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Article by Dirk Johnson, LinkStrategy.com
There are two camps in the world of directory-to-directory reciprocal
linking, and each have a distinct approach to the work.
One camp treats linking as a branding function of the business, as well as
a way to provide a genuine resource directory for their site visitors. It's
what I call "traditional" reciprocal linking, because that's all there
was
to it in the pre-Google days. There were no "games" to play.
Many practitioners of this method of linking have been going grassroots web
marketing work since the mid-1990s, and they understand it, at their core.
Others have learned from these masters, usually by following their
successful examples. Their strategy is not very complex, but their approach
and methods are very thorough, and they've enjoyed some phenomenal search
results for a long time. So why change what has always worked? The answer
is, they don't.
The second camp is comprised of people who are absolutely certain that,
with the right "tweaking" of their websites, that they can rocket to the top of the search
engines. Branding is not the goal. Search engine placement is the
over-riding concern, which causes them to pursue all manner of complex
strategies and theories, in hopes of "gaming" the search engines.
Having read much of this complex theory over many years, and reviewed it
against hundreds of real world examples, little of it holds any water.
Beyond that, it adds layers of complexity, cost, and work to a process that
needs no more.
Many people focus their linking work on the Google PageRank value that is
reported with the Google Toolbar. They strive for a higher PR value for
their own site, and their primary way to get that is to try to manipulate
it with links from other sites. Other people use Alexa rankings as a
linking criteria. Other people develop even more odd limitations.
The Basic Truth
Here is a basic truth: A site will always have a difficult time achieving
link popularity dominance in their own competitive realm if they first
decide to eliminate from consideration large numbers of sites that would
possibly link with them, but that don't meet certain arbitrary criteria.
Think long and hard about that statement, and please read it again, to
fully grasp what I am saying.
Then combine it with the fact that the sites that index the best in Google
are generally the ones that have overall link popularity dominance from
unique domains, not the ones with a handful of high PR links. Abbreviated,
contrived linking is a doomed strategy, from the outset.
Google does not appreciate attempts to manipulate search rankings. Their
own website states this. Linking only to-and-from high PR sites is a marker
that easily identifies such attempts. Demanding reciprocity, thus showing a
near 100% reciprocity rate, is another. On the other hand, traditional
linking practices were around before Google, and they are still a genuine
way to market and promote a website. Is this all just shades of gray?
Possibly, but I think it is pretty cut-and-dried.
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Traditional Link Directories
Traditional link directories that serve the dual purpose of providing a
genuine visitor resource typically have very low reciprocity rates. Maybe
10 to 40%, at most. What's more, these sites have links to and from other
sites that have a wide spectrum of PageRank, 0 to whatever (yes, 0 PR!).
Links that come from link directories reside on low PR pages. That's life.
Forget about it, and get the link.
All of this also relates to the concept of "themeing" a website. As it
is in 2004, when this was written, the search engines do not establish a
"theme" for a domain, and then begin rewarding or punishing a site for
links within or outside of that theme.
That is an interesting theory that is bandied about endlessly on SEO forums, but
for the rest of us who are willing to step back and apply some logic,
computationally, it is not possible. A lot of websites need to link to other
sites, for reasons that go far beyond the capability of any algorithm to
determine. Postings in forums and guestbooks link to all manner of other
content. Words do have alternative meanings in this world. A Mustang could be a
car, or a horse. All of this is very nuanced. |
| "Traditional link directories typically have very low reciprocity
rates, and have links to and from other
sites that have a wide spectrum of PageRank, including Page Rank 0." |
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My advice is to not worry about it. If you stick to linking within your
realm of interest, you will eventually earn the relevancy that you seek,
while also not wasting your time, or that of other people who are outside
of your realm. If your definition of relevant is too tight, it will
severely limit your link popularity. A fabric shop should certainly link to
a silk flower shop, but a diet supplement site should not try link to an
automotive site. Common sense works, and there is no need for paranoia.
That should be a relief.
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The Bottom Line
As of 2004, honest, traditional linking
practices, pursued within a broad-based realm of interest, and done with
determination and commitment, have proven to be quite successful, time and time
again. The proof lies in an analysis of search engine indexing results, which is
publicly available to anyone who takes the time to do it.
The "game players" are only winning when there are no other serious
competitors for their keywords. They are generally not beating sites that
have dominant overall link popularity, a condition that causes many in the
SEO world to cry foul, because they don't want to apply themselves properly
when their games fail to work.
Successful, traditional linking also manifests itself positively by way of
the volume of traffic that is earned directly from the links themselves,
especially in enthusiast realms of interest. That is a hidden bonus that is
only obvious to the site owners who do this work diligently. The rest of
the world never sees it.
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| "Honest,
traditional linking practices, pursued within a broad-based realm of
interest, and done with determination and commitment, have proven to
be quite successful, time and time again." |
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All of the rest of these theories and speculative strategies make for
endless discussion on the SEO forums, but if you employ them for your own
site, they will make your job harder, take more time, add more cost, and
probably produce less successful results than those of your competitor, who
may be blissfully unconstrained by such unproven nonsense.
The search engines seem to reward the most basic but determined linking
efforts, much to the dismay of the theorists in the SEO world. Ask
yourself, "Am I adding this task to my linking workload because I read
about it in a search engine forum, in the hope of higher PR or rankings?"
If the answer is yes, then it's probably gamesmanship.
Simplify. Be honest and genuine with your linking efforts. Do that
diligently. Ignore the rest. Good luck!
Dirk Johnson has been managing link campaigns since the mid-1990s, and writes
for various sources on web promotion and linking. His advice and
commentary is regarded as "expert through experience." Dirk's
approach to linking has been more traditional in scope, treating it as a
branding function, and not a search engine optimization function. He
operates LinkStrategy.com <www.linkstrategy.com>.
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