18 replies to this topic

[Jill]

Now I am wondering if an image with an alternate text linked to the index page. Is the alternate text would do the same as the text link does?

Yes, it seems to. It's possible it doesn't count 100%, but that would be pretty difficult to measure exactly.

[Marchy]

It may depend on whether that link is the only one on the page that points to that target page, and if it's not the only one, it may depend on whether it's the first. I've been playing around with some informal tests regarding those questions lately.

When you say "it may depend on whether it's the first" did you mean the first link that the spider will catch?

[qwerty]

That's part of the question, and I don't claim to know the answer: if the first link matters, is that the first link in the source code or the first link that can be seen on the page? In my tests, the first link has met both of those criteria, so while I don't have to worry about whether what I'm calling the first link is what a search engine would consider the first link, it does mean that I can't say which of the two (if they were different) a search engine would consider the first. If I had to guess, I'd say it's the first one in the code, but that really is just a guess.

[Marchy]

Thanks, it would make sense. A lot of site has their first link back to the index page as "Home" for a text link or sometime it is an image as part of the logo. For the other page on a site it is not a problem. Is it an urban legend that putting a link in the content pointing to a page relevant to the paragraph where the link is would be better than a link in the navigation or footer etc?