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Link Exchanges: Useful tool for SEO : What You Need to do to Avoid Fraud
Mar.
31, 2008 A
quick and dirty way to find sites that link to yours. Go to
yahoo and in the search enter: You will retrieve most links to your site. If you want to omit your internal links enter this: linkdomain:enteryoursitehere.com -site:enteryoursitehere.com You can use the above to omit links from other sites you own or would like excluded in the results
Having links to your site is essential in getting noticed by not only people but especially search engines. In fact you might get some traffic through your link on another’s site but the far greater benefit is that of how the search engine views the link and for the most part the more links you have the better. There are some exceptions. a. Links that are close on content to what you have on your site will fair better with search than completely unrelated content. For example if your site sells clothing then links to other apparel and clothing accessories sites will receive a much better ranking than if you were to link your clothing site to a automotive parts site. There is just no relation of content. Do not turn down the link, because total links have some weight to a certain point, I will be discussing soon, but do not go out of your way to seek out such links instead spend your time and energy seeking out a large number of content related sites.
2. Link fraud and what you should do to prevent it. There are webmasters out there who are not altogether honest in fact they are down right despicable. They will prey on your honesty and turn it to their advantage and you will not receive the benefits you had intended and will instead help these unscrupulous webmasters to the detriment of your own site. There are things that webmasters can do to ensure that their link on your site is visible to search as a one way link to them and unless you know what to look for you could never know.
<a href="http://www.yourdomain.com"> <img border="0" src="http://www.your domain.com/images/pictureorlogoname .gif" width="159" height="151" alt= "A few words about your site and some keywords then a static link http://www.yourdomain.com"> </a><BR><b><font face= "Arial,Helvetica" color= "#000000" size="4"><a href= "http://www.yourdomain.com"> Your domain name</a></font></b> <BR><b><font face= "Arial,Helvetica" color= "#FF0000" size="2"> text of your domain and what it is about.</font></b>
Ok that was a
pretty involved link and you can cut it down, but having the URL in
the alt tag if you are using a picture as your link is important.
Although the standard <a herf=…. link is visible the picture is
not and so the text describes the picture and having the link in the
alt tag may foil some who would try to redirect your standard The most common misuse is simply to use the Robots txt file to tell search to not categorize a links page. If you look in the view source and see: <META NAME="ROBOTS" CONTENT="links, nofollow"> or more simply <meta name="robots" content="nofollow"> Or even a <meta name="robots" content="noindex"> besides these look for the rel=nofollow Or the rel link=nofollow tag On the Links page <head> section. Then that page is blocked to search and your link is not being indexed. Some will place a bit of script that will not allow you to right click and view source if this is the case just try clicking the source tab on your keyboard. It is the 3rd to the right of the space bar on most keyboards and has what looks like a page with an arrow on it. Usually this will get past a simple java script ‘no view source tag”. If you are still unable to view source then delete their link off your site as you have no way to verify your link on their site is available to search. Sure you may be able to click the link and it will take you to your site but there is no way of knowing if the link is available for search engines to crawl and index. Some of these tags can be encapsulated in your link tag itself. Most often if this is done, it is a redirect, but it can also be done to just stop indexing of your link. Another ploy often used is to place your link in a <script> tag. You will be able to see your link and click on it and it will send you to your page BUT no search engine will look at anything in javascript. So if you see a <script> (begin script) before anywhere on the page and you do not see a </script> (end script) before your link, it is encased in script and hidden from search engines. I have written an article on simple scripts every webmaster should have. Check it out under "Scripts". Note that there is a script i suggest to hide your email from spambots but it is still visible and usable to visitors to the page. You can do the same with links and though you may manually be able to use the link search will not see it and so it shows as a one way link you to them and not a reciprocal link. Another ploy that is becoming more common is to place the link in a CSS format this will make the link look visually OK but in reality it may not be and this will also deter search. Also placing the link within a FRAME not to be confused with a <table>. A table is OK and most links that are categorized are in tables. But if it is in a frame search