Sierra Nomad — Mon, 22 Oct 2007 10:58:54 +0000

mandyjb;225521 wrote: A links page with a few relevant links is better than a links page or directory with links that do not even have the same theme as your site.

Monitor your links and be choosy!

Megan;225527 wrote: You do need good links just not exchanged links (or bought links, or links you put there yourself).

I do think there is value in creating a real partnership between sites where you link to each other more heavily.

Thank you both for the tips.

Jon

Megan — Sun, 21 Oct 2007 13:43:20 +0000

Sierra Nomad;225519 wrote: Wow! That's food for thought. In the past I've spent a lot of time & energy trying to get good links. I was getting ready to do so again, guess I'll have to rethink where to spend my energy. Thanks Megan!

You do need good links just not exchanged links (or bought links, or links you put there yourself).

I do think there is value in creating a real partnership between sites where you link to each other more heavily. We have noticed a beneift in our three sites being strongly tied to each other (TWF, A Padded Cell, and my blog). But this is more than a link exchange it's a strong connection with frequent linking back and forth.

linking

mandyjb — Sun, 21 Oct 2007 04:37:29 +0000

The best thing to do is to exchange links (not too many) with sites that have the same theme as your site. I get a lot of link exchange offers by email from sites that do not even compare to my sites theme. I also get a lot of these three way linking offers which i always ignore. I am very picky about who i exchange links with and i always keep a record of the sites i exchange with. These are checked weekly, and if i find my link not present on their site then their link is automatically deleted. I find that some sites, offer a link exchange (theme relevant) and within a week they have deleted my link for one reason. I have a link page rank 3 and they have 0. They want a one way link from a ranked link page to boost their ranking. I find this quite often. Their link is obviously deleted immediately. Don't get caught out. I once emailed a site that had done this, i got the reply, i am sorry, i have too many links and i can not keep count. You must monitor your links so that sites with loads and loads of links do not keep up this cheat. A links page with a few relevant links is better than a links page or directory with links that do not even have the same theme as your site.
I have come across link pages that have four or five relevant links on with a page rank 4 or 5 as opposed to a page with lots of links on that has a page rank 0.

Monitor your links and be choosy!

Sierra Nomad — Sun, 21 Oct 2007 02:57:34 +0000

Wow! That's food for thought. In the past I've spent a lot of time & energy trying to get good links. I was getting ready to do so again, guess I'll have to rethink where to spend my energy. Thanks Megan!

Megan — Sat, 20 Oct 2007 18:02:51 +0000

Sierra Nomad;225501 wrote: !! Are you saying that even high quality links don't have a bearing on your google ranking?.

For reciprocals I think it sort of depends. If they are obvious reciprocals (site-wide, or on a page with lots of other links) then they probably aren't worth much. If they seem natural then it might be okay. It is natural for sites to link to each other but not as a traditional "link exchange".

Remember that Google doesn't want to count anything that is not a natural link (editorially given on the basis of merit). So they are going to try to devalue anything that isn't - reciprocals, paid links, anything you may have created yourself (forum signatures etc.)

Sierra Nomad — Sat, 20 Oct 2007 14:45:28 +0000

JeevesBond;225498 wrote: Google is ignoring link exchanges these days anyway.

!! Are you saying that even high quality links don't have a bearing on your google ranking?

Megan: Yes, that concerned me, too.

Megan — Sat, 20 Oct 2007 13:13:44 +0000

What he said

The other thing you should be concerned about is that these sites aren't connected to bad neighbourhoods (spam, porn etc.). If they are your site could be penalized for being connected to them.

JeevesBond — Sat, 20 Oct 2007 08:47:48 +0000

We always ignore those link exchanges anyway, they tend to be low quality and Google is ignoring link exchanges these days anyway. You might well be right though, it could be a new scam, although I've always thought those e-mail link exchanges were dodgy.