SEO Linking Interview Part 2

Ok, Part 2 of the SEO Linking Interview continues. Here are the rest of the questions with my answers.. πŸ™‚ If you missed Part 1 and or would like to get in the conversation over there, here is that link http://www.dorifriend.com/seo-linking-interview/.

(4) If you could choose a link on a lower authority page that would provide a moderate amount of targeted traffic or a link on a higher authority page that would provide absolutely no traffic – all other attributes being equal – for ranking benefits on the site you’re developing links for, which would you choose and why?

Dori answer: If the goal is to rank, I would absolutely choose a link on a higher authority page. It is authority that RANKS the site it links too, not traffic.

(5) Do you feel that you can conserve pagerank or that it’s still worth the effort to sculpt your links, by limiting the number of links on a page, creating them with JavaScript, passing them through a blocked page or using nofollow?

Dori answer: I don’t believe it is as affective as in years past, but I still do it, I still link to inner pages to let PR stream through. Just makes for a better rounded natual site.

(6) Please discuss what link deprecation is and what impact it may have on a link building campaign.

Dori answer: In my world, it is a couple of things.

a. link rolls off the front page of the blog, or
b. link comes from site that loses authority or get’s deindexed, or
c. link is removed from site

It is my experience that the first two do not have much affect on my rankings (believe it or not, I know, strange) so the impact it has comes from my clients who count links instead of rankings. πŸ˜‰

But, I do believe in defending rankings which in mid-range keywords it takes a continuous flow of new links coming in. But for long tail, old tired links still get theΒ  job done. πŸ™‚

(7) Do you think search engines are trying to find a way to depend less on link popularity and more on other algorithmic/social media factors?

Dori’s answer: I did here that Face Book is creating a search engine based on users clicking the “like” link, but I think, if we were going to see an algorithmic change based on social media factors, I think we would already of seen it. And I could be totally wrong.

(8) How much do you stress internal linking on your own or clients’ sites? Do you have a quick rule of thumb or strategy to maximize the effectiveness of internal links?

Dori answer: If this page is about on-page/on-site factors, then I don’t touch it. But I do stress geting external links TO interal pages and let it rip on through the site. No official rule of thumb, but the more the better.

(9) What’s a successful link development strategy many overlook or dismiss?

Getting links from low pr sites or sites NOT in Google’s index and also using the URL as a keyword.

(10) What have you been most WRONG about over the course of your link building/SEO career?

For a long time I thought links had to come from authority sites with good PR to rank for mid-range keywords,Β  and have found out over the last year or two that that is not the case. =:0

And that links had to come from themed sites with original content. What baloney that is!

Please note: I reserve the right to delete comments that are offensive or off-topic.

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18 thoughts on “SEO Linking Interview Part 2

  1. I totally agree with the baloney referance. I think you can benefit from any incoming link. It is simply a matter of how much you benefit. I think you benefit most from relevant, high PR, one way links, of course. But, that does not mean a link reciprocal link from a PR0 site has no value. It is just very limited.

  2. Well as far as ranking I would have to agree that the higher ranking page would be better. You have to decide what you are targeting. To rank high on Google or any other search engine you need good quality higher the ranking page the better for you. If you are looking at conversion, sale or opt-in then a lower more targeted page that would get you traffic would be fine. After all you are going for sales or opt-ins not necessarily trying to ranking high on Google. There is a good article about this at http://jaynealinternational.ws/home-based-business/increasing-link-popularity-for-your-home-based-business/

  3. Q8 on internal linking. There’s a person that suggest’s linking to your homepage from all pages by coding a link in the a sites post template. You sem to be saying not necessary. Am I getting that straight? Oh yeah… You’re the BOMB! Thanks for the info.

  4. Dori,

    Thanks for the awesome interview. Powerful SEO strategies I’ll start using on my campaigns right away!

    Thanks so much,

    Bill

  5. Firstly Dori thanks as always for some ‘sensible’ SEO talk…

    I think the problems most have with SEO is the suffer from OSD or Obsessive SEO Disorder…lol

    If we only just wrote articles on our sites that convey to our readers what we are trying to say in a ‘natural’ and not SEO obsessive manner we would rank well enough.

