Value of dynamically replaced internal links like product suggestions

[randyriot]

Imagine a page about a book genre, e.g. Fantasy.

Scenario 1: Assume there would be a section on the page, "Popular Fantasy authors". The list of authors would be permanent, and each author's name would be a link to an internal page about that author e.g.:

• J.R.R. Tolkien,
  
• Terry Pratchett,
  
• Neil Gaiman

Scenario 2: Assume the content management system is set up in a way that this particular section is replaced dynamically from e.g. a list of the 10 or 20 most popular authors (or maybe even based on recent metrics like sold copies). So the list of authors would change with every refresh, as would the internal links. That approach is similar product recommendations on shops like Amazon.

The question is if scenario 2 has any adverse (or positive?) implications for SEO with regards to internal links? My hunch is that scenario 2 would be worse for passing "link juice" internally. Or is it even conceivable that this would actually be positive because there's "new content" (however thin) on the page with the next crawl?

Has Google made any announcement that helps assess this? E.g. I could imagine that the age / lifespan / "longevity", if you will, of a link implies value.

[goodroi]

Google tends to not enjoy quickly changing links. You don't want to look like you are selling links or intentionally trying to manipulate them. Sure, we all are trying to manipulate them but being too obvious tends to trigger their filters & penalties.

Scenario 2 would probably help improve your crawl depth but not help your rankings as much. "Link juice" tends to work best when it is embedded in relevant content and allowed to age & become crusty.

[tangor]

The site will appear unstable, or misleading to search engines ... I avoid this kind of dynamic link display. HOWEVER, a "stable" top 10-20 is potentially useful, particularly if there is a more robust (all authors per example) the site offers for commentary/product.

Secondary (using example given) the "juice" for a top category page will have more strength than any dynamically "short list" no SE can replicate at any given time.

K.I.S.S.

YMMV

[JorgeV]

Hello,

From my understanding, these are exclusively internal links. So there is no ranking benefits, but a discovery advantage, but only if the new authors are getting added along the time.

Now, I don't think it's a good idea to change it every page refresh. May be you change change the list every 24h. Just a thought.

[tangor]

Bit of fun (real world) ... I have a "refresh to get a different quote" on a website active since 1996. My raw logs over the years reveal dang few of visitors ever do that ... nor have my rankings in any search engine been impacted by the constantly changing text (in a div) have any negative impact ... so, @randyriot, despite my earlier comment, pretty sure you have no worries. :)

YMMV

That said, it is the SITE CONTENT which is the factor of consideration, not a tiny injection of interactive. Pretty sure the search engines know the difference.