SEO - It's not all about links

It used to be a case that the more links the better - lots of links meant people liked your website so it must be good. Now this is not necessarily so as people have learnt how to build up lots of links even though their website does not deserve them.

The over arching principle is this:

Does your website deserve the link?

From this it is much easier to understand the following table which explains which links are very important, which have some bearing and which don't count at all

Note many of the importance ratings need explanation which is given in the rest of the page so do not take them at total face value

SEO and Inbound Links

SEO and Outbound links

Many website builders shy away from outbound links but used correctly they can help your SEO immensely

Strong and weak links in SEO

Now before we get into the detail about exactly where to put links - on other websites, to other websites and within your own website - it is vital to understand the best way to construct them. Well made links are a critical part of SEO.

SEO Text links

The most powerful links are those that contain text and what that text says is also important. So this link: How to SEO is better than this one Home Page even though both are true.

They both point to the same page but the first says 'How to SEO' and points to a page which is about 'How to SEO' so top marks. The second says 'Home Page' which means nothing to a search engine, it is certainly nothing to do with SEO, and as the destination page is not about 'Home Page' it will have little or no impact.

This principle applies for inbound, outbound and internal links. As such the first SEO job when optimising any website is to go through the links and remove all the 'click here' and 'see this' and 'open' and on, and on. They all need to be replaced with something meaningful which matches the destination page.

Often the text needs to be removed altogether and replaced with a graphic. Imaging a shopping site with links that say "Full details". Well these will be repeated so often that some search engines will start to consider the prominant keywords for the website are "full details".

In this instance it is better to replace the text with a link or edit the text so it says "Full details for [product name]".

SEO and Graphic Links

As search engines cannot see graphics, and they are highly suspicous of alt tags, using an image is a route that should generally be avoided if the text would be useful.

This does not mean your website is going to have to look dry and dull. There are ways of creating text links that look like graphics and so are appealing to the reader and readable by the search engines.

Let's take this example:

It looks like a graphic because we have put a graphic behind the text but it is actually text, and it is text which means something - 'How to SEO' ... so everybody's happy.

SEO and Link locations on your website

A final factor for your own website is where the link occurs. Links near the top of the page are given the most weighting which is why, if your navigation menu is in javascript or Flash that the search engines can't read, you are loosing your most vital text links immediately.

You should also bear this in mind for links to social networking websites. You may want to say 'Join us on Facebook' or 'Follow us on Twitter' but this results in the search engines starting to believe that some of your keywords are 'join','follow' and 'us' because they appear in a link on every page. To avoid this always make such links graphics. This is exactly a time when you don't want a link to be powerful in the eyes of a spider bot crawling your page.

Bear in mind that most search engines stop following or indexing links after they have reached the 100th one. So if you have something important to say in your link keep it near the top. If your page is large and does contain over 100 links assume most of what is near the bottom is going to be largely ignored which means:

• Search engines won't follow the link to discover the page beyond it.
• Search engines won't take into account the text of the link in deciding what your page is about.

SEO and Inbound links in detail

Now we know how to make a strong link within our own website the next SEO step is to try and do this on other websites but we have to do this in moderation. For example Wikipedia won't allow you to make your text link "[my keyword phrase]" - it will simply get deleted within a few minutes and you may end up banned from making further contributions. Each ideal place to put a link needs some degree of respect if you are going to be successful.

Links from respected directories

The three most SEO professionals aim for are DMOZ, Google Local and the Yahoo directory. The Yahoo one is the most straightforward because you have to pay but they won't let any old website in and hence the reason other search engines respect it.

The DMOZ is much harder and frustrating as, although it is free to apply, if you are rejected no reason is given. Some of the common pointers are:

• You have not read their guidelines thoroughly - do this!
• Your applying to the wrong part of the directory
• The text you want as the link is nothing to do with your website
• The description you want next to the link is nothing to do with your website
• The description you want next to the link is just hype - e.g. "Cheap cars, bargain cars here, cheapest cars in the world".
• The description you want next to the link has too many expletives - e.g. "Great holidays!!!!!! ********Super cheap flights********".

If, after a couple of weeks, your entry is not added then do not simply resubmit it. Change something and try again - and never give up trying!

Links from Wikipedia

If your website truly contains some unique and valuable information, say the results of a large survey into the use of different browsers by those who access the internet, then it deserves to be referenced in Wikipedia.

To do this you need to:

• Learn the way facts and text can be added, and their sources referenced, for Wikipedia
• Check back regularly to see your addition has not been deleted
• Be prepared to spend time arguing your case with highly skeptical people who battle against endless individuals who are just trying to get links added

With Wikipedia it is vital to remember that the whole contents is run by volunteers. This means that some sections are maintained by very sensible and well meaning individuals. On the flip side other sections are maintained by people who can best be described as 'little hitlers' and telling you what you can and can't do is as close as they can come to having a power buzz because no one else in their lives listens to them or respects what they say!

Wikipedia is free but that means the levels of service, sensible argument and logic vary dramatically from area to area of the directory. A SEO professional must be skilled and the art or persuasion for some sections!

Now once your link is on you are told that it counts for nothing in the eyes of search engines because all links are tagged "NO FOLLOW". In other words Wikipedia tells robots not to follow the link so does that mean it is a useless part of SEO?

No. Search engine robots are not programmed to be stupid. If your website has made it into Wikipedia, and stayed there, it is a good website and they will take note of it - follow or no follow!

