Linking how's and why's from Google
Linking how's and why's from Google"Links Week" at the Google Webmaster blog appears to have passed pretty much unnoticed judging by the pretty much total lack of response around SEO forums, but then it's good solid information that doesn't rely on some dubious magic formula to get you to the top of the SERP for your "chosen keyword"!
Links information straight from the source
A couple of snippets;
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Outbound links allow us to surf the web -- they're a big reason why the web is so exciting and collaborative. Without outbound links, your site can seem isolated from the community because each page becomes "brochure-ware."
Makes a bit of a mess of the idea that you should not link out from your pages because it "devalues" the links to your own site.
But then of course the same people will quite happily interlink their twenty three freebie blogs, because obviously a "blog" isn't a website. Right then.
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Sitemap submission is also helpful for major search engines, though it shouldn't be a substitute for crawlable link architecture.
Absolutely! Get your priorities right! Fix the site navigation otherwise it's like trying to fix a broken leg with a wet tea towel.
A personal favourite is -
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Q: Let's say my website is about my favorite hobbies: biking and camping. Should I keep my internal linking architecture "themed" and not cross-link between the two?
A: We haven't found a case where a webmaster would benefit by intentionally "theming" their link architecture for search engines. And, keep-in-mind, if a visitor to one part of your site can't easily reach other parts of your site, that may be a problem for search engines as well.
Ok so the much advocated (by link beggars at least) "theming" isn't a benefit! Hmm? not that I have been saying that for a long time now or anything.
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Should I worry about the sites I choose to link to? What if their PageRank may be lower than mine?
If you're linking to content you believe your users will enjoy, then please don't worry about the site's perceived PageRank. As a webmaster, the things to be wary of regarding outbound links are listed above, such as losing credibility by linking to spammy sites. Otherwise, consider outbound links as a common sense way to provide more value to your users, not a complicated formula.
Well if the "horses mouth" actually tells you not to care about the imaginary number on the toolbar PR display maybe you should take notice.
All in all, a week of useful information. The upshot of it is that it is another "Googler" suggesting that it is far better to build a website aimed at the real users rather than the search engines.
This article was added by Chris Hirst and was posted on 18 November 2008. Chris has been a member since 09 January 2008 and has written 29 article(s) for modTalk
So long, and thanks for all the fish.
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