will likely ignore it. You can find these attributes in the view source. If you ever get a links page that will not allow you to view source or any pages leading to the links page that will not allow you to view source then delete the link. Another trick is to have your link redirect to another page on their site. You do not get the benefit of the link as search does not recognize it and humans will be redirected to another page on that webmasters site or perhaps another site they own. Another is to run your link through Google or other search engines and I used to know how to do this but it escapes me as I write this, but simply the URL points to Google then on to your site. If you click the link it will take you to your page through Google, but Google and other search engines will not categorize it. Now your thinking "Oh he’s done this then." NO!!!!! I have not, but I have researched link exchanges mostly about 4 or 5 years back when I was doing web pages for my kids Girl Scout and Boy Scout sites. Long gone sites, as they are older now and again when I was constructing my other sites. I found this when doing my research, I have never used it myself. Look at the link in "view source" to be sure it does not contain any additional information than what you know to be a direct link to your site. Another common thing many do is post your link and leave it up a couple months then just unlink it. You do not continue to check and they have a one-way link to their site. Many want to see their link posted on yours before they post yours on theirs. The problem is they never post your link. Always check to make sure your link gets posted and check back regularly to be sure it remains and that the other site still exists. You can be nice and send them an email reminding them and check back in a week or two before deleting their link. Sometimes we webmasters get busy and just forget to do some of the more mundane tasks. Or you can just delete their link from your site. However doing this will ensure your link will never appear on the others site. I generally send an email, as if I either initiated the request or thought highly enough of the link that I was willing to go through the trouble in the first place it is probably worth an email. However if my link does not appear in two weeks theirs comes down. There are dozens more but a couple I will leave you with is Buried links pages. If you have to click through several pages to get to your link I would not bother. Especially if they hide the link, resources, partners or whatever they are calling it link. If it is buried deep many search engines will not pay it much attention, in fact it may be buried so deep that a crawler will not even get to it. Most search crawlers will only go two levels down in categorizing pages if the links page is not a top level page it is probably not worth the effort of trying to get a link exchange however if the site is in the top ten you may want to consider a 2nd level page but none buried any deeper than that. By hiding your link the detestable Webmaster is not interested in offering reciprocity he is only interested in his own page rank. And If the site has hundreds or more links I would not bother either. The search crawler will more than likely look upon it as a spam links page and not even bother to categorize it. So you are giving them a decent link and they are giving you crap. if you see over 100 links on their links page then don't even bother unless they are a top 5 on keywords that are similar or the same as yours. It just isn't worth the effort. Maybe one more. Orphaned pages. This is where the Webmaster creates a page for links but does not link it to any pages on his site. Your link points to his homepage and shows as a one-way link to his site cause any outgoing link to your site is on an “Orphaned page” one that is not linked to his site. When you visit the sites link page, your link is there and works fine with no tags to indicate it is anything but a good page and link. You need to go to the sites main page and see to it that you can access the links page from there to insure that page has not been Orphaned. Now search will mostly ignore Orphaned pages as they have no link leading them to it from the main site and if by chance they happen to find it, it will most likely not be indexed as it is purely a links page and so considered spam. Beware of “Orphaned Links Pages” It would be a good idea to keep a list of bad link partners as many will have more than one website and email but if you can spot anything that might cause you to be wary of the link exchange based on previous experience or your bad list you can just round file the request and save yourself the bother. In a perfect world we would not have to worry if we were being taken advantage of. Most who are new to the web have no idea these games are being played and it is not just an isolated event. Many are more interested in their PR than they are in their integrity. You think spammers are a problem? Well when supposed upstanding webmasters are manipulating you and your honesty or ignorance it is even worse. You should not be surprised to know that many of those sites that are in the top 10 pages are doing one of the things I have stated above.
