google position, recip links, button code

utilizing recip links effectively

[daniel_o]

Hi there,

my first post here..

I run an online directory / social site <snip> in Poland.
[Let's say that] we're trying to get to the top10 in Google.pl for "widgets" (in polish obviously).

Our members, who have their websites, put up our buttons on those sites.

The problem is, we delivered them an html code with no alt tag, nor title tag in our reciprocal link, which looks like that:

<a href="http://oursite.pl/member_profile_page.php"><img src="http://oursite.pl/button.php" alt=""></a>

instead of:

<a href="http://oursite.pl/member_profile_page.php" title="widgets"><img src="http://oursite.pl/button.php" alt="widgets"></a>

is there a way to make use of those recip links in terms of SEO and our position in G? (we have about 300 such back links and our PR =5, just dropped from 6, and for "widgets" (in polish) we're in the 3rd hundred..)

I was wondering if I can utilize somehow the button.php script that generates our button.. (redirecting googlebot in a nifty way..) not sure..

Please help me.

thanks,
D.

[edited by: caveman at 5:19 pm (utc) on July 28, 2008]
[edit reason] Removed specifics. [/edit]

[daniel_o]

anyone any ideas, thoughts?

[Makaveli2007]

Hi Daniel,

Im not sure I fully understood you. You have a site and give away a nice button-graphic that people can put on their sites? And now youre wondering if you should make sure that button they put on their websites includes a link to your site? or something along those lines? (sorry if I misunderstood you)

That would sound like a good idea, but when you say "reciprocal links" I assume your website links to each of their websites, too (that's the definition of a reciprocal link in SEO-terms - and everybody will tell you too many of them are always a bad idea)? Maybe in their user profiles or something?

if that's the case I would avoid having all of them point links to your site like the plague, if there are 300 such reciprocal links. Unless you have thousands of other links to your site that would be a very unnatural pattern, that every major search engine should see. Best thing that can happen is you get a little or no benefit from such links, worst thing that can happen is this will give your site a major blow or prevent it from going further up in the rankings (technically it could even get you banned).

[daniel_o]

Im not sure I fully understood you. You have a site and give away a nice button-graphic that people can put on their sites? And now youre wondering if you should make sure that button they put on their websites includes a link to your site? or something along those lines? (sorry if I misunderstood you)

Yes, that's correct. I have a site and give away a nice button-graphic that people can put on their sites. And I want to make sure that I utilize those backlinks in terms of SEO. <snip> They do include a link to my site, though they don't include the keyword I'd like to be ranked for (since there's no alt not title tags).

The link is reciprocal since I have a link directory for people that run blogs [in my category]. And I give away the button code to people who join the dir.

The question: is there anything LEGAL, (acceptable by G) I can do to handle googlebot so I raise my position in Google for the keyword "widgets" ? (the button is a php script so it gives me some opportunities)

[edited by: caveman at 5:20 pm (utc) on July 28, 2008]
[edit reason] Boxed quote for clarification; removed specifics [/edit]

[Makaveli2007]

if you link to them and they link to you. that's a reciprocal link. and too many of them are a bad idea. and 300 are too many unless you have thousands of other backlinks.

you can do a lot of other things to increase your ranking for a certain keyword (that's what SEO is all about after all), but I would stay away from using those links.

[daniel_o]

thanks Makaveli.

1. Why would you stay away from using those button links? Those are legitimate links from people who agreed on putting up my buttons on their blogs on their own. What other backlinks are you refering to and why would they be any different from the button ones?

2. what are THE other things / methods you mentioned? Could shed some ligth on that?

[daniel_o]

is there anything I can do increase my position in G for the keyword?

[caveman]

If I'm understanding correctly, one thing is to make sure that future buttons that get placed on sites include the code you want, including kw's.

As for the existing buttons, I see nothing wrong with contacting the site owners and ask them to update the button code. If the email is nice at least some will cooperate.

You might also find a reason to update the buttons visually and send out a note asking people to replace current ones.

Beyond that there are tons of ways to market sites, but that is beyond the scope of this thread, and too broad a question to get much response to anyway. Best to do research into specific ways of marketing, develop some ideas and come back here to build on them and/or get feedback.

My 2 cents anyway.

[Makaveli2007]

@Daniel: Caveman is right. I only looked at this thread again, but it would be hard for me (or anyone else) to give you a good reply to such a broad question. That's what 'SEO' or 'search engine optimization' is all about: increasing the ranking for a certain keyword. And there's more to it than just links (though links are very important, obviously).

Other things you can do are on-page optimization..especially the title tag is important...you'll just have to read up and learn about SEO, but there really aren't any magic tricks so you'll have to learn about this 'SEO stuff'. It's not like somebody could tell you you have to do this or that and then you have a quick fix.