Link Quality

By now you are certainly aware that building links is one of the best ways to increase your page’s search engine ranking. But there is more to the process than blindly adding links to your URL just anywhere.

There is more value in some external links than others, while some links can even devalue your site. Link Quality is very important when considering your linking strategy.

Link Quality From Blog Commenting

Creating external links at blogging sites is a great SEO technique. Find a blog with content related to your own site, post a comment with your keywords, and provide a link back to your URL. Simple, right?

Bear in mind that the quality of the blog you are posting on will affect your page ranking. If the blog is clearly a spam site or one that is just duplicating others’ content or using other black hat SEO techniques, then your link will have little value, and it could even hurt your site.

You are better off choosing the blogs you post comments on carefully. An authority site is always best. Determine the ranking of the blog. The higher it ranks, the more benefits you will reap from a link build there.

There are software programs available for purchase online that will not only show you the rank of a particular blog, but will also tell you whether it is a “do follow” site or not.

Do Follow Or No Follow

Most of us have been trained that we must look for a do follow site to post our links. After all, the idea is that if we post our URL in association with our best keywords, we want someone to be able to click on that link and find us.

The issue with most do follow blogs is one of quality. Surely we have all run across a do follow blog where comments are allowed without any form of censure. The list of comments is pages and pages long and each one is a run-on paragraph of jumbled words with a link to a spamming site. You want to avoid building a link from these blogs at all costs, as the Link Quality of these sites will hinder you more than help you.

Base your selection of blogs on more than just their follow code. Find sites that offer useful and informative content and have built up a loyal following. Even if it is a no follow blog, you will reap the benefits of building a link there.

Web Rings And Traffic Exchanges

Web rings, those clickable icons displayed on a “ring” of content-related sites, and traffic exchanges, where you can find other sites willing to trade URL links, can be detrimental to your site’s page ranking. It goes back to the same thing we’ve discussed regarding blogs – quality.

In a web ring or traffic exchange, you have no control over the other sites and many could be spammers. You also have no control over the authority running the ring or exchange. Broken links, misinformation, or lack of a clear focus are all things commonly encountered and could cost you in the long run.

Paid Links

Anytime you pay for a link on a site like CNN or Yahoo or BBC or the dozens of other highly popular and respected sites, you are building a high Quality Link. Your site becomes associated with a leader in its class.

Yes, it’s going to cost you. But what you get in return is qualified traffic. Visitors to these sites know that there are forms of editorial control which governs the links on their sites and a very low tolerance for spam. In this case, you truly do get what you pay for. A link from a quality site ups the value of your own.

Not all external links you build will provide your site with a positive jump in search engine ranking. Be careful to only associate with other sites of quality. Remember that who you link to is a direct reflection of you, be sure to take this into consideration when you plan your linking strategy.