To protect yourself you need to be aware of all the different ways you can be taken advantage of and then do the research to make sure you are not being victimized. The first thing you want to check is that their links page is easily accessible and not hidden. It should be linked from every major content page. At the very least from their entry or homepage. If it is not beware and personally I just say to hell with them. No it is not that important as most human users will not use a links page anyway but if they are hiding the links page to those few humans who might use it, do you really think they are letting the bots have access to it? I don’t see the links, resources, partners or whatever they are calling it, page link on all major content pages, I do not bother. Now some sites with varied content may only place your link or rather the link to their links page related to that content on only those related pages. This is OK as you want your link placed as related content not as unrelated to the site. But you still have to verify that your link is easily accessible to search. You need to check regularly to be sure your link is active. That means either running a "linkdomain:" check as stated above or getting into the ‘view source’ and checking the code as well as using the link. That may take a few minutes per link once a month but do you really want to enable a slime ball webmaster who has just taken advantage of you? As for myself the answer is a definite NO!!! I will pull his link from my pages so fast it will make your head spin. There are link exchanges and then there are link exchanges. I’m sure you know what I mean. Most exchanges are put up by webmasters who really do not care if they have bad link partners using their site or not. All they’re interested in is traffic and the money that flows their way as a result of that traffic. Most of us will join a link exchange as a way to get links cause we know we need them to have any chance at all of competing with the big boys. The problem is that many on these exchanges use bad practices like those I have described and for the most part are untrustworthy. You really need to do your checking if you are going to use a link exchange site to get your links. There are the honest who probably do not even know of what I have said here that ignorantly exchange links with any and all suitors. Then there are those who will take advantage of them and you if you let them. There are link exchanges that will act on reports of abuse and ban the user but these are few and far between and to be 100% sure you have to check for yourself regularly. As if we didn’t have enough to do. There are however free programs that you can download that will check your links for you. ‘Rel link’ is one that comes to mind I’m sure there are others. Personally I do not use them but I mention them for those who might want to check them out. I’d rather check for myself. The "Linkdomain:" search can spot potential problems and you can then follow up manually. I would rather have one or even no links to any site than have a hundred to sites that would take advantage of me. That is why you will not see many links on my links pages. First if I get an email for a link exchange to a site that does not have any content even remotely related to mine, I round file it, unless it has significant interest to me or a high page rank. If I get a link request from what appears to be a form letter, I round file it. In fact any link exchange request that comes to me unsolicited that does not mention my site by name and not just www.whatever.com and does not have anything to say in specific about my content, I round file. Why? Well much of this is created by bots and spammers so it is not worth your time. If a person wants to link to my site I would expect they have visited my site and so a simple “Hey I looked at your site. I would love to do a link exchange with you. You will find your link located here; http://www.someplaceforgotten.com/links /links/nolinks/yourlinkmaybehereonthis page.htm when you have reciprocated let me know. Thanks John Doe.” Does the word BOGUS ring any bells? First of all they do not mention anything at all about my site except that they looked at it . Whoopee. And then see how far it is buried on their site, 4 levels deep on this example. No search is ever gonna dig that far down. Ok if someone actually went to my site and wanted a link exchange I would expect a more personal enquiry as well as a comment or two about my site in addition to “I looked at your site” or “I like your site” or ???. If I do not see any specific mention of something about my site I assume it is a form letter and it is round filed. If I do, I read on. I will go and check the site out. If it conforms to my standards and it has none of the aforementioned problems I will send them an email. I will instruct them that 'IF' I link with them there are certain expectations. That they not bury the links page. That any link is ‘tit for tat’ in that if they want a link on my site that includes a .gif and four lines of text I expect the same. If my link is but the name of my site hyper linked then that is all there are getting from me. If I link to them at all. That I check my links regularly and if I find that they have in any way messed with the source code so that my link is not visible to search I will pull their link without notification. That if their links page turns into a freefest of hundreds of links with no limit nor any categorization I will pull my link without notification. That any link exchange is supposed to be mutually beneficial and that if I in anyway am dissatisfied with the way in which my link is handled I will pull their link without notification. This usually is enough to scare them off and I do not get the link, which is fine with me, cause if you were not willing to meet my expectations I don’t want your link anyway. Links are an important aspect to PR (Page Rank). All the search engines still use Links as a way to decide PR to some extent. It is no longer the end all to be all that it once was but it is still important. The more important is the content of the site and the QUALITY of the links. One link from a respected and high PR site is worth a hundred links to nobody sites. Ok, so you say, ‘If you’re such a guru about links how come you do not have any or very few and not to those who are high ranked.’ Fair question and I will attempt a fair answer. When I started building websites I did have considerable links. As time went on ( and I learned more) I found many were being abused so I took them down. When I began building new sites I searched out links manually and for every 100 letters I sent out I got 5 who would accept. A waste of my time and so I no longer actively searched for links. Eventually those links I had dwindled as sites came and went or changes to their sites lost my links and so I took theirs down. I have found content and keywords are more important and much easier to keep updated than Link Exchanges. I continue to spend one day a year in search of high profile link exchanges but I build my webs for fun and spending hours searching for content related sites perusing the site writing a request for a link exchange and then finding less than 5% reply... well I have better things to do with my time Search for “dating vintage clothing” in Google. I used to be #3 on the first results page now I am number 1 on the 2nd page. As of this writing. Depending on how you word your search I can come in on page 1 or page 4. The keywords and the content are what are bringing that page up. If I were to go in and tweak the keywords and place a few in the title and at the beginning of the page I would most likely be coming up number 1 to 10 on the first page in every permutation of that search. But in time another would tweak their keywords and placement would change again. I do not have the time nor the inclination to fight for 1st place. I am happy with 2nd or 3rd page results. And I got these results not by who I am linked to as I believe I only have 6 or 7 links and none to any in the top 20 or more. I got these results by content and keyword and as I stated if I were willing to play with the keywords and content sections and the title I would most likely appear on the first page in most permutations of that search string. Please don’t let my apathy dissuade you from doing your best to get to #1. We all know that those who are 1, 2, 3 are going to get the most hits and we all know people seldom will go to page 2 and beyond. So being on that 1st page and being in the top 3 can be the difference in tens of thousands of hits and that could translate into thousands of dollars in revenue through sales and or ads. But there’s just so much time one can devote to SEO (Search Engine Optimization). If you get bogged down in one area when will you have time to do other things like build your site or start new ones or just get away from the computer and spend some quality time with family. If you are paid to do the job I can see sitting there and running every permutation and finding the sites that hit the top 10 most often then ‘view source’ and see their keyword list, then go to your site and tweak your keywords, description, title and first few paragraphs of content to incorporate all the above. In a month when your page is redefined you will be #1 for a week or two till someone else hits on a better tweak, then you will have to do it all over again. remember when you are on the top ten your site is being scrutinized as well and what you thought were unique keyword phrases that was driving traffic to your site is now being used by many others. You have to keep fighting for that top ten spot and link exchanges are even further down the list in priority to search for PR. Search assigns a "weight" to each of the criteria they look for. now the exact logarithm they use is a secret but we can make some assumptions based on what we know to work. We know keywords and keyword phrases are probably #1. We can assume then that meta description and title would rank high as well. Since these all have to do with our content I would think having related content to the keywords, description and title would be paramount for any search. Having a well designed site with relatively easy navigation both for humans and bots would be a must. Then I would place some emphasis on related links. remember not all links are equal. If you have reciprocal links with sites about the same PR as you then they are a wash. If you have reciprocal links with high ranking sites you get a boost and if you have one way links from high ranking sites to yours you get the ultimate bonus boost. remember that a page is ranked individually. You may have a number one page but your site might be in the doghouse. It is important that you try to get as many pages listed as possible and this is done by hard work of the content and tags of that page not by the reciprocal links to your site. I hope I haven’t discouraged any as PR ‘page rank’ is important and links are but one SEO tool you need to consider when vying for that #1 position. It can be the most daunting and difficult of all the SEO tools you need to use. As such I suggest you try optimizing your keywords, description, title and content before you worry about links. You get that #1 spot and those wanting links will come to you and even if you just make it to the first page getting those links will be so easy as compared to having no PR to speak of. But links for the sake of links is not going to do you much good. Try to get links to pages that appear in the top 30 results and be vigilant about making sure those links are active and search friendly. Make the links you get have something to do with your content and as for me I’d say keep them under 50 others will say 100. You see what works best for you. At any rate I believe links should be the last thing on your agenda of SEO, and then just a few to some of the top sites is all you really need. The rest of SEO is all so much more important. Remember if you are going to actively seek out links try to find those that have some connection to the content on your site. Try to find those that rank above you and specifically those that come in on the top 3 or 4 pages when you do a search using the most common search for the content of your site. Top 10 if you are just starting out. When asking for the link exchange be polite, talk of something on their site that caught your interest. Explain how a link can be beneficial to both of you. Try to give an example of some content on your site that would be of benefit to their readers and place their link on an open and highly visible