17 replies to this topic

[danbair]

First of all, do reciprocal links detract from Google page rank... whether it's a related site or not? I've seen a lot of pro/con on the topic. Does anyone really know.... besides a geek at Google?

Secondly, I'm looking for a good tool out there that can check an entire website to be sure they've actually added my recip link. In other words, I don't want to have to know their exact page. If the home page is widgets.com, I want to be able to point the backlink checking tool at the home page and find my reciprocal link on widgets.com/links_phones.html

Anyone know of a tried and true tool like that? Thanks.

[Jill]

Welcome danbair!

I have no idea of the state of reciprocal linking, but wanted to give you a few things to ponder.

It sounds like you're only adding certain links on your site if those sites link back to you. However, a better idea might be to link to other sites that you think your site visitors would also be interested in. In doing this, you won't need to care whether they link back to your or not, because you're actually voting with your links.

Sure, you can let those sites you're linking to know that you are recommending their site to your visitors. And sure you can even tell them more about your site and suggest that perhaps their visitors would also be interested in your site.

But I don't get the whole removing sites that you originally recommended to your visitors just because they didn't link back to you. Either you're recommending good sites to your visitors or your not.

Even though I am not familiar with the current state of reciprocal linking, I am familiar with the fact that no search engine is interested in sites/pages that are linking for the sole purpose of subverting their link pop. algorithms.

Something to think about, I hope!

We have lots of creative link building ideas for you in our link building forum and in our Link Building Articles.

[Robert813]

Secondly, I'm looking for a good tool out there that can check an entire website to be sure they've actually added my recip link.  In other words, I don't want to have to know their exact page.  If the home page is widgets.com, I want to be able to point the backlink checking tool at the home page and find my reciprocal link on widgets.com/links_phones.html

Anyone know of a tried and true tool like that?  Thanks.

One of the many wonderful uses for "Optilink". I use this feature of it all the time ..works like a champ for this! find it at windrosesoftware.com

[Nicolette]

I use SEOElite but mainly to find backlinks to websites that might be of interest to my readers. I then contact them individually after I've added their link. But I'm with Jill on this: If the content didn't add value to my visitor's experience, I wouldn't have added it in the first place. I don't sell my PR to these sites but rely on their perceiving the value. I've had people respond by saying "I never respond to reciprocal link requests" but then I took a look at your site. Comments like that coming from South Africa, Australia, Canada really warms my heart.

I think if the IM world would reframe the whole "reciprocal link" mania to view linking as a way of connecting like minded people, the internet community would a powerful force for global change. Stepping off my soapbox now.

Sincerely,

Nicolette

[Los_Dev]

It sounds like you're only adding certain links on your site if those sites link back to you.  However, a better idea might be to link to other sites that you think your site visitors would also be interested in.  In doing this, you won't need to care whether they link back to your or not, because you're actually voting with your links. 

Hi Jill

Just a quick one on this point, how would voting with your own links out benefit you in the SE's? I do appreciate the useful nature of this practice for your viewers but I am slightly unclear as to what SE advantages there are to this?

Thanks

[Jill]

how would voting with your own links out benefit you in the SE's?

They don't.

But if you need to reciprocate in order to get your links on their pages, you at least want to link to only GREAT stuff.

And if they're not interested in linking to you, at least you've given your site visitors something interesting to visit. That's way more important than you getting a link out of it or increasing your rankings.

[Los_Dev]

ahhhh

gotcha, thanks for clearing that up Jill



Regards
Daren

[Michael Martinez]

Hi Jill

Just a quick one on this point, how would voting with your own links out benefit you in the SE's? I do appreciate the useful nature of this practice for your viewers but I am slightly unclear as to what SE advantages there are to this?

Thanks

Outbound links are still indexable content. They help in that respect. I often get the impression that people assume the search engines only associate link anchor text with the target pages. They also associate it with the hosting pages.

