6 replies to this topic

[eleven]

Hello everyone. I have a client who charges for unbiased real estate advice. [Link edited, not necessary for the discussion.] My problem is that this client doesn't want to link to any sites that might make it appear that they are not unbiased.

My questions are:
1) How important are external links and is google the only place where it really makes a difference?
2) I would like to add links to sites that aren't exactly real-estate related, but I'm worried that sites that aren't relevent may hurt my rankings. Is this true?
3) Any other suggestions?

Thanks!

Edited by Jill, 06 October 2003 - 01:36 PM.

[qwerty]

In my opinion, it's a question of what will make the site more useful to your client's audience. In that sense, especially when it comes to real estate sites, you've got a lot of latitude regarding the subject matter of the sites you link to. Think about all the things people who are planning on moving will want to know about -- certainly real estate is only one of those things. The rest are probably worth considering for linking out to.

So, just off the top of my head, you've got schools, taxes, quality of life, etc.

Assuming your client is providing general real estate advice, rather than advice for a specific geographical area, that means that the links should be broken down by location. That could add up to quite a lot of links.

[awall19]

The only way adding other linking ideas would hurt rankings are if
1.) you link to bad sites - this will make it seem like your site is bad too "Fish of a feather flock together."
2.) you link in an unorganized fashion. by doing this you would kill the keyword density by having pages that did not target any specific theme. on top of that it would hurt the usability of the site. if you set the links up in a catagorized fashion though and only linked to sites you thought improved the users experience you should not be hurt.
3.) i also would not recomend linking to very many (if any) external sites from the home page. i think its a good idea to let the visitor see what you have to offer before sending them somewhere else.

[qwerty]

And I forgot to welcome you to the forum, eleven!

So... welcome

[Jill]

Welcome, eleven!

Links from non-relevant sites count towards PageRank, just the same as links from relevant sites. They won't bring many visitors, however.

All of the major search engines use some form of link popularity or link analysis, not just Google.

Jill

[Randy]

Welcome eleven !

There are two questions here in my mind, and you've gotten some answers to both already.

Links from your site going to other sites:

Provide links which are going to be of the best use for your visitors. qwerty offered some good suggestions above. Others might be stuff like mortgage calculators, home loan providers, realtor associations, title insurance providers. Real Estate is one of those fields where a lot of different types of sites can be very relevant.

Links from other sites to yours:

All of the above apply of course. Plus you could request links from any of the several Real Estate Direcotries. Links from Consumer Organizations would be good too in my mind. And sites which are more for agents, instead of home buyers. Realty software providers, Land Title Companies, Real Estate Brokers/Agents etc.

The main difference being I think your outgoing links will want to focus on Home Buyers almost exclusively, but your incoming links can have a significant section of "Industry Professional" links.

[eleven]

Wow, I check back 24 hours later and I've got a bunch of help. this board rocks.
I realized that I was starting to put SEO ahead of the point of the site and the users. thanks.