Factors Effecting the Value of a Link

This Topic primarily pertains to Inbound Links (IBLs). Since Incoming Links are external Site elements their discussion is better suited for our Search Engine Marketing (SEM) page. Unfortunately many Sites don't offer the proper distinction between SEO and SEM.

A product (website) must be produced, before it is sold (marketed), in most cases. We want to maintain that distinction here. IBLs and the entire subject of IBLs are within the SEM domain being completely outside a Site and it's code. A good Web Development Company builds in SEO from the start. Marketing that product through the many digital doors available these days is a completely different topic, which requires Site specific custom considerations to deliver maximum ROI (Return on Investment).

URL And Hosting Factors

We have already discussed the URL factors briefly, indicating that it is best to include primary keywords in the URL when possible. This also pertains to subdirectories and file names. Keep them relevant. Never break the logic chain!

This Web Hosting Glossary will come in handy while learning about or dealing with Web Hosting Companies.

Hosting companies can present quite a bit of grief.

In a virtual shared hosting environment (which most are) make sure and subscribe to the "Unique IP Address Option" when presented. We know that GoDaddy offers that option. The marginal additional expense is well worth the protection of being separated from shared hosted Site malfeasance in any form.

Our personal experience has been quite dramatic in e-mail and Site downtime not using the services of larger hosting companies in the past. The SE's really don't like to spider a Site and find it down and unavailable any more than clients like their email and Site being down for long periods at a time. Downtime can also be detrimental for SE rankings.

There are many good hosting companies out there, if you start having problems, move your Site or your client to a new hosting company.

Important Hosting Features

Make sure your hosting company really has 24 – 7 support! Many claim they do, but don't.
An Adequate Control Panel to put you in control. We favor Cpanel over Plesk at this time.
They must offer a good Statistical Package. We prefer AWStats over most. Good statistical analysis is the closest you can come to "Real Time" Marketing information for any client or yourself when endeavoring any kind of promotional Marketing or Advertising plan, package or campaign.
Have a good verifiable uptime record when reviewed.

Bad hosting can definitely hurt your rankings and erode your time, not to mention, angry clients. If you resell hosting, don't even think about a second hand outfit, you will most likely regret it.

We have also found that when moving Sites from "second hand" or smaller hosting companies to one of the better known larger hosting companies, that Site spidering by the SEs and traffic improved fairly dramatically. Not to mention the fact that we gained real support any time day or night.

Negative Ranking Factors

Internet history is replete with "Black Hat" and "Gray Hat" SEO practices. Every time a new technology comes along or "exploitable holes" are discovered in current SE algorithms (especially GOOGLE's), it seems like every "slug" that can, crawls out from under a rock and jumps right in without any predication of future consequences. That approach is ludicrous at best given the multiple times that GOOGLE has reinforced their stated position that they will continue to wage war on spam of all types and denominations in an all out quest for industry leading relevancy! Technologies and algorithms are converging to the point that the SE's reactionary time between perpetrator action and algorithm reaction is taking less time, and it is our belief that that trend will continue.

With that ever pervading, openly declared position, you have to ask yourself; Why risk it?, unless of course, you are promoting a "dark karma'd" or a Spam Site anyway, ie. drugs, porn, casinos and the likes. Then, we may agree, who cares about the SEs and rankings? But for "normal" sites simply seeking to promote generally socially acceptable goods and services, the risk of falling prey to these "Black Hat" practices outweigh any temporary gain that may be seen in algorithm update interims.

Let's discuss some of these known negative on-site SE ranking factors:

By now many of us recognize detrimental SEO practices, by previous "Black Hat" examples and the fate they met in prior algorithm updates. If not it's a real good idea to review the information presented here under "Detrimental Ranking Factors".

Cautiously adding to what that authoritive Site has to say we would like to add a few comments:

Inbound Link Relevancy – Again please visit our SEM page for more information. The topic of IBLs belongs under Search Engine Marketing (SEM), not Search Engine Optimization (SEO). There were major changes ushered in with the GOOGLE "Bourbon" and "Jagger" updates that are quite essential in successfully promoting a website.

Outbound Links (OBLs) seem to have taken a higher seat in the last 2 major GOOGLE algorithm shifts. Starting with "Bourbon" and reinforced in "Jagger" many "Directory" Sites were dramatically demoted in SERP and even delisted by GOOGLE. Prior these updates general Directory Site held a higher seat in the "Kingdom". The problem was that many unscrupulous Site owners were utilizing auto page generation techniques with either auto-filled content, links and/or articles. Many automatic content generation services were developed spawning a sea of "faux directory" sites aimed at generating GOOGLE "Adsense" revenue. At the time GOOGLE still honored high SERP placement for a great number of these "faux directory" Sites, since many were being sophistically generated to include only high ranking OBLs.

Once more, it seems stringent OBL relativity algorithms were devised and applied. Many of those directories started dropping out of rank and no longer appear in the SERP.

We believe this same OBL Integrity factor was applied across the board to most Sites. We further believe based on GOOGLE patents, observation and other webmaster comments that elements of Latent Symantec Indexing (LSI) a form of Artificial Intelligence (AI), may be accompanying some of these changes. Whatever suppositions are proven out in the future, we recommend the best practice of being aware of these issues and acting accordingly. It is no longer a preferred practice to have non-relevant OBLs of any kind from a website. It is also highly advisable to have sufficient content and in text OBLs when granting Outbound Links. Furthermore, they may bear more relevance to the topic at hand if the are to an authoritive Site.

While many "faux" and multiple topic directories were casualties in those updates, niche directories were generally promoted.

Questionable practices, such as CSS Spaming appear to have also been targeted for the first time during the "Jagger" update.

We expect the delay between SPAM technique exploitation and SE algorithm update reaction to become shorter and shorter as technologies develop in the foreseeable future.

Taking the position; "Just don't risk it", is probably the best policy overall.

Make sure and join us on Page 4. Topics Include:

Search Engine Optimization Considerations (Continued)
• Business Psychology Factors