Relevant Links

very difficult

[JenniferL]

Hi everyone,
I am finding it increasingly difficult to find relevant link exchanges in my field - maybe that is because I don't have a clear understanding of what would be considered related. I'm an ecommerce, and I sell "bluegifts"(hope that is general enough), so I have been only looking at similar sites - even competition! Would linking to informational sites that may have a few ideas or tips or maybe a recipe, for instance, be considered related? Obviously, I shouldn't be linking to a car dealership, etc, but how far can you stretch "relevant"?

[glengara]

I believe Google Adwords has that suggests related terms.
[adwords.google.com...]

[edited by: martinibuster at 4:26 pm (utc) on July 17, 2004]
[edit reason] added url. [/edit]

[glengara]

Thanks, MB.
JeniferL, the advantage in using this tool is that linking with "matching queries and alternatives" sites would still be deemed relevant/related by G.

[JenniferL]

Thanks so much - that tool is extremely helpful!

[JenniferL]

Bumping this up again because someone told me something I have never heard of before. I was told that it does not matter what site links to you as long as they place your link on the same page as other sites relevant to yours. Has anyone ever heard that?

[martinibuster]

This springs partly from the idea that most search engines put websites through the algorithmic blender page by page. So, if you have a great website about red widgets, it doesn't mean your single page about blue widgets is going to be penalized because the rest of the site is about red widgets. The widget pages stand or not based upon their own merits.

Thus, if a link to your Alphabet Website is on a page about alphabets (located within a website about Chocolate Automobiles), it's not going to suffer any kind of link deprecation or devaluation due to irrelevance of the website as a whole.

The other part of this springs from the idea that links from on topic pages have more relevance and pass full popularity (as opposed to a deprecated or no link pop).

There is another line of thinking that pages named Links may be like ducks with bullseyes painted on their backs. So it's preferable that your link resides on a page dedicated and titled to something relevant to your website as opposed to, Links.

Anybody else want to add to this list? There's more to be said, I'm sure.

[JenniferL]

Thank you for that explanation. I can't tell you how many times I have refused to exchange links simply because of the fact that they were not remotely related, so I am interested in what everyone thinks.

[sit2510]

JenniferL,

I think the best way is to think in term of "industry" rather than the closely related terms or closely themed sites.

For ex, if you sell bluegifts, it would be extremely difficult for you to focus relevant links only from redgifts, yellowgifts, or blackgifts...Most of them are your competitors and may not be willing to exchange links with you. The disadvantage is that it is too narrowly focused and you are limiting yourself in a small room of opportunity.

If you think in term of industry or related industry of your field, then this will widen your opportunity greatly - you may consider other souvenir fields such toys, dolls, ceramics, pottery, pictures, flowers, wood carvings, even antiques and etc.

With this concept of related "Industry", generally it is more than enough for you to undergo link exchange happily and you don't have to worry about other unrelated industries such as cardealership, pharmacies, gambling, adults and etc.

[glengara]

It is a pain, but these days I recommend integrating reciprocal links into content, even if that means creating it specifically.

Though link numbers per page must be kept low, related content is included that would otherwise not be, the site grows, and in theory strikes a good hub/authority balance.

The problem in this scenario is how to integrate completely off-topic recips, which is why I suggest they're best avoided.

[sit2510]

>>> The problem in this scenario is how to integrate completely off-topic recips, which is why I suggest they're best avoided.

For glengara specifically...

If I were to proceed with your style "integrating reciprocal links into content", I would solve the problem in the following ways and not sure if you like it.

1) I will put all the off-topic links on another website (B) and try to get good PR on the link pages from somewhere else.

2) On the main site (A), I will use the frames (or iframes) for off topic links and prevent SE spider to crawl the target pages of site (B). (Note: the frames (or iframes) must be done in an artistic way - people see but unrealized unless having close look)

Then "most" people would end up to be happy (I say most but not all)...The advantages are:

A) You are following your gold "the site grows, and in theory strikes a good hub/authority balance."

B) You can integrate on-topic links into the content page (though limited number)

C) You don't lose anything such as PR or relevancy to off-topic links

D) Your on-topic link partners get great votes from your site plus PR and traffic.

E) Your off-topic link partners also get PR from site B and also an added bonus of getting good traffic from site A.

[glengara]

Sit2510, to be honest, I usually recommend this only for long-term projects, particularly bricks and mortar ones, many of which are reluctant to add content per se.
Because of the long-haul aspect, I also have a certain nervousness about linkage patterns, so try to avoid any "relationship" that may in the future get deemed "affiliated".

A personal viewpoint... I find completely off-topic links jarring, and to a certain extent throw into doubt the credibility of the page/site itself...

[graywolf]

If you run Adsense on you will see G has an idea what your website is about, usually based on homepage content. For example say you sold wedding dresses. You add two new pages one about choosing a wedding DJ another about choosing a photographer. You'll notice the ads that appear will initially show wedding dresses, but after the mediabot visits you will get ads about wedding DJ's and photgraphers.

So if Adsesne is able to determine a default subject for a website but come up with an individual theme for each page, it is reasonable to assume that the ranking algo can probably do at least that much.

If you want to put outbound relevant links on the page to non competitors try informational sites.

[mann]

martinibuster

>>There is another line of thinking that pages named Links may be like ducks with bullseyes painted on their backs. So it's preferable that your link resides on a page dedicated and titled to something relevant to your website as opposed to, Links.>>

Can you please explain above with example or detail as my english knowledge is limited.

I face problem as my most of link exchange request is rejected because (now I think) it is (site name changed) www.abc.com/links/index.php

Do you think, I should change name of my links directory by replacing word links from url.

But my problem is I have nearly 120 very hard earned link partners.

Please help me.

Mann

[sweetberry]

Which is better: a PR4 link which is completely relevant, or a PR5 link of less relevance?

[buckworks]

Better for what?

[hdpt00]

I'm starting to believe a PR 4 relevant would be better. But what the heck, get both, it won't hurt!

[justdave]

So are we saying that if I was to get "non-relevant" links, that it would hurt the overall value of my site? If I want to exchange links, setting up a directory or some sort of categorized linking system would be ok?