12 replies to this topic

[blue]

Hello,
I did a link exchange with a site, my linked worked when i clicked on it, but when you hold your mouse curser over my link i did not see my web site address instead i saw the persons site address , an example of what it looked like is:
www.example.com/links.php?op=visit&lid=81
Is this a redirect sript? Would google still count this link, or will it just ignore it?

Also this persons site has a hit/click counter next to my link and every other link on his page, so maybe this is to count the clicks? And this web site seems to be using .php files instead of .html, does googles spider crawel sites with .php and will google bot find my link?


Second Question, are links from "guest books" worth anything in helping ranking?

Any information is greatly appreciated, thanks.

[Matt B]

Second Question, are links from "guest books" worth anything in helping ranking?

Only if you have a website about guest book links . . .

On a serious note, there is no difference to bots among HTML, ASP, PHP of any other type of extension name.

[Debra]

Welcome blue

I did a link exchange with a site, my linked worked when i clicked on it, but when you hold your mouse curser over my link i did not see my web site address instead i saw the persons site address , an example of what it looked like is:
www.example.com/links.php?op=visit&lid=81

If it were me, I'd write this site and ask them to change the link to your URL. Not sure why they want to track clicks to your site......

Why not write and ask them?

[Jill]

Welcome, Blue!

It seems that the link probably is some sort of redirect. It may or may not be counted as a backlink in Google. They seem to change how they look at redirected links all the time.

Like Debra said, if you can request that they make it a "straight" link, it would definitely be helpful for link pop. purposes.

But even if it doesn't count towards link pop, it will still bring you traffic in its own right, so I wouldn't worry too much about it.

Jill

[Scottie]

Hi Blue! Welcome.

This could be a case of a site "hiding" links from Google in order to retain PR in their site.

First and foremost, because you wanted a link from this site, they are likely to be a relevant site that will send you traffic, right?

If not, and you only added a link to your site in exchange for a link from theirs, you either need to get the link changed to plain html (which they may not be able to do, depending on how they've set things up) or have it removed and remove your link as well. You really don't want to be linking to sites that aren't relevant or useful to your visitors.

It may not be anything sneaky- there are quite a few link exchange programs that track links, making them non-spiderable unintentionally. The site owner may not be aware of that.

[blue]

Thanks for the input all.


Matt B
You got me confused, isnt a link from somebodys website to your own web site good for link popularity and PR?
when you sign somebodys "guest book" page you put your own website link on there page(usually), wont that help increase your link popularity in SE? I am referring to "guest book" pages are on web sites that are related to your topic and or keyword?

[Leann_Pass]

when you sign somebodys "guest book" page you put your own website link on there page(usually), wont that help increase your link popularity in SE? I am referring to "guest book" pages are on web sites that are related to your topic and or keyword?

Blue, There is nothing wrong with signing a guestbook and yes it does count for PR. Just be careful not to do too much of that as it can be considered "guestbook spamming". It really isn't clear as far as I know whether gb 'over' signing can get your site penalized but I personally wouldn't take the chance;)

Honestly, I wouldn't go out of my way to sign any guestbook, unless of course, I was truly interested and REALLY wanted to leave a message =)

JMO

[Leann_Pass]

I did a link exchange with a site, my linked worked when i clicked on it, but when you hold your mouse curser over my link i did not see my web site address

instead i saw the persons site address , an example of what it looked like is:www.example.com/links.php?op=visit&lid=81
Is this a redirect sript? Would google still count this link, or will it just ignore it?

I am assuming your sole purpose for having your link on that particular site is to increase PR. I find it doubtful that you will gain any PR from their linking methods.
Like Jill said hopefully you will gain some traffic from it! I just doubt it will ever show up as a back link for your site.

As for future linking, I would just be more picky about who you choose for link partnering. Check out their link pages and make sure everything looks on the up and up.

And this web site seems to be using .php files instead of .html, does googles spider crawel sites with .php and will google bot find my link?

Yes, google does spider and index .php sites. I personally change mine from .php to .html, but I see .php sites in the search engines all the time.

[Scottie]

You got me confused, isnt a link from somebodys website to your own web site good for link popularity and PR?
when you sign somebodys "guest book" page you put your own website link on there page(usually), wont that help increase your link popularity in SE? I am referring to "guest book" pages are on web sites that are related to your topic and or keyword?

It really is better to have links from relevant sites, although any link that is spiderable "counts". Matt's joking; if you have a site about guestbooks, then guestbook links would be relevant.

IMO, guestbook links look unprofessional and a little sleazy, especially if you have a lot of them. I had one of my sites submitted to guestbooks by someone else... Jill has had that happen too. The SE's won't "penalize" for guestbook links because of that very reason- often you can't control who links to you.

There are rumors that guestbook links are or will be identified and will no longer count... so there's a lot of work for nothing in the long run.

[Jill]

I am assuming your sole purpose for having your link on that particular site is to increase PR.

Just a quick word about this...

If that really is anyone's sole purpose for having a link, they might as well just get out of the Web business right now.

If you go into linking campaigns with that mindset, you are doomed for failure. You will always make the wrong decisions because your doing things for the wrong reasons.

Links can and do bring traffic in their own right. Get your site listed on sites that can provide this for you, and don't even think about PageRank.

Jill

[Scottie]

One more thing- e-mail harvesters love guestbooks...

I did look at the site in question and the directory is autogenerated by Vbulletin... I don't know enough about the software to know if the click tracking is required or not but I'm sure the site is using it because it is an easy way to organize and track their links, not to be sneaky.

There are a lot of people out there who don't understand SEO.

[blue]

Thanks everybody, that was all very helpful.

As for links, what happens if somebody who is using a link farm is linking to me, But you i am not linking back to them, i know the SE will penalize them, but will i get penalized for having my link on there page?

[Scottie]

Nope. You will not be penalized by who links to you.

The link may not count for anything, but it won't hurt your ranking.