Search Engine Optimisation Web Log (BLOG)

Are reciprocal links dead?

So you have a great web site, but you are finding the number of visitors is low. You think that just having the right content should in itself be enough to put you at the top of the search engine listings.

OOOPPPS....the bad news is that the days of relying on keyword density on the pages is long gone. Search engines like Google have been actively building filters trying to identify sites that are over optimised.

You hear that linking is good, so you embark on a process of trying to get links. Of course you will have to offer something in return for the link, you will either have to pay for the listing by offering a link back or pay cash for a directory listing.

However even this is falling foul of the infamous Google filters. Google is looking for "authoritative" sites. Authoritative sites don't typically have to link back to sites that link to them. This is because authoritative sites are so influential on the subject matter that they attract links from other people naturally.

Coming back to your web site, is it authoritative? Sure it might have great content but unless you can attract the right kind of incoming links it will be unlikely to gain a high status in Google. The situation has just been compounded even further by the announcements last week from Google, Yahoo and MSN that they will start regarding the no index, no follow link robot text. Effectively meaning that unscrupulous webmasters can put what appear to be good links to your site from theirs but in the code place instructions for the search engines to disregard. Meaning your link to them is seen as one way, doing them a great deal of good and nothing for you.

You have been warned!

M.P