Some considerations in linking strategy

The following are some thoughts and cautions around a linking strategy...


Sub Domains

Sub domains are subject to a lot of industry debate as to their importance in the process of natural search engine optimisation. Multiple sub-domains were once used as a way to increase the number of URLs without providing additional content. This practice is largely ignored by search engines. Beware duplicate content issues that may arise through this practice.

Re-Directed Links

A link that is first re-directed to another page within your partner site before pointing to the client website is referred to as a re-directed link. It is important that clients monitor these links, as search engines do not give weight to re-directed links. It is very unlikely that the client would draw any benefit from a re-directed link.

Dynamic Link Pages

The client should also be aware of any link pages that are generated dynamically. These pages are not frequently indexed meaning that a link from such a page would not benefit the client site.

Flash Link Pages

It is also important to identify pages that are generated through Macromedia Flash, as many search engines cannot read and index flash pages or the links embedded within flash.

Directory Depth

It is also important to evaluate the depth of the directory of the linking page. Avoid getting links from pages that are embedded in a very deep directory or pages that are more than two directories deep.

For example, www.yoursite.com/leve1/level2/level3/linkpage.htm is not a good link page. It is important to remember that deep directories seldom earn high PageRank as they are also slow in getting indexed, if at all!

Warning: Avoid Frame Sites

It is important to avoid receiving links from framed sites. A link placed on a website with frames would not provide client website any benefit, as search engines would not be able to recognise such a link.