9 replies to this topic

[aquila]

i have a few different list of links in my link section for eg one page i give people links to about 20 or so games company where they can buy from. another has a small list of forums people can join eg, another list of places that i shop at.i do not have any reciprocal links with any of them and only included them cos i thought it would be handy for my readers. now can i leave the links or should i take it all off because all these external links would not help in my pr? i would include my site url to clarify but i think i can't post live link yet.

how many external links can you have in a page before it's bad for you.


thank you for help


would it be good idea to just use robots.txt on all these pages?

Edited by Randy, 15 September 2007 - 07:35 AM.
Removed linked image.

[chris whewell]

Hi,

I was reading something by Matt Cutts, who seems to be a pretty clued up guy from Google, and this is a synopsis of what he had to say:

Last week, Google's Matt Cutts had a Q&A on the SearchMarketingExpo in Seattle. Here's a summary of the most important statements:
Paid links

Google considers buying links to be outside of their guidelines and they might take strong actions against that in the future. Matt Cutts indicated that "Google might take action" if webmasters buy links anyway.

Outbound links

Matt Cutts said that links to other websites are good for users, and therefore good for search engines.

From that, I think it would be safe for you to assume that your outgoing links won't adversely affect your PR, perhaps even the opposite, or at least so if the links are relevant to your site's visitors.

Hope this helps

[Jill]

Yep Chris, we actually have a whole thread about Matt Cutts and his quest to kill everyone who buys links (or something like that!)

[aquila]

Yep Chris, we actually have a whole thread about Matt Cutts and his quest to kill everyone who buys links (or something like that!)

why is there such a contrast between opinions where this is concerned. some people say it will definitely affect your ranking and some say it won't and not worry but because i can't seem to find the definitive answer yet i do worry and maybe i'll just play safe and use no follow or the robot.txt file.would that be a good idea?

[Jill]

Robots.txt file? I don't believe you can stop your paid links on your site from passing PageRank by using that, no, sorry.

[chris whewell]

I'm not sure I like the importance attached to reciprocal links, three-ways etc.

I know it's the way of the world, or at least the Google world, but as a consumer of these search engines, I find more and more that I'm being served up some pretty crappy sites, or worse still, directories, simply because they have a superb link strategy.

When I first got the concept of my site together, I envisaged a one-stop resource for anyone wanting to visit Spain, and the info I couldn't provide, I would provide a helpful link for people to follow, where they might find said info.

That, to me, is what I imagine people want.

Meanwhile, web-guy has been filling my head full of the importance of having people link to me, and I bought it (the concept, not the links!)

Now I have a site where potential visitors to Spain may also find a taxi in Athens and a plumber in Sydney, Australia.

This might affect my PR (0) adversely, but I'm going to delete anything irrelevant, starting tomorrow.

....Probably....

[aquila]

Robots.txt file? I don't believe you can stop your paid links on your site from passing PageRank by using that, no, sorry.

i don't have any paid links on my site

[Randy]

Welcome aquila !

and only included them cos i thought it would be handy for my readers

That's all you need to worry about. You placed the links on your site for exactly the right reasons.

So there are no worries.

[aquila]

Welcome aquila !

That's all you need to worry about. You placed the links on your site for exactly the right reasons.

So there are no worries.

thanks for the advice randy

i've just finished reading the matt cutts interview and i can see the no follow tag is a hot debate. i'll probably not use it for the reason that not all search engine use it and because google will probably change it's mind regardin it's use and i will have to redo all my links. i might just use robots.txt on these few pages as recomended just to be on the safe side . after all these pages are completely uselees to me and need not be indexed

you also mentioned that there are easier and time tested ways to control the distribution of link pr or something similar in that thread. where can i go to read up on these methods? thank you.

[Jill]

Now I have a site where potential visitors to Spain may also find a taxi in Athens and a plumber in Sydney, Australia.

That's certainly not something Google is interested in you having. Hopefully you didn't think that that's what they wanted you to do, was it?