about webrings

[fraudcop]

can a site risk to be penalized joining webrings?

thanks

tom

[justdave]

Webrings in general have no practical SEO benefits, I think. It is a good idea to check out all member sites of a webring to make sure they are not SPAMMY sites. If the webring is clean and legit, it could drive targetted traffic to your site, but I don't think they offer SEO benefits. Of course, I have no experience with webrings so I could be completely off base here.

[grandpa]

I'm a member of several webrings, with no adverse reaction. They are topical for my site. I doubt if there is much, if any, SEO advantage to belonging to these rings. I joined them to help promote our widgets.

[justdave]

Do these webrings that you belong to drive consistent traffic to your site? It seems like webrings should be more popular since they would tend to be on topic, complimentary sites.

[grandpa]

I would not characterize any traffic from them as consistent. I think I might have pulled in a few lookers over the past couple of years. Maybe even a sale or two. Typically a sale from a webring will be wholesale... good peanuts. For no cost and very little effort the ROI is great at any level.

It seems like they were more popular in the early/mid 90's.. maybe earlier. As with anything else apply some common sense. If a site were to suddenly appear in 3000 webrings, a SE or two might consider that to be spamming, and take appropriate action. If a site were to appear in a half-dozen well targeted rings where is the problem?

[fraudcop]

I read somewhere that webring are considered as link farms and until I'm sure they are not, I would not join any.

only need assurance about that.

[grandpa]

I'd believe that a few rings were set up for the explicit purpose of promoting sites (link farms). Like anything else, rings could be abused. I don't know where you might have read that information, but as long as you're reading, why not take a look at a few rings that are appropriate for your site. There's no harm in looking at them and reading the fine print. Check out how they handle links.. chances are good there will be no SEO advantage. But, if you looking to expand your presence on the web they are a valid, though not necessarily valuable, option.