Links - Quality not Quantity

Building a solid foundation for your site

by Bill Marshall
of http://www.oyster-web.co.uk

Last updated: 4 Jun 2007

There's a lot of articles on the web about links; and most of the information contained in them is outdated, inaccurate, or talks in the sort of theoretical platitudes that are useless to those people looking for good advice. Of course some of it is written purely as linkbait! Lets see if we can kill a few myths and provide some useful information without being classified in the same category.

Reciprocal links - are they still worth it?

Many webmasters are still piling on ever-increasing numbers of reciprocal links in the hope of catching or overtaking the backlinks of sites above them in the rankings. Others, who have read a few forum posts saying 'reciprocal links are dead' have moved to three-way links. I get requests for these all the time and they all go in the bin. (Do they really think the search engines can't pick up three way links?) There's nothing actually wrong with reciprocal links - Matt Cutts says so so it must be true! - but in moderation, not in massive quantity

Buying links

Then there are the folk who buy links, whether in paid directories (ok in moderation) or in Body Copy as text links (depends on the sites and how relevant they are as well as how much you and they do it) or convoluted linking schemes (usually ineffectual and frequently downright dangerous) or even in Link farms (don't do it, ever). This is usually accompanied by perpetual fussing about PageRank and its updates - a total waste of time in all but the broadest sense.

Online PR

Online PR releases can be a useful way of picking up links - if handled sensibly (you do have something worth announcing don't you?) and the releases put in the right places. This channel rewards careful research - see a recent blog article about PR releases by an ex-colleague of ours who uses them successfully for his clients.

Digging it

The most recent fad has been to chase links in the social networking sites like Digg, which in many cases has only succeeded in getting Digg users to hit their controversial 'bury' button. This is a difficult one to master as the nature of the sites require a fast accumulation of diggs/bookmarks to get on the front page but the danger is seeming artificial and being "found out" as marketing and being buried.

Why not quality then?

While some webmasters pay lip service to link quality, few actually do anything about it for the simple reason that it's easier to plug away with quantity rather than go for quality. Quality takes longer and is less visible to bosses or clients who don't understand the process but just want to see something measurable.

The Ideal Link

What is the ideal link? One that is freely given by someone who thinks your content is worth linking to and preferably has some Relevance to your subject matter. It should be from a normal page rather than a links page and be surrounded by body text rather than be isolated on its own.

You don't get those by sending out thousands of boilerplate email requests. Indeed unless you have good content you are unlikely to ever get one at all. And that's the key - genuine quality content. Not a hastily thrown together blog entry, not an article by the office junior with no real point other than an extra page for the site. Something useful, something authoritative, something that you would bookmark if you came across it.

Now you may be sitting there saying 'I have a bog standard eCommerce site with a home page and products, how does that help me?'

Imagination produces quality content

So, what do you sell? Lets think of a few products at random and a few ideas off the top of my head.

Bathroom fittings?

How about an article on standard screw threads and piping for the DIY user.
How about a design layout applet that demonstrates colour schemes, or sizes of clearance space needed for different units like baths or shower units.
Let users change the room dimensions and maybe even the lighting. Could make a big difference to your Conversion Rate as well as getting you links.

Cosmetics?

How about a guide to different styles of makeup for different shapes of face or hair type and colour. An applet would work here too

Wine?

Recipes using wine or that go perfectly with different wines. Recommended vintages.
Recommended time before drinking.
Tasting notes

Use your imagination and you should be able to come up with something similar for your site. Then once you have real quality content you'll find it a lot easier to attract quality links because you'll have something to offer that's worth linking to.