Google Update
Google is going through another update cycle at the moment that changes existing approaches to SEO and reciprocal linking. It is very hard to know what Google is doing and the SEO forums are crammed with information that is compiled from analysis and personal observations not facts. As an industry professional I read a lot of this information daily only to shudder at what is claimed by some authors, but there is a core of common SEO practices that everyone unanimously agree do work. As discussed previously having good content on validated web pages that comply to relevant standards is the key to a high ranking. Don't forget to validate the CSS styles used with your pages as well.
A major part of web page validation is to ensure that your encoding is correct (important for browser compatibility) and all of the meta tags to define the page are correct. Many authorities say the "Title" is the most important part of the header and should always include the targeted keywords. The meta tags are important so ensure they have the correct information. Beyond the header and the content links are the next component to complete the SEO of a web site. Links are a highly debated topic with web masters and misused by the majority that could be considered link farms by search engines. There is a very fine line between good link management and a lot of wasted time.
Reciprocal links do not benefit Googles page rank like they used to. This is evident in reports for my websites that show many more links in from other search engines than from Google. The back links displayed by Google for my websites are typically 1 way, from directories, other search engines etc. One way links from pages with relevant topics are the ones that boost page rank and these are much harder to find. The first step is to locate a large number of directories and submit your website. This is better than reciprocal links because there is no ongoing maintenance checking links and adding/editing entries at the expense of content.
"Google seems to have expanded their differentiation between bogus links and links which are earned," said Search Engine Journal's Loren Baker in a recent mail out from http://www.webproworld.com/.
Delivering content to visitors is the main objective of a website not servicing the needs of search engines. A set of related links adds good content to a website that can service customers and increase search engine performance. The links manager on this website proves the theory with over 1200 entries with very few backlinks for a page rank of 6/10. Unfortunately Google only ranks the home page on new websites, this site was published in Sept 2005 and falls in this category so you will only see the page rank on the home page.
Google is sending a clear indication that a links page/s must benefit visitors to a site and not just exist (in an attempt) to increase sites page rank. In essence the cards have been turned where web masters must now work for their links to benefit them and better web design can also help. Directories present an opportunity to maximise the benefits of linking to other websites but the emphasis in reciprocating links must be forgotten or used wisely.
To get the most from reciprocating links you need 3 sites to participate, each links to the site that doesn't link to them. So site 1 links to site 2 who links to site 3 linked back to site 1. A classic triangle that produces a one way link for each website. This becomes very complicated to monitor, reach agreement and control so don't expect the existing reciprocal linking services to accommodate the concept.
Our links management software provides the ability to service multiple sites with unique content from a single database. A central data source minimises maintenance, saves multiple entries for each site and integrates with other site facilities to compliment existing content with relevant links. Next week I will provide more information about the Coweb.biz links management package and how links used as content benefit a site in many ways.
