Image links or text from index page

[tessa]

Hi. Should I use image links (which I have already started using) or text links to internal pages from my index page. I am using dreamweaver and couldn't get rid of the underling link and so decided to use image links but not sure if this will damage the internal ranking of all the other pages. I have also been using image links on the internal pages to link back to the index page. many thanks for any help

[tigger]

using text links will help with your onsite optimization and to get ride of the underline on links read up on CSS as its an easy problem to resolve

[tessa]

hi tigger, thank you for your reply. should there be more links to the index page from internal pages than the links leaving the index page to internal pages? I have tried accessing the css style and there is no option to 'never underline' my site is all html.. I am a self taught web site builder and afraid my site is full of problems but has grown too big to change to easily. many thanks

[rocknbil]

Welcome aboard tessa,

Should I use image links (which I have already started using) or text links to internal pages from my index page.

"It depends." :-) Search engines will always like text links better, but if you use the alt and title attributes in images, it's okay. The down side is this adds to page weight when you don't need to. Use images for links only as a last resort, that is, if you absolutely must have a certain font and you're not sure it will render across all systems correctly, or the link is of a graphic nature.

Although not directly related to your problem, using CSS as background images is also helpful if you simply must use images for links. You set the display of the a as block so you can access width and height as needed, and assign background images accordingly.

.nav { display:block; height:20px; }
.nav:link { background:url(images/nav-link.gif) top left repeat-x; }
.nav:visited { background:url(images/nav-visited.gif) top left repeat-x; }
.nav:active { background:url(images/nav-active.gif) top left repeat-x; }
.nav:hover { background:url(images/nav-hover.gif) top left repeat-x; }

<a class="nav">some-nav</a>

Alternatively (and better, actually,) put all the images in a single image so they load at once, and adjust the background position (topic for another thread.)

I am using dreamweaver and couldn't get rid of the underling link and so decided to use image links but not sure if this will damage the internal ranking of all the other pages.

And you're probably finding you have trouble getting rid of the blue outline on the image links. :-)

<a class="no-line">link</a>

then in style sheets,

.no-line { text-decoration:none; }

images and image links:

img { border:none; outline: none; }

Although outline:none can be applied to text links to get rid of the dotted outline too, it's not a good idea for accessibility reasons.

As for the other pages, no, a link is a link, but, see the above.

I am a self taught web site builder and afraid my site is full of problems but has grown too big to change to easily.

It's never too late. :-) In case you haven't been there, W3C Schools [w3schools.com] has some good "Cliff Notes" on CSS. WebmasterWorld is the resource for specific problems.

[tessa]

hi rocknbil
thankyou very much for your reply and welcome. I changed the image links on the index page to text links and today my site has dropped from page one to half way on page two, do you think it is because of the changes? should I change them back? many thanks

[rocknbil]

Pages will float up and down over time before settling in to where they will more or less stay. A site redesign often suffers a temporary loss but if the page's changes are improvements, it will come back. Unless you just happened to catch it on the day you were indexed, I hardly think this would be the cause.

Also you probably didn't note what competing pages were "above you" on previous days. 5 or 10 competitors could have entered the serps, or maybe those competitors also could have changed their content. It could be a lot of things.

I can't imagine that changing from image based links to text links could be anything but positive, wait it out, see what happens.

[tessa]

hi rocknbil
I am trying to be patient, how long would you give it. My site has dropped another place this morning. It has been fairly static on page one for a year now, the difference in hits is dramatic now it has slipped

[piatkow]

With no action from me my site slowly sunk from number 3 to number 11 then suddenly shot to the top for a search on h1 string on the home page which, in concatenated form, is also the url.

I would say that text links are probably easier for visitors. Hits have dropped but what about page views per visit? Are the visits you do get staying longer? Has it changed the number of hits that go direct to inner pages?

[tessa]

dear piatkow
thank you for your reply, since I changed the images to links I have to say that the orders are no less than before and I personally think the site is better to navigate, the page views have gone up, but the general hits have gone down because my site has dropped. I am going to wait a few days before thinking of changing things agian. At least I can have a little break over the Easter period before worrying agian come Tuesday if things don't look any better.