Anchor Text | Related Site Relation Options

[Hic]

Hi ..

I have to ask this question, maybe it doesn't make sense to many of you, but it's important for my newest site ..

When some people say, "you must get backlinks from related websites"
What's the meaning of related websites in this context?


Let me give you an example so you can understand the situation I'm having :

If my website is targeting two different keywords (for some reasons..) two keywords like "Car wash" and "Home improvement" (as you can see, the two keywords are unrelated)

Is having a backlink from a "Home improvement focused website" with the anchor text "Car wash" has the same impact on ranking for the keyword "car wash" ; the same impact as having the same backlink (with the same anchor) from a "car wash focused website" ???

In other words, does "related" refer to "My website and the linking website" or to "The anchor text and linking website" ??


I don't know if it's clear enough .. Thanks for answering.

[Randy]

Expand your thinking a bit. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink1.gif)

In a perfect world what type of link would be the best of the best you could possibly get? Would it be a link that carried value with the search engines? Would it be one that would bring you traffic made up of real people who are interested in what you have to offer? You know, the real people who make up your target audience? (You do know who those folks are, right?)

The thing is you can never be 100% sure any particular link is going to carry value with the search engines. You can sometimes make an educated guess whether a link will carry weight or not, but it's pretty much impossible to say one link will carry more value than another link, than another link, than another link. We can't see what the search engines think about any of those sites or their pages, so it's difficult at best to say one will "count more" than another. Telling if a link will count or not is fairly simple. See if the page is indexed and view the source to make sure links are allowed to be followed. Pretty simple process that.

What I suggest you do is view your link building efforts first and foremost by whether the linking site will already be attracting the people who make up your target audience. Think of link placement just as you would if you were buying advertising, because that's their best use. The kicker being that the links will still count for you with the search engines, with the added bonus that you'll stand a very real chance of getting those shared customers clicking through to your site because they're in your target audience and interested.

[Bompa]

In other words, does "related" refer to "My website and the linking website" or to "The anchor text and linking website" ??

Good question.

You probably won't get many answers because those people that say that you should try to get
links from related sites, are just repeating what they read and they really don't know what they
are talking about. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif) They can not explain "related". It's just that it sounds so reasonable, that
it must be true. LOL


My website and the linking website
The anchor text and linking website

Or maybe my anchor text and the page Title?
or maybe my anchor text and nearest other anchors?

Or maybe all of those or maybe none of those. No one knows because the advice is just a sound bite.

The "related linking" strategy is not effective; it's not even valid because it's not defined, so forget it.

Fact is, links don't come easy, so don't be choosy, get every link you can, as fast as you can.

Personally, I'd take a link from any PR10 site no matter what it's about.

Bompa

This post has been edited by Bompa: Oct 23 2009, 11:07 PM

[Jill]

What's the meaning of related websites in this context?

There is no such thing as "related websites."

A link is a link is a link. At least when it comes to PageRank.

[Hic]

There is no such thing as "related websites."

A link is a link is a link. At least when it comes to PageRank.

It's obvious that a link is a link if we are speaking about PR ..

But I'm speaking about "ranking" , "serp".

Do you mean that the only difference between two links put in different pages with the same PR is the "Human" part of the equation ? (Referring to what Randy stated.)

[Jill]

While I'd like to say that relevancy matters, from the looks of things in so far as Google is concerned, it doesn't really appear that it does.

[Hic]

While I'd like to say that relevancy matters, from the looks of things in so far as Google is concerned, it doesn't really appear that it does.

Interesting ...


In conclusion, Just get links even if there is no relevancy (for seo matters)
"Related" links to our sites are helpful to increase clicks thought, so to get direct traffic from the linking sites.


Thank you Randy, Bompa and Jill for answering.

[Randy]

In my experience the "Related" bit for SEO purposes really only has to do with the anchor text. Some say this should also include words in near proximity to the anchor text, but I've never seen any data that proves this near proximity theory. The anchor text in a link however does get pushed through to the page in question to at least some degree.

But your original question seemed to revolve more around the notion of the search engines using some sort of Theme detection. That's one of those things that has been a rumor with plenty of evidence to the contrary since before there even was a Google. It might be nice, but it's just not a fact. So chalk it up as another SEO Myth.

Relevancy does however matter for users. It's one of those things that just clicks for people, without even thinking about it. I've seen it in action on every site I've built over the last several years. If you can find some good sites where their existing users already fit your perfect customer profile they will click through.

[exposure]

Relevancy is one of the biggest myths in SEO. So is the idea that links from PR0 pages are not worth much. If that PR0 page is within a recognized authority site, you're a fool not to get that backlink if you can. I also think the notion of "natural" links is way overblown. Use the same anchor text all the time. I've not seen any major reason not to, especially if I really want to nail a ranking for that term. Of course, if you want to spread the ranking love, then sure, vary up your anchor text. Otherwise, all you're doing (in my opinion) is spinning your wheels and taking longer to rank for the main phrase you want to own.

John