[Randy]

I'll have to disagree with Jill a bit on the statement that outbound links don't help. I think they can help if one approaches the subject correctly.

Instead of going into some long, boring post let me just state that I believe there are such things as Authority sites. I also think there are such things as Hub sites. And often these Hubs are also Authorities.

Simply put, let say that you've created a site and you're bound and determined to only link out to great quality sites in a narrowly focused niche. Because of these links and your commitment to Quality over quantity, you're eventually going to be viewed as a Hub site. You'll be viewed as someone who has enough expertise in whatever market to know the good from the bad.

The next step, assuming you are able to get the word out about your fantastic resource, is that other real people find your site and find it so useful that they start linking to it. With a recommendation.

Eventually, this will turn your site into an Authority on the subject.

So though it doesn't happen over night, the easiest way to become an Authority site is to first become a Hub. By linking out to other great sites.

[Jill]

I'll have to disagree with Jill a bit

[torka]

Jill, may I also suggest:

















--Torka

[Randy]

Jill knows I'm right on the marketing side of things.

She just doesn't want to learn CSS. ...fleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee...

Torka is just ... ermm ... well ... Torka!

[pemburung]

Well, I guess as tomorrow's a holiday, this is effectively Friday afternoon....

Here's my last question on this Google thing, and then I promise to go away and get a life.

On checking my links on Marketleap, I've found a lot of links of this kind:

• nothofagus antarctica -- nothofagus antarctica
nothofagus antarctica nothofagus antarctica Search Tips This website offers the best ideas and prices. For example, if you’re looking for "nothofagus antarctica", you’ll find the top "nothofagus ...
o www.somesite.com/nothofagusantarctica
o Cached page

southeast asia tsunami -- southeast asia tsunami
southeast asia tsunami southeast asia tsunami Search Tips This website offers the best ideas and prices. For example, if you’re looking for "southeast asia tsunami", you’ll find the top "southeast ...
www.someothersite.com/southeastasiatsunami Cached page

asian bathroom design asian bathroom design asian bathroom design Information about asian bathroom design want bathroom ... of foods kitchen cabinet orinda asian women smoking cigars messages ... canadian airfares graphic ...
www.somemoresite.com/asianbathroomdesign Cached page 11/9/2005


It's obviously spam, and checking the sites themselves proves it - lines and lines of hidden text, links etc. In each case the title is taken from something on my website (No, I don't have weird stuff; the "asian women smoking cigars" must be a photo of a native Dyak woman from Borneo who is smoking a homemade lump of a cigarette) I've sent one of the addresses to Google, but there are so many different ones.

My question - will Google think I've done this, aquired these spam links, and penalize me? There are also other links that I know nothing about, totally unrelated to my site's information, as well, but they don't appear on first glance to be of the kind that this is. If they might, what can I do about it?

On a slightly different note; the number of my MSN links has just today dropped from an alleged 900+, according to Marketleap yesterday (and earlier checks) to a little over 100. So they seem to be cleaning up things after their current crawl. Number according to Yahoo has risen; in each case my position on their SERPS has not changed. Google continues to miss numerous links, to PR2 and above pages, even using the "find websites with term" link search. Of course, they are good ones.


[Removed actual site names.]

Edited by Jill, 11 November 2005 - 09:01 AM.

[Los_Dev]

Many thanks all plenty of food for though there.

Regards
Daren

[robbinsr]

One important factor to keep in mind pemburung is that Google only selectively and apparently randomly reports the back links to you it knows about. Just because Google doesn't list them, doesn't mean they don't know about them. Google has chosen right from the start not to show all links to your site, that's just what they have done. If you really want to know if Google knows about a link or not, go directly to that page, view Google's cache of it, and if Google's current cache of that page has your link in it, then they know about it. That's about the best I can do for you on that one. Whatever your current PageRank is, that is what Google feels you are worth even with all of your backlinks, or at least the ones they've found so far, because they are counting them even if they aren't displaying them, sorry!