Can links hurt ?

[rommany]

Hi guys

 

I keep getting asked to swap links with the same old rubbish eg i like you site and have bookmarked it and recommend it to friends and blah blah blah, but when i look at where my link would go on their site it has nothing to do with what i sell, they sell eg computer software and i sell baby clothes ;)

 

But they do have a good pr of around 4/5 for the page but loads of links well over 30, so would this hurt my future pr :(

 

many thanks :thumbsup:

[richandzhaoyan]

Hi David,

 

I am no expert, so dont take this as gospel but I would not personally bother with that kind of campaign.

 

From what I have read, there are two things that count against it - Firstly, as you say, with 30 links coming off the page, you will not gain alot from it and secondly, as you also state, it is a link swap - Again, from what I have read, a link that works both ways, ie they link you, you link them, aint worth alot.

 

My store has been live for over a year now - I got lucky at the start by getting accepted into the ODP and paid to enter the yahoo directory and at the first shout recieved a PR5 from the big G. (I believe part of this is down to the size of my product base and hence alot of internal links as well).

 

Since then, getting listed in a whole host of free directories and other places has not changed the PR - Still, it may have improved my rankings, hard to tell.

 

What does improve your rankings is the other SEO strategies - Usual stuff, lots written about it on this forum - content, page header, URL's. Check out a few other threads on this forum for some very good advice.

 

Plus, if you do get links, then by all accounts it is the anchor text which is all important, so if you are going to go for link strategies put some thought into the keywords you are after, ie. for my site I would want the link text to read "online gift shop" rather than the name of my site.

 

Cheers,

Rich

[Jack_mcs]

Hi guys

 

I keep getting asked to swap links with the same old rubbish eg i like you site and have bookmarked it and recommend it to friends and blah blah blah, but when i look at where my link would go on their site it has nothing to do with what i sell, they sell eg computer software and i sell baby clothes  ;)

 

But they do have a good pr of around 4/5 for the page but loads of links well over 30, so would this hurt my future pr  :(

 

many thanks :thumbsup:

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

The purpose of swapping links is to improve your Page Rank (PR). PR is only determined by the number of links to your page. Google does check the quality of the link. So you are better off if the backlinks are related to your site. How it affects your site is hard to say. If you compare no links at all to only a list of unrelated links, then the unrelated links are better for you. If you compare a list of unrelated links to a list of related links, the related links are better for you. At what point does a mixture of the two start hurting you? I don't think anyone, besides google, knows. I would try to limit unrelated links to sites with PR 4 or higher and wouldn't link to unrelated sites with a PR less than yours.

 

Jack

[rommany]

Thanks guys

 

That help alot, think i will stick too only related links, dont see any point in swapping links with a site that the customers would not be intrested in what i have anyway.

 

kind regards

[Guest]

Thanks guys

 

That help alot, think i will stick too only related links, dont see any point in swapping links with a site that the customers would not be intrested in what i have anyway.

 

kind regards

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Rommany,

 

There may be a few other things to consider...

 

First, I'm in the business of link building so I certainly have a prejudice about link building and link popularity.

 

Second, our company has a multitude of clients with top 10 rankings in the major search engines (e.g. Google, Yahoo!, AOL and MSN).

 

Based on the results we have achieved in search engine rankings and the amount of sales our clients have achieved along the way, I would ask you to reconsider who you link with and why. Themed links are best (given). The question is what makes a themed link?

 

Knowing the characteristics of your clientele goes along way in determining what "other" products and services they purchase which can tell you who to link with while not creating a conflict of interest between you and those trading links with you.

 

Also, getting links from sites that seemingly have no direct relationship can still add to your overall ranking positions (not to be confused with Google PageRank - PR) which leads to others finding you at the top of the Search Engine Ranking Positions "SERPs".

 

I am not suggesting linking with adult sites, gambling sites, etc. but, you may not want to dismiss other "quality" sites wanting to trade links with you quite so quickly.

 

As for trading links holding less value, there is a certain lessening effect for outbound links considered by the major search engines. Most top level "real SEOs" consider trading links with website pages (not just the homepage url) having PR value and fewer than 100 outbound links (ideally considerably less) with some specifing PR value of 4+ and outbound links of <30. The higher the PR value and the lower the outbound links the better.

 

An even better solution is getting inbound only links due to articles you many have out on the web pointing back to your site page(s) and/or others pointing to your site because of great content (given fact). Another way to achieve higher level results is through 3-way or multi-way links (e.g. site 1 links to site 2 which links to site 3 which links back to site 1). There are a number of SEOs who use this technique within their own sites to help each other out.

 

The problems arise when too much of those links are which a give class C IP address group and/or the primary search engines consider them a "link farm" (bad!!!). This is why getting 3-way and multi-way links via trades with a wide variety of sites works best overall.

 

There are a number of things to consider with link popularity and the SERPs which is why so many turn to professional SEOs. Some may say they do so because of ignorance. That may be true for a percentage but, the fact is that there are a number of professional SEOs achieving top rankings for themselves and their clients. This is not by mistake or happen chance! IMHO :thumbsup:

[rommany]

Thank you michael,

 

That was a great read, if i get stuck with a bad pr and SERPs over the next few months would it be ok for us to talk money?

 

Im not taking it as a sales pitch but it sounds good to me.

 

Kind regards