105 replies to this topic

[Talking Bear]

Hi

I'm trying to understand the impact and value of reciprical links.

From all my readings and my personal experience high search engine rankings are dependant on two componets; 1) good seo at the site and page level, and 2) a good number of reciprical links, the higher the page rank the better.

Can anyone tell me if there is a guide line for the number of reciprical links needed for good rankings.

Thanks

[SearchRank]

That all depends on how much competition you have. If you are selling blue widgets to someone in Phoenix, Arizona and there is no one else who sells these as well as no sites, you need very few if any.

On the other hand if you are a mortgage company marketing nationwide, then you'll need a lot.

Of course the foundational ones are the directories, paid and non-paid which include Yahoo, Looksmart, Business.com, Open Directory, GoGuides.org, JoeAnt and Gimpsy.

Besides that you can conduct a search related to your scope of business and then check to see who is linking to your competition to see if there might be a possibility that those same sites will link to you.

Bottom line, as Jill always makes reference to is to make your site the best it can be, always improving upon it and people will naturally want to link to it.

Hope that helps!

[Talking Bear]

Thanks for the reply.

I realize that there isn't a set answer, but I'm trying to gain a handle on how many links are needed.

As an example, we sell personalized stuffed animals. Using ther search term "teddy bear gifts" our site ranks number 6 on google. If I look at the link popularity using www.marketleap.com, we have roughly 7,000 links. When I look at the listings above ours the 5 place contender has 26,000 links, but the 1st through 4th positions have between 1,000 to 3,000 links.

Given that scenario it can't be just about link popularity.

[SearchRank]

Given that scenario it can't be just about link popularity.

You are exactly right! It isn't just about Link Popularity. It helps. Somebody correct me if I'm wrong but I think that I've read somewhere before that Google factors in 100 or so different elements in their alghorithm, Link Popularity being one of those.

That's pretty good though, # 6 for "teddy bear gifts" when there are so many teddy bear and gifts site out there. Great job! :thumbsup:

[Haystack]

Great advice, David. Two variables that come to mind are:

1. The pagerank of each of the pages linking to you.
2. The anchor text used within the links to your site.

[Dave]

Big up Talking Bear and your fuzzy little friends!

I'd say to you (and this is just my take on things - anyone else feel free to debate what I say):

Number of incoming links is all very well, and link pop obviously makes a difference to your rankings, but it's not the only thing you should consider as part of your link building strategy. I would argue that Relevance is just as important.

Loads of incoming links from sites that bear no relation to yours may help your ranking a bit, but it's my understanding that SE's weigh the value of each incoming link in terms of how relevant it is to your site. I think they do this by analysing the text within and around the anchor tags of each incoming link.

Think of each incoming link as a vote for your site (not my analogy - might be Jill's). OK every vote counts, but what is the value of a vote from someone who knows nothing about what they're voting for?

The other thing to think about is that your link building work is not solely for the benefit of SEs. Real live surfers will see the links too (and this could represent a large portion of your incoming traffic) - and the more relavent your site is to the one they're reading, the more likely they are to click through to yours.

Hope this helps...

Dave

[Talking Bear]

Thanks everyone for your responses.

I appreciate your opinions and suggestions. All input is welcome.

If this stuff was easy everyone would be number 1

Thanks again.

[Scottie]

A possible look into the near future is a patent app filed by Google for LocalRank.

The way I understand it, the results you see now will be subjected to a secondary sort where duplicates and same-domain results are filtered out. Then the remaining results are re-sorted based on how they link to each other.

Getting a link, reciprocal or otherwise, from a site that would appear in the same SERP is going to have a powerful effect on the final ordering of results.

So, get links but focus on the ones that are truly relevant. Those are typically the ones that bring traffic on their own anyway- how can you lose?

[Jill]

2) a good number of reciprical links, the higher the page rank the better

Nope. It's got nothing at all to do with reciprocal links. This is a big misconception that people have for some reason.

The search engines don't care if someone reciprocates your link. And in fact, as others have stated this may even be less value if they do.

What you want is links pointing to your site. Not reciprocal links. (They are fine, but that's not what the engines are looking for.)

Jill

[Talking Bear]

Hi Jill

I agree with one way links but those links are difficult to get unless your site offer an affilliate program, a money making vehicle or valuable information.

[qwerty]

valuable information

That's the holy grail, as far as the search engines are concerned. That's why non-reciprocal links are (or ought to be) treated as more valuable. They're an indication that your site is so good people will link to it just because they want others to see it.

[lots0]

Hello all,
Reciprocal links are not a vote they are an arrangement, and google is very aware of this. So I think it is safe to say reciprocal links do not carry the weight that a single IBL (In Bound Link) carries.

Loads of incoming links from sites that bear no relation to yours may help your ranking a bit, but it's my understanding that SE's weigh the value of each incoming link in terms of how relevant it is to your site. I think they do this by analysing the text within and around the anchor tags of each incoming
link.

There is no evidence that I have ever seen that even slightly points to link relevance or text surrounding a link being a factor in ranking.

Now if someone has some evidence that link relevance or text surrounding a link make a difference in the SERP, I would love to take a look at it.

Side note: Hello Jill, Scottie and the rest, my first post here, not too sure you guys are all that pleased about me showing up here. But it looked to me like you needed another trouble maker around here.

[Jill]

LOL...Welcome, LotsO!

You can never have enough troublemakers!

Jill

[Scottie]

Excuse me- check my title. I am head troublemaker here.

Always glad to have more though. What took you so long, Lotso? We've been up and running for two months already!

Glad to have you here.

[lots0]

Thanks for the warm welcome guys

I am head troublemaker here

I don't want the top spot, I'll just settle for being one of the peanut gallery.

What took you so long, Lotso?

Too much to do and not enough time to do it all.