Links from well respected websites

There are certain websites that the search engines just know to be good - bbc.co.uk, cnn.com, yahoo.com (features), and so on. Links from these pages are extremely valuable when carrying out SEO and are possible in two ways:

• Make a good website and you will often get a link. One of our clients, New Poland Express, is a genuinely interesting and original news website so, without asking, the BBC added it to their country profile page.
• Give them something to write about. Get off the internet and get back to old fashioned press releases. If they like the story and write about it they will state where the source information came from and probably link to you.

Links from Yahoo answers

From Yahoo, or from one of the other major question and answer services, are also valuable to the SEO process because:

• They are links which come from pages with original content that is on the same subject area as your website
• If you write a full answer along with your link you contribute further to the content of that page which makes the link even stronger
• A full, quality answer can be voted 'best answer' which helps more people find your website and respect it
• Websites like Yahoo Answers may show up higher in the search engines for a keyword you are pursuing but if there is a link to your website from there you benefit.

Links from forums

It's important to remember that search engines value some forums and discount other ones completely. The good ones are important because:

• Your link will be coming from a page that has original text content and is on the same subject as your website
• If you take part fully in a discussion (rather than just a single post to try and sneak in your link, you further contribute to making the page even more text rich and this will make your link have greater significance.
• The Forum may show up higher in the search engines for a keyword that you are pursuing but if there is a link to your website from the discussion then you benefit.
• People may visit your website and buy your product or services (or whatever action you want them to take) because they have seen your comments in a forum and respect your knowledge.

But don't try to just post any old junk on a forum. This won't work, and you simply waste time, because:

• Posts which are obviously just link building are deleted from forums by the moderators
• If your post is not deleted it means the forum is also full of other blatant advertising and the search engines will not be paying it much attention
• Taking part in discussions actively adds to the amount of text on the page which actively makes your link a better one. It really is where a case of helping others helps you.

Note some organisations actually employ SEO specialists who spend hours of time discussing topics in forums so that they can get a valuable link!

Links from article websites

These are very powerful links from the right websites but like forums some are respected and some are virtually ignored by search engines. In general article websites where you can post straight away and nobody checks your content are full of junk and your time is wasted.

Some of the leading places where articles can be submitted are ezine.com and buzzle. For each your content must be relevant, well written and totally original or it will be rejected (and such websites have excellent systems to scour the net and find copies). Even if the only other copy is on your own website, this is still too much and fair enough.

Through such pages you get everything you want - you create a text rich page about your subject area and you get a link back to your website. They get more original content and pray that they can make a living from the advertising!

Given all this it is hardly surprising that many companies employ full or part time article writers to improve their SEO. They can be as important as the press releases which the marketing department sends out.

But a word of caution. Some search engines like Google are starting to penalise certain article websites like about.com and ehow because they are increasingly accepting useless information.

In a well known example ehow published a page 'How to pick your nose'(!) and various ex-employers have claimed they wrote how to guides when they knew nothing about the subject area.

This means some article websites are now (2011) being seen as 'content farms' rather than genuinely useful and their positions are slipping ....

Links from Twitter and Tweets

This very much depends who is tweeting. If the person has a vast following, such as Stephen Fry, it is going to count for a great deal. But if it is Bob from Worthing with five followers the tweet won't carry much weight.

Links from Facebook pages

Again it depends on the facebook page. A link from the page "Physics doesn't exist, it's all gnomes" carries weight because it has tens of thousands of followers. But a link from a facebook page with a handful of fans, or none, doesn't.

Note also there are large numbers of 'abandoned' or 'forgotton' Facebook pages where you can post any link you want. These are generally full of spam already, the search engines no about it and they are ignored.

Paid text link programmes

The strength here depends on how the payment works. So, for example, you do pay to get into the Yahoo directory but it is a one off payment for one directory - and a directory that is respected.

However some programmes offer services such as "1,000 backlinks for $20" or similar. In these you provide specific text for the link and they, in turn, pay people to take it. Now search engines see 1,000 identical backlinks, realise something is not right, and give them a minimal or null value

Why? Because real websites that people actually want to link to are not linked in a uniform way. On one website a link to your page look like "I found good info on this site", while another website has the text "You can read more on Bobs Gardening Website", and so on. Real organic links, even to the same page on a particular website, are not uniform because people and contexts are not uniform.

Lots of weak links

Many webmasters become obsessed with link building without giving the entire concept proper thought. Planning to "add two new links a day" can be a sure road to no where.

Generally speaking the easier it is to get the link, the less value it has. This does not mean every link has no value, they (almost) all do. But imagine a link in DMOZ has the value of £100 (or $100) then a link in some easy to list online directory is worth 1 penny (or one cent).

So your two hours a day will eventually make all the pennies or cents add up but ultimately your time would have been better spent on DMOZ. It will be around tomorrow and we cannot say the same for all those other directories.

One route is to spend your ten hours a week obtaining one quality link that is worth one hundred, even one thousand, "easy to obtain" links.

Writing a good quality press release about your website, a product on your website or some other interesting information, and send it by post (yes, by post - not email) to the right people in the right magazines and newspapers can work wonders. Journalists are always looking for stories and if they include yours it is also going into their online version along with a one way link back to you.

And do not under-estimate the strength of the local press. A link within a story from a newspaper that may just cover your town is far more valuable than dozens of links in the endless online directories that exist.