Google Updates "Link best practices" Document

[engine]

Google has updated its "Link best practices" document this week, and it's always worth reading through this to see which side you sit, and to ensure a site is crawlable.

[developers.google.com...]

[Sgt_Kickaxe]

FOR COMPARISON - This is the OLD best practice version - [web.archive.org...]

They've added ancouragement to link out, without nofollow, and to link internally as well.

using external links can help establish trustworthiness

[Dimitri]

I never ever used nofollow , this is counter the concept of links.

[tangor]

I almost never link to others UNLESS it is VERY PERTINENT ... and most times I can't find that.

Besides, linking outside the site tends to lose the visitor.

YMMV

[superclown2]

Besides, linking outside the site tends to lose the visitor.

For that reason I can never understand why people put YouTube videos on their sites. In effect they are linking to Google and, more often or not, as soon as their ad-filled video (ads designed to steal away the attention of those visitors of course) ends, another starts up. Result: lost visitors, who are shown a load more ads.

I've seen even very large businesses using YouTube. Come on, services like Vimeo are not that expensive.

[tangor]

@superclown2 ... that's why you EMBED the video on your site! Different tactic, and keeps the visitor on your domain!

[superclown2]

that's why you EMBED the video on your site! Different tactic, and keeps the visitor on your domain!

Sure. Unfortunately you know that and I know that but an awful lot of other don't. And there's still the issue of the ads; by hosting a YouTube video website owners are just helping Google to promote their rivals. And do their visitors really want to sit watching all that Googlespam? The ones I had to look at yesterday had not one but two ads before the video itself started; then the longer ones had multiple ones within the bodies of them. What kind of image of your site does that create in the mind of the visitor?

The cost of having their videos on another host that provides a clean experience and lead capture systems is tiny compared to the cost of producing a decent video in the first place. Perhaps it's no coincidence that the head of YouTube resigned recently.

[tangor]

Yeah, you're right ... I sometimes forget that my personal browsing is all behind ad blockers ... I never see those ads. (sigh)

[EditorialGuy]

I've seen even very large businesses using YouTube. Come on, services like Vimeo are not that expensive.

Think of YouTube as a search and recommendation engine. And in your videos and related comments, promote the URLs of your Web site and relevant pages.

[superclown2]

Think of YouTube as a search and recommendation engine. And in your videos and related comments, promote the URLs of your Web site and relevant pages.

Absolutely correct. It is a symbiotic relationship; the video creator benefits from free hosting, Google get the right to put ads on it in return.

My comments, though, were aimed towards those that actually incorporate YouTube videos into their websites, or link to them. They cheapen their sites in the eyes of many, risk losing visitors, and contribute towards the ads filled Internet that we are all having to get used to.

[tangor]

Again, folks need to learn the different between "link" and "embed"!