The Great Interlinking Debate Continues
Source Title:
Interlinking of Related Sites
Interlinking of Related Sites
Source Url:
http://www.webmasterworld.com/forum12/2588.htm
http://www.webmasterworld.com/forum12/2588.htm
Story Text:
It's been a hotly debated issue for years, should one interlink one's own sites, and if so, what are the possible consequences? A thread at Webmasterworld looks at issues and opinions on interlinking, and although the general consensus (im happy to say) is that you should go right ahead and do what makes sense for your users, it's an interesting discussion with some good points made.
Jupiter Media is the poster child of interlinking debates more often than not, another great one is Weblogs Inc. Both networks are heavily interlinked and seem to suffer no harm whatsoever. And why should they?
It's been a hotly debated issue for years, should one interlink one's own sites, and if so, what are the possible consequences? A thread at Webmasterworld looks at issues and opinions on interlinking, and although the general consensus (im happy to say) is that you should go right ahead and do what makes sense for your users, it's an interesting discussion with some good points made.
Jupiter Media is the poster child of interlinking debates more often than not, another great one is Weblogs Inc. Both networks are heavily interlinked and seem to suffer no harm whatsoever. And why should they?
Possible Downsides
There are possible downsides to interlinking, though they're not so simple. One is that you tip your hand, if all your sites are interlinked, and you do fall out of grace with the engines, you may stand a chance of losing a network, rather than just one site, or a handful of sites.
On the whole though, as there are few ranking benefits from sitewide links these days, what's good for the user is good for you, me and SE wouldn't you say?
- Y! MyWeb
I think legit ad space
I think legit ad space carries far more weight on large well known networks than on sites that I own.
Having said that the more you can do things to want to make search engines give you leeway (like sell $100,000 worth of their ads each month or be strongly financially viable outside of the search scene) the more leeway you will have.
My impression is that
My impression is that interlinking doesn't cause harm, as much as that Google will naturally seek to devalue the effects interlinking.
Google strikes me as primarily trying to determine which are the best quality links, and weight them accordingly, rather than primarily trying to punish sites for general linking practices.
As a general note - interlinking as part of brand identity makes sense - but as a targeted method of SEO, it's perhaps missing out on more useful application of links.
Interlinking will save a sagging site
I know from my own network experience that interlinking occasionally saves the day. Whenever I bring a new domain into the network or when a Google algorithm change sends one or two domains soaring, the rest of the network has to take up the slack for any domains that aren't performing well in the search results.
Internal cross-promotion has no downside. No page or network design is going to survive every algorithm change, but if you change with the search engines, your network will stay afloat long enough for you to make the individual adaptations that are necessary.
And the statement in that discussion that "cross-linking can lead to bad ranking" is just absolute nonsense.
You see one version of the real story in the SEO forums, but you don't see the whole picture. People need to stop being so gullible as to believe every ridiculous assertion they see on the Internet regardless of how often it's repeated without any substantiation whatsoever.
gullible
Many folks are looking for black and white answers in an industry that doesn't have any. Unfortunately, when they do find folks who will give them black and white answers they tend to follow the advice.
Other times they just don't want to hear the "on the one hand," and "in certain situations," and "sometimes it works like this" that has to qualify just about any answer any of us can give.
Can interlinking hurt? Yes. Will interlinking hurt? Depends. Can interlinking help? Yes. Will interlinking help? Depends.
when they do find folks who
Path of least resistence
Agreed.
It's just frustrating to see the nonsense get picked up and repeated over and over again.
And the statement in that
You are obviously misunderstanding that statment. It's "crosslinking CAN lead to bad ranking."
There's a big difference between saying crosslinking WILL lead to bad ranking. It is obvious and well known that crosslinking penalties do exist, as many people have been caught in it over the years.
martinez: I REPEAT: Crosslinking can lead to bad ranking, but not necessarily. Does that make sense and clarify your misperception? It is not black and white.
martinez, if you are not aware of websites getting penalized from over-dependence on crosslinking, you really should go back to SEO 101 and rethink everything you THINK you know.
This does not in any way repudiate your positive experience with crosslinking, but I want to point out that the internet is a lot larger than your own personal experience. It is painfully obvious that you are basing the entirety of your opinion soley on your little corner of the internet. Dude, it's bigger than that.
Taking into account the experiences of people who have come to me seeking help, as well as those who have experienced bad ranking from over reliance on crosslinking, it is a very real phenomenom that CAN lead to bad ranking.
Your statement is nonsense, Martin
Cross-linking in and of itself doesn't lead to bad ranking. I've seen that claim posted over and over again in the SEO forums, and I have never once seen anyone offer any credible evidence that it really does.
Like so many other people who have picked up on hysterical rantings in the forums, you have accepted the assertion as true because you've seen it over and over again.
If you think you have any evidence, though, feel free to share it. I would LOVE to see someone prove this myth is reality.
It ain't happened yet. And I've been doing the SEO thing for quite a few years now.