Forum Moderators: open
I just checked the links to and from several of my clients sites and Google is no longer recording them when they used to. I have a link to my web design site on the footer of every page I've ever designed for a client and also a link to their sites from several pages on my web design site (portfolio, logo designs, etc.)
Has Google begun to not count web designers as a valid link?
Last time I checked my competitor's links all their links to sites they designed were being recorded.
I recently submitted my portfolio page to google after putting a new site online, so I'm wondering if I've been penalized or if this is just a new protocol that Google is folliwing.
There's been a thread recently on reciprocal links and whether they are worthless now - not a view I subscribe to on the evidence I see.
There's also, of course, the rather irregular updating of PageRank, which affects the cut-off point at which Google displays links. Indeed the threshold seems to be variable too. You may have slipped one rung on the ladder and now be out of sight.
It may be that there is a reciprocal link penalty.
it may be that you were right on the cusp of making an entry in Google's links: tables and no longer do.
It may be that "having a link on EVERY SINGLE PAGE you've EVER designed" is simply too much self-promotion (it would infuriate me, as a visitor to a site!) and Google has decided it's as worthy as banner ads.
I have to ask... Do you really need to advertise your wares on every page of every site you've ever designed, because if I were looking for someone to author a site for me, I wouldn't want it despoiled (and that's how it would seem to me) by someone else on every page.
Maybe a slightly less all-pervading air would generate extra trade that far outweighed any loss your currently seeing purely on page references...
DerekH
I doubt that submitting the portfolio page had any effect. There is no reason why doing so would attract human inspection. I am somewhat puzzled as to why you would have done so though.
Kaled.
We've had a few go 'rounds on this issue with differing viewpoints, but it is, in fact, standard industry practice for web and graphic design. It's generally in a small font so it is non-promotional and non-obtrusive, but it still makes the point for copyright purposes for everyone's protection.
Occasionally there are people who have sites done and then give credit to someone else. I caught someone red-handed one time from a link in the site stats from a message board where the site owner was giving credit to a friend of hers who was just starting out and charged $8 an hour. Everyone was oooh-ing and ahhh-ing over a custom graphic that I spent hours on and admittedly was nicer than mine usually are, being very plain vanilla by preference.
Surprise! I signed up and posted in that forum thread thanking them all profusely for the lovely compliments and explaining how it was done. And there was a link to me on every page of that site they didn't seem to notice when they had been complimenting the other person on doing such a lovely site.
Of course I included a sig with the URL with my post. The gal who was being given credit for doing the site had done no more than take some photographs, which I worked on to make web-ready, so I complimented her on those.
It's not mandatory, but most people are more than willing and in addition, it does demonstrate an on-going relationship between the parties.
I can see the point of not giving credit for multiple links from a site counting as many votes, but generally I don't imagine people who are buying expensive links from multple pages on high PR sites will necessarily be giving reciprocal links back to those sites.
I've often wondered about the issue with web designers, and frankly if they decided to give credit only for one link from a site to one page on another I don't personally think it would be all that unfair.
Right now links from sites I've done that link to to mine on every page are showing up as back-links for the pages that are PR4 or above, which is all the pages on those sites for some. But in a lot of cases it doesn't seem at all that the toolbar is a totally accurate or up-to-date reflection of what Google actually knows exists for links. We're just not being shown.
Lorel, what's the toolbar PR on the pages that aren't showing as backlinks? What's the PR on your portfolio page? And how do the client sites stand with having links from other, independent sources?
[edited by: Marcia at 2:31 am (utc) on Nov. 7, 2003]
I will reply to several posts in one to save space.
I forgot to mention that I rank at PR 4 on google's directory and have for a long time and that hasn't changed.
>It may be that there is a reciprocal link penalty.
Could be, but I'm very careful whom I link from or to--no multiple submission engines, no link farms, etc., and I carefully follow Google's guidelines.
>It may be that "having a link on EVERY SINGLE PAGE you've EVER designed" is simply too much self-promotion (it would infuriate me, as a visitor to a site!) and Google has decided it's as worthy as banner ads.
It is a webmaster link at the bottom of the page that goes into the footer of every page. I've rarely never seen a web page without a webmaster link on it.
>if I were looking for someone to author a site for me, I wouldn't want it despoiled (and that's how it would seem to me) by someone else on every page.
99% of my clients can't even hardly send email and none of them know how to take care of their web site and therefore my link as webmaster is listed as the one to contact if there is a problem.
>I doubt that submitting the portfolio page had any effect. There is no reason why doing so would attract human inspection. I am somewhat puzzled as to why you would have done so though.
I submitted it because several of the new sites I had designed had not appeared on Google after several months.
>So I think google is just not reporting all back links, nothing more.
It is only not reporting the back links from my site to all my clients and also links to my site from my clients. And because there are no links recorded on Google to my site from any of my clients I got concerned as to the reason.
Do you think I will get a response if I ask Google?
Thanks for trying to help.
>Lorel, what's the toolbar PR on the pages that aren't showing as backlinks? What's the PR on your portfolio page?
I have a Mac so I can't tell what any of the pages rank except by checking the Google directory for their home page rank. If anyone would be willing to check the pr of my portfolio page please sticky note me for the URL.
However I just checked all my sites again. Out of 13 currently online (starting back in 2000) 7 are listed on ODP (4 haven't been listed since Mar 03 when ODP started having problems) and one fell from the listing for some reason I'm not aware of. And 3 of my old very reputable sites have fallen from the Google Directory for why I'm not aware either--hopefully only temporary.
All 4 of those still on ODP and in Google Dir are PR 4.
>And how do the client sites stand with having links from other, independent sources?
Google shows that none of the above sites have links from my site to theirs although they have links from 1-14 other sites and most have at least 4 (actually there are a multitude of other links that Google does not show).
This is why I'm wondering if Google has stopped linking from webmaster sites to their clients, or if its just my sites for some reason.
I checked out the Google tools page where they tell how to check for links and I've been putting a space before the www, i.e.,
link: www.domainname.com
when it should be:
link:www.domainname.com
What is strange however, is I get a different result either way.
with a space my own (webmaster) link does not show up or the owner's url but other links to the site do show up. Without the space only the webmaster/owner links show up unless they are listed in Yahoo directory (not via Google). Apparently you have to check it both ways to get all the links.
Very interesting! You might check this out with your own sites.
thanks to everyone who has been trying to help me figure this out.
>not having looked at your pages - I would venture a guess that the inside pages of your site are probably a PR3 based on your root page being a 4 -
It is my understanding that each page is ranked separately and I get a lot more referral hits for one of my inside pages not related to my main focus--up to 80%. So I'm thinking that page must have a higher ranking than even my home page. But being as I have a Mac I can't verify that.
I wish Google would put out a tool bar for the Mac.
