Linking Strategies in 2005 Interesting article on Natural vs. Artificial Links.

I agree with most of the points listed, and I have been trying to employ many of these strategies myself. Certainly directory listings and other one way links (especially from topical sites) are extremely helpful, and appear more "natural". I still believe in reciprocal links from relevant & topic related sites. I have been trying to mix up my incoming link text, so that all of the link text (and corresponding page reputation) is not identical, and therefore artificial & spammy looking. I suspect that may be hurting some of my sites in google, though apparently yahoo is more forgiving in this area.

I have also become far more picky about not doing link exchanges with wildly off-topic and/or spammy & content free sites.

Many SEO experts say - "When in doubt, consider what would actually matter to your users." If you are doing something for no other reason than rankings, be extra careful. I'm not quite as down on reciprocal links as this article suggests, since I believe that helpful & relevant links are a benefit to the users of a site.

Labels: seo

 

posted by Dave Matson at 11:31 AM