links page. Look at how they have done their links page and try to duplicate it or make it better so they don't feel cheated. Nothing bothers me more than when a site sends me a banner link and I get a one line text link. Now I don't refuse it if it is to a high PR site, as search is what is important not human clicks but still it does get under my skin. If you already have several links have them listed alphabetically or if the link is worth more have it at near the top of your links. If you bury it at the bottom of 50 links they will most likely not reciprocate as they are in the top 3 or better what good would it do to link with one in the bottom 100,000 and to top it off have their link buried. Keep in mind it is you who initiated the exchange and most likely it is you who need them. Not the other way round. So be tactful and make your email personal. It will get you in the door much more often than some form email you send to hundreds a day. Still be prepared to have a 95% rejection rate or better as you build your site. Once you have achieved a PR in the top 10 or better due to your content and other SEO practices that % rate will become more favorable and you can use it as leverage to get better links. You can do a search on Google for link exchanges as well as for how to verify links and pretty much find more information than you will know what to do with. I highly suggest you concentrate on building everything else on your site and doing other SEO things before worrying about links. Once you delve into your link partner network you should be friendly but wary. Link exchanges will help your PR but other SEO practices are more important. Though I do not actively seek out links and am pretty persnickety about those I do link to, I do accept links that are on topic or that I have a personal interest in or those having high page rank... But I do all the forgoing checks and if any would try to take advantage I delete their links. If you are an honest webmaster and would like to do a link exchange visit one of my sites and if the content fits with yours, send me an email. I have 5 domains and several sub domains and a link to any or all is possible provided there is true reciprocity. Being the owner of this site allows me the option of placing this self-serving tag line in my article. Please do not do so in yours. I have complied with the section on self-serving links however and have only placed 2 in my signature. As the owner of this site I could have placed dozens. I currently do not have a links page as I am still rebuilding this site and concentrating on SEO in other areas like content and keywords and such. But I will keep your email and when I get your link up I will notify you. Robert Taormina Webmaster this site www.vintageslips4u.com www.cpfsn.org
If you have an article you would like to post related to any subject we have here on the Tamicraft.com website; use the contact us page to submit your Article. ALSO we accept Articles of subjects that are not related to Tamicraft.com. If you are a writer and want a place to post your work you may do so here. We accept many various articles so long as they adhere to the "Guidelines for submitting Articles" We will create a new category if one does not now exist. Posting of Articles has several benefits over posting in the forums. The fact that an Article once accepted will generally be up forever vs. a forum post which may be pruned occasionally is perhaps the best reason to post articles instead of to the forums. 1. You are allowed to post a signature file with up to 3 URL's to your own websites or emails. (So long as they are compliant with the ("Guidelines for Submitting Articles")) This will give you an opportunity to reach a larger audience who may use your links to visit your site, resulting in increased traffic and perhaps increased sales. 2. Those self serving links in your signature file are one way links to your site which may improve your PR (Page Rank) in your SEO (Search Engine Optimization) attempts. Both 1. and 2. are excellent reasons to submit articles if your desire is to increase your sites visibility and traffic. 3. Your article is open to search engines which may pick them up and rank them. If any search for keywords contained within your supplied 'keyword', 'description', 'title' and 'article' content you will benefit from the traffic it produces. 4. For those of you who do not have a web presence but wish to share your knowledge of a particular subject , you may do so here. This will give you the opportunity to reach many people and share your tips, tricks, ideas, stories and other knowledge you may want to impart to others without having to purchase webspace. In lieu of a web address you may post an email or a physical address and phone # to contact you for more information. This is not required to be in the posted Article If you prefer to remain anonymous. Though your information must accompany any article as you are responsible for the content. I do not post everything I receive and you need to be in compliance with the TOS and Agree to the Guidelines to have an Article even considered for posting. Those that pass the litmus test, I'll try to post as I can. Your ability to post self-serving links will be allowed in the signature file only and must be in compliance with the TOS and Guidelines as posted. Please include Name, City and State when submitting a post. No anonymous articles will be posted. Though yu may post under a pen-name your real name must accompany any submission. If submitting a picture(s), have it as an attachment, not in the email. It would also be helpful if you indicate where what picture goes . Ex: (pic 1 here), (pic 2 here) and so forth. Thank you. To view the entire list of current categories go here: Once you have chosen a category (bold) you will see a list of sub-categories and by clicking on a sub-category you will be directed to a page where you will find a list of articles in that category and a summary of the article. (max 250 / character and spaces). By clicking the article you will be directed to the page in which the entire article can be viewed. Articles must be a minimum of 250 words up to a maximum of 5000 words. Articles longer than 5000 words will be rejected unless you can provide a good reason why the article must run longer and should be published.
