3 Way Linking – The New Link Popularity Building Strategy
There has been a lot of talk over the past few months, even more so with the latest Google update, about the value of linking. What types of links are better, which types are still seen as value-added to a website. Well, if the truth is told, the only people who can say to us are not saying anything. I am speaking of the engineers at Google and the other search engines, the very people who are the ones who determine the value of all linking.
According to some people at the various search engine optimization companies, reciprocal links are no longer considered when determining link popularity for a website. Just like so many of the other theories of search engine optimization, outside of the engineering labs, no one knows for sure. I have read some of the reports that have been issued on this topic, and these reports are far from conclusive, offering little more than contradictory examples taken over several days of testing.
There is no controversy regarding reciprocating links, and there isn't much point in relying on them to help build link popularity. So aside from a wait-and-see what happens next stance, what can we do? Rather than adopt a reactive position to this uncertainty, I feel that it would be far better to move forward and be proactive by changing my linking strategies.
I still value reciprocating links as a suitable means of trading traffic and will continue to utilize them; however, as more and more misinformation gets spread over the Internet, it will become increasingly difficult to exchange links with quality sites. So what is a webmaster to do now that this style of linking seems to be on its way out? Simple adapt or disappear off the search engine radar. Well, Google's radar anyway.
Spend more time evaluating the potential linking partners. For my consultation clients, I will suggest that they be highly selective on who they link with now. If the site measure up to their standards of web development and the theme of the linking Site matches their Site in some manner, go ahead and trade links.
Before they trade links with any site, they should make sure that the partner site places their link on a page with some on-topic content rather than a page containing just random links. If possible, only trade links with sites that employ a directory system so that all of the links on any given page share a similar theme. I will also suggest that they set up their directory-style system into categories. Every page in each category should contain a topical block of text that ties all potential links together. Setting up their system like this will make linking with their Site more desirable.
Another strategy I will be advising my clients on is using 3-way links. For those of you who do not know what three-way links are, here is a brief, simplistic description: Site A links to Site B, Site B links to Site C, Site C links to Site A. Pretty straightforward, eh? The only way three-way links work is when all the parties involved are honest and are willing to maintain those links. The process is pretty straightforward, but the application often is not.
Recently I tested one of my sites and discovered that approximately 80% of the sites I traded links with were not honoring our agreement. I fully expected that there would be some shiftless webmasters out there who would be less than trustworthy, but I never expected the number to be so high.
Although reciprocating linking isn't too difficult of a task, it does require a certain amount of time and effort. To have some unscrupulous web admin cheat you out of your backlink in your reciprocated deal is bad enough, but to have one do that to your Site in a three-way link deal is even worse.
You see, a three-way linking deal requires slightly more effort due to the necessity of documenting all of the information regarding this agreement. If you go through all of that effort to set up a three-way linking agreement, you certainly do not want one of the partners to sour the deal by dropping one of the links without notifying any of the other partners.
After you have researched the two sites that you think would make suitable candidates for your three-way link swap, you are going to need to contact them and invite them into the exchange. More than likely, you will have to lay out the plan and explain to them why a three-way link deal is good and make sure that they understand that the only way it works is if everybody involved is open, honest, and upfront about it everything. The extra work required to establish a successful 3-way linking agreement isn't too complicated; it is all about record keeping.
As part of the research for the three-way trade, you will want to make sure that all three sites are in some way related. Not necessarily in direct competition but connected somehow, much like how a restaurant site would be similar to a hotel site, and the hotel site might be identical to a pub site. It's pretty simple, as a hotel can contain a pub or a restaurant. It isn't too much of a stretch to think that these three service-based businesses could be related somehow.
Once you have the three sites picked that you would like to trade links with, make sure you research them thoroughly. The things you want to be checking for are;
Page Rank
IP
Quality
Age of the sites
Current link popularity
Page Rank
When checking Page Rank, you are looking to make sure that everybody is of a similar PR. Don't get greedy and automatically suggest that your Site be linked with the highest PR. It might be good to indicate that the higher PR site should relate to the lowest PR site. Doing this may make the deal seem a little sweeter.
IP
It would be best if all three sites were on different IP addresses. Areas all residing on the same IP may be misconstrued as part of a link farm strategy. Why take the chance?
Quality
This one should be a no-brainer. If the Site isn't of a quality that you would recommend to your friends or family to visit, why would you want to risk your Site's credibility by suggesting that other people go to it? The rule of thumb here on quality is this; if you wouldn't bookmark the Site yourself, don't link to it.
Age of the Sites
It would help to make sure that the sites you include in your three-way linking are at least one year old or more. The Site's age is essential because of the alleged age delay sandbox effect in Google's algorithms. If the Site is too new, you may have to wait for the Site to mature before any weight is given to the outgoing links from that Site. There are no guarantees that sites over a year will be mature enough, but at least the odds are better.
Current Link Popularity
You will want to check out the current link popularity because it is more about the investigation into their linking history. Do they currently trade links with sites that may be considered from a bad neighborhood? Do they link to gambling, porn, or FFA sites? If they do, and they are not part of the gambling or porn world, and your Site isn't either, then DO NOT link to them.
Three ways linking in this manner revisits the days when linking was more natural. This type of linking will demonstrate to the search engines that you value your linking recommendations, and therefore the search engines should love them as well. If the search engines trust your Site to make these recommendations, then there is no way that the applied due diligence will get you in trouble with the search engines.
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