SEO Tips: Think Before You Link!

So, you've got yourself a website? You run out and tell everyone you know who also has a website "you link to mine and I'll link to yours!" Stop! Wait! Willy Nilly linking can actually do more harm than good in terms of search engine optimization.

Your links should always pass the relevancy test. Ask yourself "does this information enhance my visitor's experience here?" If the answer is no, and the link is being added purely in an attempt to increase your search engine ranking, then more than likely, that link can be left off.

Remember, you have control over your own content, but not over the content of other websites. Let's assume thatothersite.com is currently a site you would want to link to...but what if thatothersite.com removes that page you are promoting from your page? Webmasters change their sites around constantly and could easily remove or rename a page. A "dead link" can actually hurt you in your SEO efforts...and it might even make a visitor to your site question the accuracy or timeliness of your content if they encounter a dead link. So you must check your outbound links frequently to make sure they are still live.

Other relevancy questions include, 1) Are the visitors to the linked-to site from the same demographic as your visitors and/or 2) Are the visitors to the linked-to site from the same geographic location as your business? While geography is less important in the commerce conducted on the internet, it could have an impact on visitors' (potential clients') trust and many people will search by location, so never forget to promote your business location.

A couple of fantastic places to enhance your geographic presence are:

SmartGuy - SmartGuy is a business network which brings people located in a specific zip code together.

Merchant Circle - Register your online business with Merchant Circle for geographic targeting. You can include ads, a blog and other useful information about your business which links back to your online presence.

Link trading or link exchange networks boasting links to thousands of other websites can also be abused by spammers and should be avoided. Remember, the relevancy test is your best indicator of whether this is a good or valuable link.

The "Hello-Goodbye" Factor

If your focus is e-commerce - are you welcoming your visitors and - just as quickly - showing them the door? There are certainly sites where outbound links make little sense for the true purpose of the website; selling a product or service. If you do feel a link is relevant and of benefit to your visitor, consider opening the link in a new window, so your own site remains open.

"But what about my page rank? I need to trade links or I will never move ahead in the search engines." Page rank is not the only determining factor in how the search engines see you (and in fact, was part of Google's algorithm only at one time but is even less important to them today). By some estimations, nearly 98% of sites have a page rank between 0 and 6 (out of a possible 10). A lower page rank is no longer the death knoll to a website getting to page one - or even the number one spot for their targeted keywords.

Quality is truly more important than quantity when it pertains to links. Many experts remind that if you build your links slowly and naturally, you will build quality links and long-standing link relationships which will help you and those you link to in due time.