Cross Linking Defined???

[stcrim]

Brett,

While reading these little goodies in AV (http://doc.altavista.com/adv_search/ast_toc.shtml) - I remembered in some sleep deprived state reading your posts about "cross Linking". How cross link carried away should one get? One of our sites is approaching 1,000 SE OPT pages and got a lot more to build yet. Most of those are in directories of 50 or less. We have used other domains to add link popularity by creating transparent 20 X 20 button.gif images to link back to the main site.

We could easily use the same idea to link the pages on the main site to each other. Let's say I have a page named apple.html - how many other pages on the site should have a link back to apple.html???

Also, after reading the AV stuff, it sounds like they may like those incoming links to be from text rather than graphics. (Oh the fun of re-doing all of those link pages...)

In other words Brett, do you mind telling exactly how you are doing your cross linking?

Thanks
Steve

[Brett_Tabke]

Carry it to the degree that every page has at least 3 links coming into it from other parts of your site. One links 'gets you in the door', two links should make you stick, and third link should give it some measure of relavance.

I don't think AV is (or has been) reading graphic links except to spider - even then it is rare.

I'm just linking like content where ever possible.

[cyberbear]

Brett

Do these links have to be full text. What I mean is can I do this. Use a link <a href="http://www.ecommerce-packages.com/link3.html">.</a>

Thereby not messing up my page design.I will just put these three dots on the bottom of the page making sure to use a different color from the background. Thanks.

[Brett_Tabke]

With Link text being so important anymore, I think it is critical to use words in links. Unless you are just trying to get a spider to follow a trail, I'd use full words. You want that 'link text' to give the spider an idea of what the page it is point to is about.

[fantomaster]

How about adding a title tag to the invisible link?
Like:
<A HREF="http://yourdomain.com/yourpage.html" TITLE="keyword"></A>

Any experience with that yet?

[cyberbear]

Brett

If your link is like the following <a href="http://www.bargaindevil.com/search-engine-positioning-av.html">.</a> wont the spiders be able to determine it is about "search engine positioning" if the subject is in the url? Thanks.

[Brett_Tabke]

Depends on the se mood cyberbear. They increase/decrease the value placed on filenames with the weather. Filenames and paths have become the new keyword metatags in some sense. Se's have caught on of course.

With it laying there naked within the link text, you know they are going to atleast consider it.

Ralph, what have you seen with link "title" text? I've tried it, but I can't pinpoint anything that would suggest it is a winner of a trick.

[fantomaster]

Ralph, what have you seen with link "title" text? I've tried it, but I can't pinpoint anything that would suggest it is a winner of a trick.

Nothing conclusive yet, but there's a wee chance it might just tie in ever so well with the theme algo ...