Linking and SEO

[SoftWareRevue]

...

You could start a thread here about a specific aspect of SEO, and we could all join in. :)

LoisOkay. :angel:


It's been my understanding that more incoming links = greater SEO.

Does anyone know if it helps to link back to the links that are coming in?

That's it. Pretty basic. :)

[Scott]

It's been my understanding that more incoming links = greater SEO.

That's my understanding too. It's not the only factor, but it's probably the biggest one.

Does anyone know if it helps to link back to the links that are coming in?

This is an interesting suggestion, but I don't think that it helps much, if at all. However, as with everything in the SEO world, not many people know exactly what's going on. :think:

[TheDPQ]

From what i understand linking only effect other people's PR not yours. Not sure what it does for SEO.

My sister's website has maybe no linking, but she got a lot of hits from google (mostly all from typos).

Link effects PR. PR effects your SEO. Content and PR decide your listing. No one knows exactly how, why, or how much. A lot of it is guesswork.

[Brandon]

It seems to to me that one means to enhance your PR is to post the Reciprocal Link URL of listed sites; ensures that Google will find your link on sites that are listed in your directory. Backlinks figure highly in the calculation of PR. What I have done is to add the following to link.tpl, to accompany each listing:


I removed the code, cuz it doesn't matter here

Precaution so that Google will find your link on sites linked to in your directory in case the Google robot misses them for whatever reason when spidering the sites.

source (http://www.phplinkdirectory.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1516)

if you don't understand, he is talking about showing a link back to the site that is linking to you. I think this makes since to me if you are linking back to the page your link is on.... hope it helps in your question

[B33R]

Be very careful with link backs. With Google, PR is measured by incoming links but they also weigh your the pages content to check the quality of links and content.

If you're linked back to some crappy link dump it may negatively (or at least, not positively) affect your ranking.

PageRank Explained

PageRank relies on the uniquely democratic nature of the web by using its vast link structure as an indicator of an individual page's value. In essence, Google interprets a link from page A to page B as a vote, by page A, for page B. But, Google looks at more than the sheer volume of votes, or links a page receives; it also analyzes the page that casts the vote. Votes cast by pages that are themselves "important" weigh more heavily and help to make other pages "important."

Important, high-quality sites receive a higher PageRank, which Google remembers each time it conducts a search. Of course, important pages mean nothing to you if they don't match your query. So, Google combines PageRank with sophisticated text-matching techniques to find pages that are both important and relevant to your search. Google goes far beyond the number of times a term appears on a page and examines all aspects of the page's content (and the content of the pages linking to it) to determine if it's a good match for your query. http://www.google.com/technology/

As far as I know, PR isn't affected by link backs because they check for "votes" for another page then the PR is based on how good the content and links are.
The better and more relevant your content and incoming links, the higher your Pagerank, and then, the higher the Pagerank of the site you're linked to.

Two "bad" sites linking to each other won't get a very good PR trade from each other because their content is poor, however, two good sites will.
You really want to go for quality over quantity especially when it comes to Google.
Don't just go submit to every linkdump out there, linking to other sites with good content will be better for your search engine ranking.

/me wonders if we need a test... :spin:

EDIT: Yahoo's the same.

When you search on Yahoo!, our search engine instantly searches and sorts billions of web documents, makes a decision on each one's comparative relevancy to your search query, and offers these web pages as ranked results. Search engines don't have the ability to ask questions, so they rely on the search terms you enter to interpret and determine the intent of your search.

Yahoo! Search ranks results according to their relevance to a particular query by analyzing the web page text, title and description accuracy as well as its source, associated links, and other unique document characteristics.
http://help.yahoo.com/help/us/ysearch/ranking/ranking-01.html

[TheDPQ]

Found this
http://www.hostingtech.com/?m=show&id=1210

I don't know how true it is, but there you go. Found it on the WHT newsletter.
9. Linking to Bad Neighborhoods

Link campaigns are good thing when done correctly; we would say they are a necessity in today's SEO world. But linking to bad neighborhoods are a sure way to lose your rank in Google. If you aren't careful about who you are linking to you can easily disappear overnight. Basically, while you may be ethical and do everything right linking to someone who isn't can be considered guilt by association. Always verify your links to other sites. Make sure they have page rank in Google and are indexed by Google. Try searching for their URL to see if they are indexed. Avoid linking to any sites that use spamming techniques to increase their search engine rankings. Regularly checking outbound links from your site and removing any offenders is a good idea.

[SoftWareRevue]

I started this topic when I discovered that microsoft.com was linking to one of my domains as a resource for their clients.

So I was interested in learning if it helped my domain with just having microsoft link to it.

I suppose it does. The thing that I was thinking is, whether or not me linking back to them would help.

I don't really think so. :banghead:

[Lurker]

I suppose it does. The thing that I was thinking is, whether or not me linking back to them would help.

I don't really think so. :banghead:
Would that be the bad neighborhood that TheDPQ was referring to? :nuts:

[sabian1982]

It's been my understanding that more incoming links = greater SEO.

Right, SEO stands for search engine optimisation - the actual process of improving your website/forum for better results in the search engines. More incoming links does not therefore mean greater SEO (as SEO is the process), it does however mean better results in the SERPs - meaning search engine results page.

PR/Page Rank (a grading system updated on roughly a 3 monthly basis by google) consists of various factors. Both content and the number of backlinks are just two areas of SEO that allow you to increase you PR and SERPs.

[Webmaster7]

Reciprocal links doesn't help much. Search engines like unbiased reviews from site to site, like you got from Microsoft, so one way links are better.

They don't like link exchanges... they now think that it's a form of gaming results.

Also the quantity doesn't matter, but the quality of the site/page and if it's common topic.