Link Maps

John Scott · Share | #1 (**permalink**) 10-15-2003, 10:08 PM

http://www.bruceclay.com/web_linkmaps.htm

Anybody using link maps? I used to do a type of link mapping - linking to every occurence of a link to a client site, including linking to SERP's - but haven't been doing it for a while.

Thoughts on link maps?

PhilC · #2 (**permalink**) 10-16-2003, 02:29 AM

Nope. What's the point of it? It only gathers a list of pages that some of the engines think link to yours, and checks whether or not the links actually exist. I don't see that as being worth anything.

John Scott · #3 (**permalink**) 10-16-2003, 03:03 AM

Phil,

I used link-mapping to increase linkpop. I mostly linked to SERP's, like this:

http://www.alltheweb.com/?q=webmaster-forum.net

Or to pages which will inevitably fall out of the index:

http://answers.google.com/answers/ma...view&id=248891

Do that 100 times, and boom, linkpop.

PhilC · #4 (**permalink**) 10-16-2003, 03:55 AM

I must have misunderstood your post. I thought you were asking if anyone has used Bruce Clay's paid LinkMap service, which just checks the IBLs that the engines think exist.

Coincidentally, I just replied to a post in my forum - part of it was about checking on the IBL side of reciprocal links. Apparently, existing tools check for the links on the pages where they are thought to be, but sometimes the remote webmaster reorganises the site and moves the links onto another page and, although they still exist, the tool will report them missing.

The person I was replying to would like a tool that looks for the links on the remote sites when they aren't on the pages they were supposed to be on. Anyone think it's a good idea? Anyone think such a tool would be worth buying at, say, $50? Anyone see where I'm going with this?

John Scott · #5 (**permalink**) 10-16-2003, 10:23 AM

Quote:

I must have misunderstood your post. I thought you were asking if anyone has used Bruce Clay's paid LinkMap service, which just checks the IBLs that the engines think exist.

Bruce Clay's method is a bit too weird for me. I like to do things manually.

Bubo · #6 (**permalink**) 10-16-2003, 12:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PhilC

The person I was replying to would like a tool that looks for the links on the remote sites when they aren't on the pages they were supposed to be on. Anyone think it's a good idea? Anyone think such a tool would be worth buying at, say, $50? Anyone see where I'm going with this?

I'm trying to envision the tool. So, basically a spider that checks to see if a link exists to your site on the target site?

Fruit & Veg · #7 (**permalink**) 10-16-2003, 12:28 PM

I used to link to search results like John mentioned.

I then found a tool that extracts all links on a webpage. So search for sites linking to your domain, view 100 per page (or as many as you can) then extract all those links and paste them onto a page. Then submit this page to a search engine and in theory the spider should crawl off all those links and find the links linking back to your site.

It saves time submitting each page linking to yours by hand, and removes any guilty feeling of submitting sites which are not your own.

To be honest, I don't really know if it worked as I was doing other things as well, but it maybe worth a try.

One thing, the page looks like crap (because it is), plus it's very boring work.

PhilC · #8 (**permalink**) 10-16-2003, 02:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bubo

I'm trying to envision the tool. So, basically a spider that checks to see if a link exists to your site on the target site?

Almost. The idea is for a spider to check if the link that should be pointing to your still exists and, if not, then spider the rest of the remote site to see if it exists somewhere else on the site.

Rob · #9 (**permalink**) 10-16-2003, 03:03 PM

I've been trying a few large sites but AllTheWeb seems the only one with this possibility, at least, with a high PR.

Have you found more?

Bubo · #10 (**permalink**) 10-16-2003, 03:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bubo

I see. It would be a useful tool, but I'm not sure about a $50 pricetag on it. There are pre-built spiders on sourceforge (found this one from another thread today) and it sounds like all you are really doing is adding a conditional check into the spider code.

Yup. It's that additional bit that would make it more useful because people change their sites and trying to keep tabs on link exchanges can be time consuming for someone who is keen. It's not my idea - it was someone asking about it my forum.