What Is A Good Link and What Used To Be A Good Link?

Posted in Optimize And Monetize, SEO, Web Master by DB

How do you go about link building? Every website owner at some point or the other must have wrestled with this problem. Do I use a link baiting service? Do I look at social media sites to improve my inward link count? Do I simply concentrate on content and let the world find me? How about if I use text link ads and the like?

Google has come along way from the days where you could game it by buying a large amount of links. These days the Google search algorithm looks at more than just the link count. TrustRank is the new buzzword and getting Google to trust your website is what matters in today’s world.

I’m going off track now. This post is not about TrustRank or even about Link Relevancy but a quick summation of the type of links that used to matter but carry little weight now and the links that matter a lot. Don’t get me wrong, a link is a link and when all else is equal then any link, yes even the links below do matter. But the weight from these links is diluted at best and non existent at worst.

Here they are starting with zero link weightage

  1. Links that come after Sponsored, Paid, Advertisements etc etc 
  2. Forum signature links
  3. Blog roll links
  4. Widgets like Top Commentator and the rest.
  5. Sitewide links

What used to work in the good ole days do not work anymore. If you still are caught in a time wrap then its time to throw all your previous link building strategies out of the window and look to build solid incoming links that will help you. If you are really serious about building authority then look to avoid limit your time, effort, strategies and money in trying to get links from the above mentioned list.

I know, you probably are wondering by now “So what kind of links should I be looking for?” Let me end the suspense and point you in the right direction. The best kind of link you can ever hope to get is

  1. From an Authority Website.
  2. From the same niche, meaning it has content that is relevant to your website.
  3. Single link is buried deep within the site content.
  4. The link has the perfect anchor text (The right keyword you are trying to target)
  5. Has few or no outgoing links on the same page.
  6. The link is a deep link to your website.

The second list should be your focus. If you can manage to get a few of these back to your website, before you know it you will have outranked your competitors that have thousands and thousands of incoming links from the earlier list. Keep this in mind the next time you start thinking or planning your link building campaign. Good luck!!

Now how about a link back to this page? :) No I’m serious. Thanks!!

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5 Responses

  1. Dominic Says:
    April 9th, 2008 at 11:19 am

    This blog has a meaning on how to make a good link that is build inside the search engines, which is very good. I far as my limited knowledge is concern, a good link is when a user searches in a search engines their needed information must suites in what they are looking for.

  2. Jacob Skir Says:
    April 10th, 2008 at 1:31 pm

    Dinesh,
    Your points are good. Feeling inspired by your article, I have wrote about it in my blog on Social Media Marketing.
    Still, could you explain this point of yours: ‘The link is a deep link to your website’? I am serious about developing all this issue.

  3. Jim Says:
    April 10th, 2008 at 4:21 pm

    The thing now is getting sites that are relevant to yours. I don’t look at page rank per se but a good site with some amount of traffic is good.

  4. DB Says:
    April 11th, 2008 at 11:17 am

    @ Jacob

    Deep Linking

    Deep linking is getting incoming links from external websites to point back to your website inner pages (other than your home page)

    By doing this you are telling Google that your site has good relevant content that people are interested in and by linking directly to your inner pages you build credibility and authority for your website in Google’s eyes.

    Remember in a perfect world you will never get all incoming links pointing to your home page. Google knows this and their algorithm takes this fact into consideration.

    @Jim

    You’re right Jim, the static PageRank is somewhat overrated. What people must keep in mind is that the actual PageRank changes constantly and a site with a Toolbar PageRank of 0,1 or 2 might really be a 5 or a 6 in real time.

    One thing I would suggest is look at how a particular website is doing on the SERP’s for a given set of keywords. This will tell you more about the site’s authority than if you only look at traffic.

  5. What Is A Good Link and What Used To Be A Good Link? | White Sands Digital Says:
    April 11th, 2008 at 9:14 pm

    [...] ago any link would suffice. Not anymore. Read more to find out what used to work and what works now read more | digg [...]

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