8 replies to this topic

[morch]

I have just spent the last 6 weeks gaining PR4+ reciprocal links to my site. I set out to keep the links relevant and so far Im extremely pleased with the reaction from other webmasters and the general goodwill that does exist out there.

I typed a keyword followed by "add link" (or url-site-your site etc) and focused right in on my on topic reciprocating pals.

Even though my site is PR3 more or less across the board, there were still plenty of webmsaters who were willing to play ball. I think keeping things on topic helped because they could see where the reciprocation would benefit their sites.

I guess knowing a little about Google, it may be some months before the links are fully recognised and my page rank revised. The latest thinking is that whilst there is no monthly G dance there is a monthly link update and regular PR shuffle.

Ive added say 12 good quality links in the last month with relevant anchor text. This aint a lot but its a start and I was hoping that Google would show a PR uplift this time round. It hasnt and Im disappointed.

When would you expect to see changes to your PR following the imntroduction of new links? Am I hoping for too much too soon?

Id appreciate any views from the floor.

M

[qwerty]

There are a number of factors involved in raising your PR.

• You mention that the sites linking to you have PR4 or higher, but that doesn't mean that the page where they put your link will have that high a PR.
• The amount of a boost you get from the link depends in part on how many other links are on that page.
• I don't think anyone knows exactly what the calculations are for determining how many links of a given value it takes to raise a page's PR.
• Keep in mind that the PR we see in the toolbar is only an estimate. At best, it's the page's PR rounded to the nearest whole number.
• We don't know how often the pages that have added links to you get crawled, so you may have to wait a while.

[Jill]

It will generally take anywhere from a few weeks to a few months before all the backlinks start to show at Google.

Jill

[morch]

Thank you for your helpful replies

I appreciate your comments regarding the need for the linking page to have PR4+ - someone told me recently that its the PR of the linking page that counts not the linking site itself. Taking this advice on board I have looked closely at the inner structure of linking sites to ensure that the linking pages have the required PR.

Ive also linked up with some very relevant sites with less than PR4 simply because they will help my visitors and a rank of 3 today could be a 4+ tomorrow (I keep repeating this mantra to myself!)

I guess like most things with Google and other search engines its just a waiting game. Hopefully Ive done things the right way and there will be longer term benefits rather than just short term gains.

Thanks again
M

[Scottie]

Ive also linked up with some very relevant sites with less than PR4 simply because they will help my visitors and a rank of 3 today could be a 4+ tomorrow (I keep repeating this mantra to myself!)

Yes!

You should be doing this first- don't only look for links from PR4+ sites- look for links that are likely to send you traffic.

I have 1 site that has probably 200 inbound links from sites that Google doesn't know about or they have PR0. Added together, they send a very healthy amount of qualified traffic every month. If Google decided to drop the site for some reason, I'd still have traffic that converts.

Turn off the toolbar and get links that make sense for your business!

[Jill]

I appreciate your comments regarding the need for the linking page to have PR4+ - someone told me recently that its the PR of the linking page that counts not the linking site itself. Taking this advice on board I have looked closely at the inner structure of linking sites to ensure that the linking pages have the required PR.

Morch, I think you're misunderstanding what some are telling you.

You don't have to only get links from sites with a PR4 or higher. Get any and all links that make sense for your site, even if they're PR1 or 2 or even zero.

You were just being told that the ones lower than PR4 may not all show up in a backlinks search. They still count towards your overall PageRank!

Just because Google doesn't show them all in the backlinks check doesn't mean that they're not good. They DO count, and they are all good.

Don't even turn your toolbar on when determining where to submit your site to. It's not relevant, imo.

Jill

[morch]

Jill

Good advice. I think inexperienced webmasters get carried away by all the PR hype, I know I have. When you are running your own business and surviving mainly on PPC results, the pressure is on to deliver quick equitable results and this draws you to the more aggressive PR strategy. Fact is that progressive rather than agressive strategies seem to work best with seo.

Scottie raises another important point that flies in the face of an aggressive PR approach. Looking at some of my link partners, it may well be that whilst they are PR4+ and "on topic" - the traffic levels will be low. So who's the sucker?

You live and learn.

thanks ladies
M

[Jill]

Morch, I'd also start thinking about other marketing plans besides search engine marketing.

If your total strategy consists of PPC and SEO, you're depending too much on the search engines to put the food on your table.

Start looking at other online and offline tactics you can use to get traffic and sales.

Do you have an online newsletter? Do you do any traditional PR? Local advertising? Posts in relevant discussion groups?

SEM should only be a small bit of where you get your traffic from.

Good luck!

Jill

[Hux]

Like Scottie said, it is about the qualified traffic that you get from the link. I found a link for a client on a site that did not have a high PR, but was one that I thought would benefit the client. The client is a limo company, and the site was an organization that runs research conferences at various colleges and prep-schools around the country.

I requested that my client be added to their list of "transportation providers" for campuses in my client's service area. As it turned out, the link, given that there was almost no competition on this site, delivered a fair amount of traffic. More importantly, the client called and said that they were getting a lot of bookings from these referrals.

So while that link may not have boosted the PR of the client's site, it certainly boosted their bottom line, and more than covered their investment in the SEO campaign. And that resulted in referral work from them to us! So you really need to look at linking in terms of the big picture, rather than just in terms of the SERPs.