Link Trading Myths Uncovered by Al Bert
Google has just sent the Search Marketing world into a frenzy of hair pulling
and nail biting. Its latest shake up of its algorithm has put paid to
unrestrained link swapping. It had gone overboard like Meta tag stuffing before
it. Even before this latest revision, all signs indicate that the Search
Engines were beginning to devalue reciprocal links and forum signatures in
their SERP's .So what is a harried webmaster to do? Are backlinks still
relevant to search rankings? If they still count, how do you acquire them
without running afoul of the SE's?
The answer to that is Link Trading. Link trading also known as Link Renting, is
simply paying to have a link pointing to your site from another site, usually,
with a high or higher page rank. In essence you are buying the linking site's
traffic and, if your own site is related, its search relevancy.
Link trading came into vogue even before the current SE upheavals because it
was often the only way a new or lowly ranked site could get any links from
authority sites. Its principle advantage from a search rankings point of view
is it is a one-way link - the most valuable kind - and thus constitutes a high
quality link.
Secondly, link trading or renting if well executed can pull in significant
amounts of traffic. If you target a site with relatively high traffic, you are
likely to benefit from the overflow - obtain traffic you would not otherwise
have gotten.
Link trading also has a viral or branding effect leading on from its
traffic-generation benefit. More web surfers get to see your link and if you
properly optimize the link's anchor text, your site profits from the resultant
visibility. You also profit from being associated with the site hosting your
link, and if its reputation is good, this will yield a powerful networking
advantage. The downside is clear - a site may have negative connotations for
your visitors, so researching them thoroughly before buying your link space is
critical.
As link renting becomes more popular, the number of sites willing to sell link
space increases. Given that the purpose for most webmasters is to gain links
from sites with relatively higher PR, you should consider only sites that rate
as authority sites in your category. Over and above that, the usual factors for
quality linking should be taken into account. Briefly these are:
1. Visitor Profile - choose only those sites that get the type of surfer you
are targeting.
2. Page Relevance - make sure that the title and body content of the page
hosting your link is relevant to the linked page on your site.
3. Optimized Anchor Text - it is imperative that the text in your link is
optimized for your web page, as well as being curiosity arousing.
4. Text Link Placement - wherever possible determine the placement of your link
- you are paying for it. Links within body text (usually in your own
distributed content) are the most effective. The rule of thumb is that the
higher up the page the link is placed, the better its click-thru-rate (CTR).
5. Quantity of links on page - in a link trade set up, the hosting site usually
guarantees the number of outgoing links - 3-5, and never more than 10. The
fewer links there are, the better your CTR. Too many (6+) will erode the link
PR you acquire as well as create distractions to your link.
6. Design - again you may not have control over the design of the text link ad,
but it is worth checking to see whether you have any options. A simple link
will generally maximize your CTR. Dynamic urls are not spidered by the SE bots,
so any ad tracking scripts will do nothing for your link popularity, only
boosting traffic your site.
How to Buy Links
Many sites readily link sell space on their pages. Due to the fear of SE
blacklisting, some sites are reluctant to openly advertise the fact that they
will sell you link space, and with these, it is often best to approach 3rd
party link brokers. This will generally not cost you more as the linking sites'
pays the brokers' fees, but it will give you more options to choose from. The
leading link brokers are Text Link Brokers and Text Link Ads. The caveats for
quality linking still apply, and don't plunge in if you are not sure.
It is usual for linking sites to charge a monthly fee for each link with the
possibility of getting site wide links or links on specific pages. However site
wide links tend to be more expensive and may not achieve any higher PR than
single page links although they may generate more traffic. Typical charges
would range from $15/month for PR3's to +$400/month for PR7's with wide
variation in between. I do not think there is anything to be gained in linking
with pages with less than PR5, principally because the PR they would pass on
would be minimal.
Hosted Marketing Pages
A variation on the theme coming into fashion is Hosted Marketing Pages also
known as Content Hosting or Pre-sell Pages. In this method you arrange with the
site that you want a link from, to have a highly optimized, timely and relevant
article that you provide, hosted on that site for a fee. You of course will
have embedded all the relevant links in appropriate content that you control.
Its main advantage is to allow you to advertise more links than a straight link
trade, and with links that rate more highly in SE algorithms for relevance. On
the other hand you lose out on PR because the article would most likely be on a
brand new page, and anyway you don't want your material competing with other
similar editorials. Hosted marketing pages will I believe replace reciprocal
linking as the leading SEO technique, especially to establish new sites.
HMP's are one way of paying to syndicate articles relevant to your web site or
page. Paid article syndication is not a new SEO method, but as part of a link
trading strategy, it takes on a new dimension. Like with HMP's you would
distribute optimized articles, in order to acquire inbound links to your site.
One can either issue press releases through agencies like PR Web, or have
article directories do so. Either way you would pay for prioritization and for
wider reach. Just as with HMP's apart from the exposure your site gets, you
retain control of your links' anchor text. According to research conducted by
the Marketing Experiments Journal, paid press release distribution has for
traffic generation purposes, a better ROI than traditional PPC, with an added
SEO benefit. (http://www.marketingexperiments.com/see/1122
).
Link Trading or Link Renting differs from straight advertising in having an SEO
focus that in the longer term obtains more valuable organic traffic from high
SE rankings than the direct traffic generated by PPC or any other type of
advertising. The latter is only effective for as long as you are shelling out
money to fund it, and most advertising experiences diminishing returns, whereas
an SEO technique like link trading gains momentum from its viral effect such
that in time you can curtail the amount of link renting you are doing with only
a marginal effect on your SE visibility.
It is debateable whether Link Renting amounts to SERP manipulation. By the
reckoning of some, all SEO is just that - Search Engine manipulation. However
even the SE's are aware that SEO hones their own search results by forcing
webmasters to focus more acutely the type of traffic their sites attract, based
on existing search queries and extrapolating for future ones. In a hypothetical
world, if all web pages were adequately optimized, even the most
incomprehensible search query terms would return relevant and usable results.
This is surely the holy grail of Search.
You need to decide before you start researching sites to buy links from just
why you want to trade - for traffic or PR. Some research suggests that PPC has
better and more controllable returns than Link Renting for traffic conversion
(traffic that buys or takes some other specific action). If your aim is to
boost your own site's PR, be careful about how much you pay. Tony Simpson of
Webpageaddons has written an informatively about this in a two part article. He
concludes that you are much safer bidding for link space on the basis of
traffic generation than PR. Either way, buying links, if properly executed,
enhances the prospects for a new site, and is set to become part of the
internet marketing mix for most webmasters.
Happy Link Trading
About the Author
Al Bert, a New Yorker, is an infopreneur, with a focus on links exchange as a
traffic generation and web marketing strategy. Visit his site for a review of
the latest Link Exchange Management Software
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