    Proved great content and in most markets where the SEO gurus don’t operate (i.e lets keep away from Marketing and SEO sites…lol) and you will do fine…

    Just a few thoughts from me…lol

    Thanks again Dori and all the other guys and Gals who bother to comment…

  6. Hello Dori…

    This is GREAT stuff!!!

    I think I understand the distinction between the two link back styles, but I would ask for some clarification as I am still a bit new.

    Please allow me to use the example of the Keyword “Girls Rugs“.

    For the anchor text you would simply use an “a href=” and then add the URL and the keyword phrase girls rugs to affect an anchor text link back for the keyword.

    However, for “URL text” link backs the Keyword Girls rugs now has to actually be included in the URL. So it would have to be the “Domain Name” itself. But, I am wondering if this also qualifies as a URL text link back. That is the “DomainName.com/” with the page address of Girls-Rugs.html added to that “DomainName”. Does this qualify as a URL text link back?

    Also… I imagine you have noticed I got some link backs from my post here. That was done purposefully to ask this follow up question:

    Does varying the capitalization and using a hyphen between two or more words in a keyword phrase, as I have done here, qualify as varying the keyword linkback phrase in a way that will help to avoid an “Over-Optimization penalty? Or the use of the same words, no matter how much the capitalization is varied or hyphen are used, something that is still possibly subject to an over optimization penalty?

    Thanks in advance, and I very much look forward to your answers to the balance of the ten SEO expert’s questions that have come directly from their very interesting interview.

    Keep up the GREAT WORK!!! It is a wonderful help for us intermediate SEO buffs!!!

    Mr. Fussy Pro

  7. @Brad, yep, yep
    @Jay, I agree, linking for ranking and for traffic are apples and oranges.
    @Steve Thanks! And yeah, I am not a fan for site wide links for ranking purposes. For traffic yes, that is different. But for ranking, the best link you can get is inside a text block, NOT on the footer or sidebar. I have actually tested that one! πŸ™‚
    @Bill Thanks! πŸ™‚
    @Steve Nelson, OMG you are so right about OSD!! LOL

  8. Ok Mr. Fussy Pro, let’s see if I got this right. Your question is if your link was “DomainName.com/Girls-Rugs.html” be qualify as a URL back link.

    Yes it would. πŸ™‚

    Also even though I don’t have any test results on the use of capitalization to help with over optimization, I have always assumed that it would and I do employ that methodology as it would seem unnatural to have the same variable over and over again.

    But, I may be giving way to much credit to Google. (as I think everyone does) I am not really sure if they are able to decipher that into the algorithm. I have caught to many other little things they say the do, or we think they do, that doesn’t add up.

    I did some really heavy duty competitive analysis in the Weight Loss industry a while back and there was one site that was on page one that spammed there way there. Meaning, they used the SAME keyword, “weight loss” over and over.

    Let me see if I can find that report I did and see what kind of variables they used, if any, in the keyword “weight loss.”

    Great questions!
    Dori

  9. @Chuck robots will see it un-hyphenated and I actually haven’t tested if it harms, but my gut and Brad say no πŸ™‚
    @Brad, underscoring bad? really? That is something else I haven’t tested, but interesting. hmm

  10. Ok guys…if hyphenating is ok for keywords…what about sub-domains…in regards to letting the search engine know the sub-domain is the keyword?

  11. @Chuck, I don’t use sub domains to much so can’t offer experience on that one but I hear it works great.
    @Internet Traffic Gal, yeah, I had to laugh at Mr. Fussy Pro’s great use of a question LOL

  12. Backlinking is something that is always a mystery to me. I started a site with a free service where you would do reciprocal linking. After a few months of doing that I read that it really doesnt have as much bearing as before. The constant work you have to put into building backlinks to move my site up sometimes is a bit much. Now I understand why these SEO companies are popping up all over the place. What I would like to see if a results oriented biz, you promise to move my site onto the first page of google, MSN and yahoo and make me #1 in my local areas for my specific keywords.
    I think you need to do the work first and give me results then I pay you to keep it going. I have heard to many stories of people paying outrageous amounts of money and after a few months nothing to show for it.

  13. Hi Dori,
    Great post!!!
    I used your ideas from earlier newsletter/blog (that in regard to links quantity is more important than quality) with my clients and it works!
    πŸ™‚
    Where can I find a relatively cheap (up to 250$) e-book / course of yours about the subject?