Web Branding

The deciding factors that come into play when a search engine judges a link from, or to your website are the following:

• Authority
• Relevance
• Trust
• Anchor Text

From these deciding factors the search engine algorithm will work out how important it will classify the link. The more important a link is, the better for the receiving website’s reputation and rank. Links from independent sources of high page rank, carry sizable weight. This is especially so if both sites share relevant content.

Finding Different Link Sources

If you have various different domain names, blogs and social media sites that all link to one another this will be spotted by the search engines. This process is known as ‘cross-linking’ and may result in all your closely linked sites being classified as one. The search engine spider will just see one large cluster of links.

A wide variation of links from different sources is the basis of a strong link building campaign. 

If you can acquire links from a multitude of sources, the search engines will read this as your site holding a broad appeal. As a result your website will be assigned more value. Steer clear of relying on just one source for all your links. The search engine algorithms are constantly changing and if your source of link reliance is suddenly given less prominence your whole SEO campaign will suffer.

The Great Link Quantity Misconception

Which is better? (Links from the same domain)
1 link OR 20 links?

Well there is NO difference, as search engines do not count multiple links from a domain as additional links. One or Two Hundred, there is no difference!

More links from a domain is good but the value of each link diminishes as the number of links increases.

Lifetime of a Link – Tell tale Signs

Search engines not only are interested when you add a new link but also when one disappears. Data is stored on the lifetime of links. Factors include:

• First appearance – and relation to other new links added around that time
• Link disappeared – replaced by a new web section or perhaps a blog post moved to the archive automatically.
• Link lifetime – older links can lose reputation over time.
• Rate of Link additions – a quick surge of inlinks may be flagged up by the search engines as inconsistent behaviour.

Where you Links Live?

The anchor text link is major tell regarding a links purpose and destination but not the whole story.

Another few factors to consider:

• Link Neighbours – If the link that points back to your website is sat on a page with some highly reputable links next door, this is good news. More weight will be attributed to this link. Beware of the opposite though, a link from a spam ridden site can do great harm.

• Like Minded Neighbours – It is a good sign if the content next to your link is relevant to that of your site. Remember Relevancy Rules (RRR).

• Location, location, location – If your link forms part of a heading or is high up in the body content then great. A worse location like a sidebar of a hundred links will notably lessen your link power.