ronin - 1:52 pm on Jan 13, 2004 (gmt 0)

Getting links is all very well, but I wish people would try to get links by developing exceptional content which inspires other sites to link to them rather than sending off a couple of thousand emails every day in a bid to capitalise on the splattergun effect.

I'm _sick to death_ of the emails I get every day informing me of how I much I would benefit if I would exchange links with a given site.

What's the point? Firstly, it utterly devalues PageRank. If anyone here thought Florida was bad, just wait until Google gives up on all incoming links unless they meet a very stringent criteria (eg. coming from companies in the Fortune 500 or sites that are listed in at least four major internet directories).

There is an argument that people who refuse to go out and beg for links and/or link exchanges just aren't with the programme... but every link exchange which is set up predominantly for the benefit of robots just chips away at the value that links once had in defining a worthwhile site... and makes it less likely that links will play much of a prominent role in the future.

By contrast, I think a link exchange with an on-topic site is an excellent method of mutual promotion. But most of the spammy link begging letters I receive are not only off-topic, but obviously generic and I won't waste my time with people who tell me that my site is 'an excellent resource' when it's pretty plain that they haven't even read one page of it (or of the 1000 other sites that they simultaneously sent emails to).

My tip would be: if you have a page which is ranking number one (for the moment) stop worrying about that page, think about the topic, and ask yourself if you can write about a related topic.

For instance, if you are writing about the leading French film directors of the 1960s, why not devote a page or a section to the leading French film directors of the 1970s?

The bottom line is - it's better to be number 6 for 500 relevant words or phrases across 500 pages than number 1 for a single keyphrase on a single page.