. Prophylactic avoidance of link farms, web rings and FFA link schemes is patently sensible – their glory days are long, long gone the way of hidden text and 1×1 pixel images…
But if Aunty Ethel wants a link to her travel blog – hell, by all means do the old biddy a favour! Maybe your visitors will get a vicarious chuckle over her exploits and thank you for it! Maybe Aunty Ethel will leave you a pile of folding stuff in her will, a fond recompense for your charitable act…
Sure, those reciprocal links might not be quite as valuable as 1-way incoming links from a high-profile directory. But they are natural, useful, and public-spirited. Reach out a helping hand to your fellow man…
Think of links as being more like an investment portfolio! Some items have a higher price coupled with a long-term return – such as expensive review for the Yahoo Directory. Some items are minimal cost, minimal return… reciprocal links fit this group. Some are volatile, capable of good rewards but transient – social bookmarking links being one example. Some are solid, hard work, modest and unexciting – like article marketing…
Any sensible link strategy should include a broadening spread of links – and don’t sweat the small stuff…
Link Value in SEO Campaigns
Links Defined
Link – a textual or image link TO another site – usually included for the benefit of your visitors because it contains important information relevant to your product or service. Usually set to open in a new window so visitors don’t “lose” your site when they open the link. Outward links are of minimal value to your search engine rankings – unless you have a lot of them relating to a common “theme” – in which case your site might be perceived as an “Information Hub” for referrals on a specific topic.
For example, it might be appropriate for a medical-related site to provide links to support groups, goverment/health agencies, doctors and pharmacies with whom they work etc.
Affiliate Link
You place a link to a provider in order to make a commission out of selling their product/service to your visitors. There is zero value in terms of search engine rankings. And of course, there is no point linking to them if you are not going to sign up and sell their products! 
BACK LINKS:
Reciprocal Links
Where two sites agree to provide LINKS TO EACH OTHER for mutual exchange of visitors, and to increase the relative importance of both sites by increasing total incoming link count. Reciprocal links have value in terms of improving search engine rankings, although this value has diminished in recent times. It is still a “natural” form of linking and should not be avoided – just apply this test – “Will the link lead to relevant information, of value and interest to my site’s visitors?”
If the answer is yes, then by all means exchange links. Done properly, constrained to sites with a similar theme, this may also lead to your site being perceived as an “Information Hub” for referrals on a specific topic.
1-Way Back Link
A link to your site, not requiring a link in return. These are the most valuable form of linking in terms of search engine rankings. Usually these are from clients – e.g. a manufacturer such as Sony/Toyota/Kodak will have a gazillion 1-way back links from retailers, users etc, as will government agencies, airlines, academic institutions etc. This can lead to your site appearing to be an “Authority” on a specific topic.
In most normal web site situations, your main source of good 1-way back links will be Web Directories. In these, a listing in the most relevant category can provide a very valuable “reference” or “testimonial” for your site. Because most directories are human-edited, the search engines place greater value on such links and the well established ones are often regarded by the search engines as “trusted sites.” The more important the directory, the greater the value. In the case of Google, they place huge importance on a site’s inclusion in The Open Directory, and also in the Yahoo Directory… It is important to select the most relevant category in which to have your site included – the content of the page in which the link is contained may also be assessed. 
Changes To The Way SE’s Evaluate Links
Google bases approx 50% of its assessment of your site relevancy to a specific search on the site’s that link to you, and on the words contained in the links pointing to your site.
Yahoo has recently filed for patents for technology similar to Google’s Page Rank assessment mechanism, and is expected to gradually implement a similar emphasis on incoming link quality.
It is important to specify HOW the link to you should be implemented on other sites – and to that end I always add a “Link To Us” page on any site I work on, which specifies the exact wording to be used on links TO you.