Use the left nav-bar to view this site. Scroll as not all links are in one place. The following is the same on every page and if you have already read it there is no need to do so again. The main links are on the left nav-bar. We have created a site called The Cerebral Palsy Family Support Network and it can be found here. http://www.cpfsn.org My daughter has Cerebral Palsy. I do not say this for sympathy. I have created a site devoted to helping people with disabilities find resources they need to navigate DSHS, DDD, SSI and others including the school system. What I need from you is to let people with disabilities know of the site and get them to send me information of their local and State agencies that fulfill the needs of the disabled. I want to make this information available to all for free on my site. I just need the help of either a person with a child having cerebral palsy or any disability or a concerned person who can donate their time to help seek out this information of advocacy groups for the disabled. I am spending what time and resources I have but I need help. Please check out the site and if you can contribute with any information please do so. Check out the site I made for families with children who have CP Click HERE http://www.cpfsn.org
Through having to take our daughter to therapy and doctors appointments we have come to know many parent's of children with Cerebral Palsy. In the course of our attempts to advocate for our daughter and upon hearing of the same troubles others have had doing the same we decided to use some web space and try to do something about it. We want very much to be able to provide relevant information for every locality across the country so that people seeking information do not have to spend days in search of the information they need. We would welcome any help you could give us. Any links you can supply for either .gov's or private agencies that provide for or advocate for the Disabled would be appreciated. We would like to break them down by Federal, State, County, City and Schools. Please visit www.cpfsn.org and see if there is anything you can contribute to grow the site into a useful and relevant site for people with disabilities specially those with Children who have Cerebral Palsy. Make a secure donation/gift through Paypal by clicking on the link below:
Donations/Gifts are graciously accepted, Just log on to www.Paypal.com , Click "Send Money" tab and follow the instructions to send money from an existing Paypal account or by any major Credit Card. Use the email address below to make a Donations/Gifts on Paypal.
If you do not see an email address it is because you need to enable javascripts. The email is in javascript to foil the spambots. You can also mail a Donation/Gift to Tami Taormina P.O. Box 4463 Spanaway, WA. 98387
Also if you feel you would like to contribute a recipe or a pattern or any household tips and tricks or some other useful information to be posted on this site you would be welcomed to do so. Not wanting to infringe on any copyright I must ask that these be original to you or someone you know who gives their permission or in the public domain. I will need you to at least provide a name when submitting something and I will place a disclaimer on anything submitted as not being ours but submitted by you. It would help me fill the pages of this site and make it a much more interesting experience for any who come here. Your name (or at the least your first name if you desire) would be placed with any submission so you could point to it and take credit. UPDATE the book is now in PDF available for download at http://www.tamicraft.com/adventuresintimebook1 Thank you Tami
Thank you for your support. Tami & Robert and Family
Copyright © 2005-2008 tamicraft.com and all related content under DBA ~ TamiCraft ~Spanaway, WA. USA All Rights Reserved.
ALL these pages are open to the public. As such you agree that you are at least 18 years of age when submitting any posts. That you agree and consent that any pictures you send are open source and that You will not hold me or this site liable for any damages whatsoever. That any contact you make with others through this site are solely your responsibility and you in no way will hold this site or me or any person or entity liable in any way for any damages that might occur by your use of this site and the various posts, chat and forums available. If you do not agree to any of these terms then do not use this site.
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