The ‘ugly’ news about links exchange

Links exchange sometimes comes to an unhealthy point, especially when unregulated. Too much links exchange results to what are called ‘link farms,’ which are actually groups of web pages that contain totally unrelated hyperlinks to one another or to a particular mother page. These link farms are designed solely for search engine ranking purposes, and therefore do not offer any other valuable purpose. Most search engines penalize these types of links exchanges.

Be very careful not to fall into the same link farm trap – you may get too caught up in building a links exchange that you don’t realize you are already building a link farm. Remember that search engines interpret too many uncategorized links as a type of ‘spam.’ You and your site could be liable if you are not careful about links exchange.

The ‘bad’ news about links exchange

The value of links exchanges is now being questioned. Search engines are becoming smarter than ever, for example, and soon, it won’t anymore be relying on links exchanges to determine the relevance of a site. Search engines now refocusing their technology to give less premium on link exchanges and more on content – the latest buzz in search engine optimization.

This is why the cost-benefit analysis of link exchanges is now being questioned by web experts. Most of them are saying that the minimal benefits of link exchanges are not worth all the work that comes into building a link directory (efforts in maintaining links, finding good sites to link with, etc.)

The ‘good’ news about links exchange

Still, link exchanges have an intrinsic value to them (regardless of whether or not they help improve search engine rankings). Links exchanges are a great way to promote your sire for free, and also to help your site visitors find related links from your pages. The key is to be able to do links exchanges in moderation, and to keep link exchanges related. The trend right now seems to be going towards keeping all web content relevant. Keep your texts, images and links related to your site, and the readers (and high rankings) will come in no time.

Some tips to remember when making a link directory

Moderation is important: Gone are the days when websites with thousands upon thousands of links were king. Nowadays, search engines are much more perceptive – they only rank your site high if they know that your link directory contains entries that are related and relevant. Do not link to sites that have absolutely no relationship with the purpose of yours just for the sake of linking. Search engines can now tell if a link directory is ‘unnatural’ – they already have methods of determining link relevancy based on theme, popularity, and other factors. Linking haphazardly actually does your search engine ranking more harm than good, so do it in moderation.

Organize and categorize: Search engines are likely to ignore your website if you have an unsystematic link directory. This is because search engines interpret disorganized link directories as ‘link farms’ – those sites with no content and only links to myriad of unrelated destinations, which are undesirable for both the engine and the human reader. The best defense is to clearly organize your link directory. Categorize the links and whenever necessary, make new pages for new topics. Link directory experts say that you should create a subcategory for every 30 links or so to make your navigation bar easier to scroll through, and also easier for search engines to read.

Make your link directory conspicuous: Your reason for installing a link directory should never be just because you want to boost your search engine ratings – you should sincerely want the links to be seen by visitors to your site, too. That is, after all, the point of a link directory – you are promoting other sites as they are promoting yours. Unless you are guilty of liking totally unrelated sites for sketchy reasons, there is no sense in hiding link directories, is there?

A good link directory is therefore very visible. When the webmasters of the sites you invite to link up with your site sees that your link directory is conspicuous and that their link would be given importance in our site’s layout, then they are more likely to accept your offer.

Inbound links defined

‘Inbound links,’ sometimes also called ‘back links,’ are simply links in other sites which when clicked lead back to your site. It has long been used in promoting and improving the search engine rankings of websites, but it is only lately that more scientific ways of generating inbound links have been put into writing.

How inbound links work

Inbound links can improve your search engine rankings dramatically in a number of ways.

1. Inbound links from popular sites make your website easier to ‘spider.’ If the site that links to you is relevant and regularly crawled by major search engines such as Google, for example, then search engines would be able to find you faster.

Search engines also count the valid inbound links to our site, and use this figure to determine your site’s relevance for certain search terms. The higher your relevance, the higher your rank, and the more likely your potential buyers will visit your site. Remember that 85 percent of internet users go to search engines when looking for particular products and services. Improve your search engine ranking through inbound links, and you will surely be able to reach a bigger market in no time.

2. Inbound links can generate significant traffic into your site. Some of your potential buyers may not even find you from search engines, but from the websites that gave you inbound links. This is why it is important to network with the webmasters of websites that cater to your niche because these types of sites carry news and information that are relevant to the content of your site. You should also try to procure inbound links from your business partners and suppliers. They will most likely grant you inbound links because they already know you and have had some business history with you.

The don’ts in inbound links

Remember never to make the mistake of over-linking and reciprocal linking, though, because (a) search engines still prefer one-way inbound links, and (b) search engines usually interpret over-linking as ‘link farms,’ which are considered illegal and punishable. Maintaining a healthy, sensible level of inbound links is still the best tool for improving both your website traffic and search engine ranking.