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Tag: inbound links

  • A Link is a Link – Even NoFollows

    When we talk SEO with our clients or potential clients, the topic of link-building will undoubtedly come up. And this conversation always gets into “what is a good link.”

    There are plenty of other articles on what signifies a quality link (relevant website, high ranking pages, in-content links, etc.), but what a lot of people seem to throw in the mix is their disregard to attaining links on sites that place the “nofollow” tag on them.

    If you are unfamiliar with nofollow, it’s basically a tag a webmaster can place on a link to direct a search engine away from following it.

    This was originally designed for bloggers who wanted to control their comment spam from people/robots attempting to artificially increase inbound links to irrelevant, often illegible websites (think: Viagra and replica watches). The nofollow attribute eventually became a tool for SEOs to sculpt the link value flow on their own sites in an attempt to increase the value of each page while retaining the ability to link to other pages internally.

    So, by placing a nofollow attribute on a link, you are keeping the “link juice” from spreading to other pages/sites. Being that inbound links have such a determining factor on your search engine rankings, it became something of a turnoff for link-builders.

    But we don’t follow this same thought. If you think about it, links are supposed to provide more information on a topic, or point visitors to other sites that may be of use. If you set aside search engine rankings for a moment, and remember that the point is to increase traffic to your site, then there may be many sites out there from which a link would be of great value.

    So don’t discount an opportunity to gain a link from a site simply because it would be “nofollowed.” Before Google came along and we realized how important links were to our rankings, this is how we gianed traffic anyway.

    As long as the link is relevant and offers the searcher value in some way, we say get all the links you can. A qualified visitor from another website is just as important as that of a search engine.

  • A Free (sorta) .EDU Link » SEO Factor

    « I’m Back – Header Tags and SEO » 26 June 2007

    I first read about Adison University’s blog offering from Cristian Mezei at SEOPedia. Apparently, you can sign up for $25 a month, and get your very own blog with a .edu domain. You could setup a blog, get some text on there, and link it to your main site/blog for the almighty .edu link. This, I think, is great marketing by the folks at Adison; targeting the “SEO savvy.” But those that are just a bit more “savvy” will know that there is just one problem… .edu’s don’t help.

    That’s not to say a link from a .edu or .gov won’t be very helpful, but there is no special attention or reward given to inbound links from these sites. There has always been this myth that getting a link from a .edu or .gov domain would yield higher rewards, with the thought that (and rightfully so) in order to get one of these domains an organization has to adhere to a set of rules or guidelines, thus inherently proving it’s authority to the search engines, and boosting the validity of a link.

    This is a great idea, but Matt Cutts himself has gone on record several times debunking this myth. However, .edu and .gov links are indeed very sought after, even by SEO’s that know the truth. Why? Well, .edu and .gov sites are normally very established and usually have a great deal of link popularity. So, if a link is given to a site, so is that large amount of link juice.

    Always keep this in mind when perusing your links. It’s not that .edu’s and .gov’s get a magical boost, it’s just that they gain a lot of popularity. That being said, a link from the above mentioned blog would be no more useful than any other blog.

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  • SEO Factor Blog

    October 7, 2006 One of the terms used a great deal in the SEO industry is “PageRank.” PageRank is basically Google’s way of telling how “important” a page is. It is often thought that a good PageRank will inherently mean a good ranking. This is not so…sorta.

    Google’s PageRank is determined primarily on quality inbound links, sometimes called “Link Popularity.” There is a neat little explanation of the algorithm used to determine PageRank here for all you math enthusiasts out there. It’s a good read, but gets deep. One thing on this. For your PR to increase, the site linking to you will need to have a good ranking and be a relevant website.

    Now, PR does not mean that you will rank higher in Google, it just means that you have the proper criteria for inbound links, which means you will rank higher in Google. Funny huh? There is a lot of debate on whether you should consider a website’s PR before exchanging links with them. Nobody can give an exact answer for sure, because nobody knows. I can tell you that considering the algorithm, and logic, the theory is sound to me.

    I do indeed use the PR as a way of seeing if my SEO methods are working. Not the first way, and not the most important, but a way. You can check your, and other site’s PR with Google’s Toolbar.

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