Forum Moderators: not2easy
Wasn't sure where to post this, I hope it's in the right place.
What is the best way to lay out a links section that would be best for my site and those sites that I link to.
Is it better to have all links on one big page or to split them into relevant themed categories with individual title & description tags for each category?
Also is it better to just name it 'Links' or e.g. 'Interesting Links'
Google recommends that you don't include more than 100 links an any given page, although from my experience it will still spider more than that - I would stick with what they say though.
With regards to naming, call it something logical and stick it somewhere where you want people to see it - is it an important part of the overall site's content, or is it just a way to swap links and increase your PR? If it's the former, then you will probably want to feature it somewhere prominent so your users can see good relevant information. If it's the latter, you're doing it for the *wrong* reason.
As for puttin' links, I'd again recommend you to have different catagories and then add links in them. This will look organized.
I have read threads that suggest this too but only Google knows for sure. Google also recommend not making changes just to rank well on Google, if its a page of links call it that and your visitors will know what it is.
My site is about (e.g.) "widgets" so I've called my links section "widget links" and then categorized it into different types of "widgets" because I though this would make it easier for visitors to find what they were looking for and made the pages more relevant rather than just putting them all on one page. I only have links that are relevant to my site & I also include some links in content if they're relevant & useful to the article.
I set it up this way because to me it made sense and was orderely but someone told me that I was doing it all wrong and that my links should be all on one page and called only "links" :-(
It seems that if you include a reasonable site description along with the short link, that the links pages don't have much of a problem. I also wonder how keyword links as opposed to site name links affect this.
If you are just building that page now, it would probably be a good idea to name the file something other than "links", but if it is already there with that name, and it is in the search engines, then keep it.
Is it better to have all links on one big page or to split them into relevant themed categories with individual title & description tags for each category?
* If you are building a widget directory site then have relevant themed categories pages with individual title & description tags for each link.
* If you are building a widget information site use all those relevant themed categories as potential content categories within your site. Use the individual title & description tags as the basis for potential individual content pages within each potential content category within your site. Then integrate appropriate external links within the content as natural flow indicates. Any left over external links (the better your content the fewer there will be) can be noted as "further reading" or similar links after your content. A lot of external links within a page simply mean you should build more content pages to address them properly.
In my mind dedicated "link pages" are usually signs of a directory (these days often just scraped up for Adsense or similar reasons) or an information site without much unique content. Neither is likely to have me return.
I would recommend you NOT to use "link" word in your file name for the link pages as Google will spot out
The theory is a good one, but I suspect it doesn't work as I've noticed when I put up a new site, Google will always spider the home page and weblinks page first, no matter whether the word "links" is used or not.
'I would recommend you NOT to use "link" word in your file name for the link pages as Google will spot out.'
I have read threads that suggest this too but only Google knows for sure. Google also recommend not making changes just to rank well on Google, if its a page of links call it that and your visitors will know what it is.
In many (most?) cases a links page is in fact there "just to rank well in Google"
I have pages that link to resources beyond what my site(s) provide.
I have directory pages.
I have text links on individual pages.
I have pages that link to industry associations
I have pages that link to members.
I don't have any "links" pages ;)
BTW. virtually all of my OBL's are accompanied by some sort of descriptive text. The closest thing I have to a long list of bare links is my site map.
WBF
{:)
