Let's start
by boiling down all the the SEM advice and expertise about linking to one
single truth that every person in this room will agree on
Without
a link to click on, less people will visit your site
But of course it's not
that simple is it?
The complexity starts
because links have other effects, purposes, and outcomes
• You
now have two core audiences for your links
1).
People
who can click them
2). Bots
that can count, analyze and judge them
Currently,
most people seek links hoping the search engines will reward them for those
links with higher rankings. While this is potentially true, not every
site should approach link seeking in the same way.
Let's
discuss some of the types of links, their value, how each is obtained,
and how each can impact your site.
• Types
of links
1. A link that helps
with direct click traffic but does not help your search rank
2. A link that helps your search
rank
3. A link that does both
4. A link that does neither
4a. A link
that gets you banned by the search engines
Links that improve search engine
rankings will be those that the engines feel are a trustworthy indicator
of quality. These can/will be different for every site.
Links that help in other ways
are those that generate temporary buzz, like
Yahoo
Picks or FORBES BOTW, links
from the social or bookmarking
services and tools like Furl or
Digg,
affiliate
or other paid links.
If you base all link seeking
on SEO and rankings factors, you'll miss linking and publicity opportunities,
because not all links can be found and counted.
• Search
Engine Terms and Examples Related to Linking:
pagerank
explained
December 6 - 71,100
April 1 - 77,200
Pagerank according to Google
authority site
hub site
organic link
Quality
Links?
