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By: Vince Blackham
Assuming that up until this point you have a good knowledge of link building [if you’ve subscribed to this blog, you certainly do/should … thanks, Donna]. Many times we get an opportunity at a link on a site that looks great and we are super-pumped about it because it is in the right spot, on a great looking, relevant website. But don’t get your hopes up yet … there are a few simple steps you can take to make sure that you’re getting all the right juice from the right place.
1. Check the page’s backlinks. One real quick thing you can do to assure the page has juice to pass over in the first place is to see what links it has built up. Yahoo will normally pick up most of the links pointing to a site’s page; go there and do a simple link: and see what work the webmaster has been doing to build up his/her site’s trust.
2. Make sure the site’s outbound links are to relevant sites. “Thanks, Capt. Obvious!” Ok, while it is pretty apparent that you don’t want your link sitting next to a “Cheap Viagra” link, it is still important that the site link out to mostly relevant websites. I was stoked when I had found a highly relevant site for a client of mine whose site was based on finding egg donations for surrogate mothers. As great as the site was and as great as my link would have been, I would be sharing it with other links like “hoodia” and “best diet pill”. The site was “mother” related, but the outbound links (which I guess were “health” related) struck a sour note with me and the engines may feel the same.
3. Check the last time Google cached the page. Do a simple cache: on Google to figure out if the big G has been there recently. If it’s been a couple months, there could be issues with a drop in links, dupe content and possibly even a blacklisting. By doing a cache search, you ensure that Gtown has been there recently and that they will come back soon to see your newfound link.
4. Check the site for co-citation. Along with getting your link from a relevant site, it’s important to know the related sites affiliated with where you’re getting your link from. Consider the following image:
If sites 1, 2, 3 and 4 all link to sites A, B, C and D, they are related. Not necessarily because they are relevant in content and structure, but because the same sites link to them. Go to Google and do a related: (or, after doing a site: to view the indexed pages, click on the link under the description that says “Similar pages”). This will pull up a listing of pages that Google deems relevant based on the link neighborhood it is involved with. If you are looking for a link from a sunglasses-based website and that site has built most of its links from general webrings (partying like it’s 1999), crap directories and other spammy sites, your link may not pack the punch you had hoped for.
5. Trust your gut. All in all, it comes down to what you believe this site’s link will do for yours. If you feel that it won’t bring the right traffic, pass the right juice or provide your site with better rankings, chances are you’re right. Look for well groomed sites with excellent content, great value and on that is well optimized.
Looking for these things can literally take you less than 2 minutes on your part. I’ve found that the Firefox extension SEOpen has been invaluable and makes all these checks and re-checks very simple. Spending just a couple extra minutes on the site you’re analyzing will get you better, more trusted links and you and/or your clients will be much happier, especially when you see the end result of better rankings and great traffic.
Author Bio:
Vince Blackham is the President of Primary Affect, a Utah SEO Firm where he specializes in on page optimization, link building and viral marketing campaigns.
© DazzlinDonna for SEO Scoop, 2008. |
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