Forum Moderators: martinibuster
So we hide the link. And worse. Sometimes we bury the link to the Links Page in the about us page!
Is this a good practice?
Is there a better way of doing this?
<edited for clarity>
[edited by: martinibuster at 7:29 pm (utc) on July 29, 2004]
Why are the links on the About Us page? Surely they would be better in a 'resources' section?
You do know that hiding links is against the Google guidelines? I wouldn't risk it myself as I doubt it would pass a hand inspection.
Basically he wants the sites to appear as if they do not have a links directory.
Is this a Mistake?
Or will this help my quest for Link Popularity?
I'm interested in your opinions.
At the end of an article, place a header "Additional <insert keyword> Resources" or "For More <insert keyword> Information" etc, and place relevant links below. Works for all parties involved. Plus, there's no dreaded 'links' page.
Whaddya think?
KOB
Is Hiding Your Links Page a Good Idea?
In reference to the title of this topic, yes, it might be a good idea. ;)
That term Links Page just seems to have a negative connotation these days.
I think it all depends on what your links page looks like.
I'm sure you've read the various topics here concerning what to name those pages. Links is definitely not an option.
Maybe a resources section as suggested above by King of Bling (great username!). If the pages look like links pages then they really serve no purpose to the visitor, do they? If they look like a carefully thought out list of resources with descriptives and image branding, then what is wrong with promoting them?
The larger the site, the more opportunities you have to link into your resources section. There are many times I find myself linking (off site) to a resource from within a page discussing relative content. Or, I might even link directly to my resources section with a named anchor. This keeps the visitor on site and gives them a short descriptive of the resource. They can then click the outbound link from there or use their back button and continue where they left off.
That's a doubly great idea if you don't want to be pestered by people seeking reciprocal links.
Encouraging Link Requests to Feed Growth
OTOH, I want people to be able to request a reciprocal link. I'm always looking to grow.
By not having an obvious place for links, could I inadvertantly be stunting my website's growth?
Depends, are you targeting more beginning webmasters or more advanced webmasters?
Beginning webmasters. I generally dislike dealing with more advanced webmasters.
Beginning webmasters. I generally dislike dealing with more advanced webmasters.
Is your preference for dealing with newbies because you want to avoid passing PR to more formidable competitors?
because you want to avoid passing PR to more formidable competitors?
Why do you ask?
Tell me why you ask, and I will give you the answer.
If you're looking for people to find you and contact you for link exchanges, I find making the title of your links page(s) "Keywords -- Submit URL/Add Link" a lot more effective. Then people looking for link exchanges will land right on your links page in the search engines.
My thought is that in general, inexperienced webmasters will have sites with lower PR and less to offer in turns of both link popularity and also direct referrals. More advanced webmasters will tend to have sites with higher PR, offering both higher link popularity benefits and direct referral traffic. The only reason I can see for preferring the former is that you do not want lots of other high PR sites to compete against.
My thought is that in general, inexperienced webmasters will have sites with lower PR...
Experienced webmasters can be inconsiderate to their link partners
No thanks. Give me a jolly mom and pop webmaster everytime. Experienced webmasters are a pain in the neck. ;)
No thanks. Give me a jolly mom and pop webmaster everytime. Experienced webmasters are a pain in the neck
Yes, but even worse are the semi-experienced webmasters that think they know all about linking, wouldn't you agree?
I like your reasoning though :)
WBF
How do you anticipate these mom and pop types finding this particular site?
How would they know that you're willing to do reciprocal link exchanges (first quest. may answer this)?
I find that many amateur webmasters who are interested in the traffic as you said will be very problematic if they can't see a link on your homepage to the link page or the link directory main page.
LMAO! MB that is the kind of statement I would expect from a bottom feeder!
I'll take one good link from a 1st class site (and webmaster) in preference to 100 links from Mom & Pop sites.
Quality, not quantity, is what counts. Quality usually means uni-direction from highly respected sites.
Getting a link from the BBC or CNN is very difficult, getting 1,000 links from nonsense Mom & Pop sites is easy.....I have a script that does it!
I want the link from the BBC, CNN or the like, they make a huge difference. In the meantime I can play getting links from nonsense Mom and Pop sites on my own!
The quality of the site in question is what actually counts, if you produce a good one then you have a chance of getting good quality uni-directional links.....and that is where the gold is!
Bold denotes anchor text.
1- That a mom & pop website is inferior
2- That BBC & CNN links are superior
A mom & pop Yahoo store product reseller can outrank the pants off of many larger corporate sites. A mom & pop website can be heavily on topic, and have relatively few websites sharing the pr on their links page.
A mom & pop may actually give you a great quality one-way link without asking for a recip, just because they like your website.
CNN Link? Excuse me bartender, I'll have what percentages is drinking
What's so great about a CNN.com link? Most of their archived pages are PR 2 [cnn.com] or 3, and those are shared with at least 150 off-topic links to the rest of the site. Bleah!
The same can be said about the BBC links [bbc.co.uk]. Bleah!
Bad examples percentages. Are you making this up off the top of your head or are you seriously talking from experience? It doesn't add up with reality.
Good move, but, I never drink Martini's :)
>1- That a mom & pop website is inferior
>2- That a mom & pop website have lower quality.
My point was this. How does any SE know the difference between a Mom & Pop site and an artificially created site that looks like a Mom & Pop site?
While some may chase the Mom & Pop sites for links, others will not need to chase the artificially created Mom & Pop sites generated for the sole purpose of providing links;)
My point was this. How does any SE know the difference between a Mom & Pop site and an artificially created site that looks like a Mom & Pop site...
A search engine doesn't have to make a distinction. I never said a search engine has to make a distinction.
I am looking at the specific qualities (cited above) of a good number of mom & pops that make them attractive link partners.
Some of these people aren't even optimized beyond their company name, so you're not going to find them by searching for "related keyword phrases."
Bringing it back on topic,
I'm not sure a mom & pop is going to care if the link to my links page (or whatever you choose to call it) is immediately apparent. In my experience, they're happy someone found them and wants to exchange links.
[edited by: martinibuster at 9:39 pm (utc) on Aug. 1, 2004]
I have been attracting too many questionable link partners, so I tried removing my "Add your Link" link from my links pages, thus forcing them to go to my email link and ask me for a link exchange instead of posting their link themselves. This way I could weed out the undesirable link partners. I wonder if this is a good strategy. Most webmasters it seems choose to ignore posting rules that I had clearly spelled out on my "Add your Link" page.
A few off-topic links are ok, but I don't think ending up with hundreds of Widget links is going to help me much.
Fred
[edited by: martinibuster at 12:54 pm (utc) on Aug. 2, 2004]
[edit reason] edited for specifics [/edit]
Also, many of them are not over opt. and are not spammy so they often get dmoz listings which perhaps could make a link from them more valuable in G's eyes.
My solution is to build a directory style site that is completely separate from the domain you are getting links for. I've got a feeling you're not going to like that idea, but I have had success with it. The downside is that you have to spend time getting links for your directory so that it has adequate pr to entice recips. The good news is that it looks like a non-commercial site and should be easier to get one way links for just by asking.
martinibuster, long past due, but congratulations on having your own forum
Come get railed by SteveB with me at [webmasterworld.com...] for that last statement ;-)
It may not be the most ethical way of linking to my directory, but most webmasters are looking at nothing but PR anyways.
Am I ashamed of my directory? Not at all. I just don't think it fits into the site well, so I feel the need to hide it. I have plenty of outgoing links to REAL related resources within my content.
