okay New to SEO but learning!

Klaas Koopman · 01-12-2006, 06:17 AM

Okay People

Sitetutor just learned me that I should not look on PR but on serps and get some fresh unique links from sites that are high in the serps!

Great step forward,

but how does one contact those people. And what if they are big companies, wouldn't it cost a fortune to advertise on their site!

And what is best, text link or text link with description?

Marketing Guy · 01-12-2006, 07:11 AM

Contacting sites is easy - just email them (most will have contact details) ask to exchange links. You might not get a response, but don't worry about it.

The best approach is to not be too bullshitty - don't treat the other site owner like an idiot. I get tonnes of emails lecturing me on the benefit of links for SEO blah blah blah - I delete them on the spot. Just provide your link and a description and ask to exchange links because you think your sites are related and it would be useful for users.

Yes, big companies may charge money to advertise and if you can afford it (and their advertising is good for either SEO or traffic), then go for it. But even though it's a big company I would still avoid anything too spammy link site-wide links or lot's of "obvious" SEO links (eg lot's of links with keyword text). IMO a link using your site name as the text is just as good as a keyword, as long as it's from a good source.

I'm fairly certain that Google take into account the text directly after the link as well, so you should lead off your description beginning with your target keyword. It might not be as strong as keyword text links but I think it still has an impact.

Johan007 · 01-12-2006, 07:27 AM

Good post I am particular interested in this:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Marketing Guy

I'm fairly certain that Google take into account the text directly after the link as well, so you should lead off your description beginning with your target keyword. It might not be as strong as keyword text links but I think it still has an impact.

I knew in the past Inktomi/Hotbot used to take into account the key words (often as bold or H tags) from the referring page. I have not seen google do anything like this but would love to find some evidence if you have any. It would result in inbound links having to be more relevant - and thats good news.

Marketing Guy · 01-12-2006, 07:40 AM

No hard evidence but had a site passed to me from one of our sales guys who claimed it was done by someone who worked for Google. Heh, OK an outrageous claim at the best of times I know, but it was for a very large agency and he wasn't someone who would be easily bullshitted.

Regardless of the source, the site ranked very well and did make strong use of keywords directly after internal linking (I would suspect the same rule would apply for external linking).

Not hard evidence I agree, but I did spend a lot of time having a look at the site and that was really the only feature that made it stand out in terms of SEO techniques.

I'm fairly certain that Google takes into account the general theme of the referring page (presumably from Header, Title, etc), and I would guess that Google also considers the overall theme of the referring site (therefore distinguishing between a niche site and say, a directory with a broad range of topics).

Just theories really but I think they have some weight.

sitetutor · 01-12-2006, 07:41 AM

Marketing Guy definitely knows what he's talking about

Marketing Guy · 01-12-2006, 07:46 AM

Hehe thanks SiteTutor

I confess I do enjoy the speculation side of SEO more than then rest! It's nice to find little gems here and there - I doubt the site I spoke about was from a Google employee (or if it was, it's highly unlikely they had any deep insight into the algo) - but the techniques used were interesting and just having a looking at what other people are doing can be an education. As with a lot of the SEO industry - it's a bugger to prove anything though!

MG

sitetutor · 01-12-2006, 07:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Marketing Guy

I confess I do enjoy the speculation side of SEO more than then rest!

Me, too! I love trying things out as long as I believe they are not things that can get me banned.

Klaas Koopman · 01-12-2006, 08:11 AM

wow lots of great help thanks!!!

So links on which pages should I contact, the first 10 pages? or the first 20 pages? or what?

Marketing Guy · 01-12-2006, 08:13 AM

Doesn't matter - just go for good sites.

Klaas Koopman · 01-12-2006, 08:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Marketing Guy

Doesn't matter - just go for good sites.

but the good sites need to be listed high in the SE's right? and how do I see if a site is right or not right?

Marketing Guy · 01-12-2006, 08:25 AM

Nope, good sites aren't always good ranking sites. You just need to make the judgement call. Is the content good or just rubbish made-for-Adsense keyword-laden crap? Is the site reputable? Does linking to it actually make your site better (ie, a better site for your users)?

Klaas Koopman · 01-12-2006, 08:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Marketing Guy

Nope, good sites aren't always good ranking sites. You just need to make the judgement call. Is the content good or just rubbish made-for-Adsense keyword-laden crap? Is the site reputable? Does linking to it actually make your site better (ie, a better site for your users)?

AH okay, and any sites I should use for this I mean:

Check duplicate content or something tool?
Check ibl for that site tool? etc?

sitetutor · 01-12-2006, 08:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Marketing Guy

Nope, good sites aren't always good ranking sites. You just need to make the judgement call.

Very true. The thing is, there is no easy mathematical formula to it. I use my instinct, basically. I look at a site, and when I get the impression that the owner is going places with it, I want in

Klaas Koopman · 01-12-2006, 08:48 AM

okay so it's quite hard to find the right sites right?

AH okay, and any sites I should use for this I mean:

Check duplicate content or something tool?
Check ibl for that site tool? etc?

Marketing Guy · 01-12-2006, 08:55 AM

Wouldn't worry about IBL. Duplicate content potentially, yes because the site could be ripping off other people and that's not a site you would want to link to.

It's not too tough to find sites - check out DMOZ categories and other big directories for lists of sites in your industry. Adding a link exchange page on your own site will help too - people will email you asking for links.

Check Google site: command for the site to make sure it's not penalised (PR doesn't matter to be honest).

Also make sure the links you will be getting are OK - no JavaScript or nofollow.

I don't think that links from sites who link to *anyone* would be much use - better looking for small quality sites with a limited amount of links on their pages.

Klaas Koopman · 01-12-2006, 09:07 AM

Also make sure the links you will be getting are OK - no JavaScript or nofollow.

how do i see this?

Marketing Guy · 01-12-2006, 09:10 AM

The nofollow tag will be in the HTML - it's part of the <a href="www.site.com" rel=nofollow> (think that's the format).

JS links redirect I think? Not sure - to be honest I'm not that hot when it comes to JS.