Link Building Myths

There are a lot of myths out there related to link building.

The first thing we need to consider is what we are link building for; links can provide both a boost to search engine rankings as well as a direct way for people to arrive at your site (i.e. they click the link).

For the second purpose, almost any link is a good link, so we'll focus on the first.

Search Engine Optimization

Getting other websites to link to yours is referred to as 'off-page' optimization.

The best way to think about this is to try and put yourself in the shoes of Google and the other large search engines.

They want to send people to the website that best match a particular search term. One of the ways they judge which websites are the best is by looking at what other people think of your website ... as indicated by wether they link to it or not.

Obviously, if the linking pattern is artificial e.g. all reciprocal, then the links will not count as well as those that are in a more natural pattern.

Myth #1 Reciprocal links don't work

You'll remember on my main page I said reciprocal linking didn't work for me. That's true ... it didn't.

But that's not to say all reciprocal links are bad. I certainly wouldn't focus my time on them, but I don't believe they actively hurt your website ranking - especially when they are not the only kind of link you receive.

Myth #2 All links need to be from related websites

Again, this is a relative thing. Links from websites on similar themes to yours are best, but links from other websites are still useful.

Much like reciprocal linking, I don't believe they actively hurt your ranking, but again, they shouldn't be your only source of links.

Myth #3 Links should contain the name of your website

Actually it's better if the link contains a keyword you are trying to rank for.

For example, if your site is about poodles, it is better to have a link that looks like this:

To find out more about poodles, visit this great site.

Than a link that looks like this:

To find out more about poodles, visit www.poodlepower.com

This lets the search engines know your site is about poodles.

Myth #4 It's great to get a huge number of links at once

While it's never bad to have a huge number of links pointing to your website, it's best if they develop over a longer period.

This looks more 'organic' to the search engines, and therefore gives your website more credibility as a good online resource, and therefore a good place for the search engine to send their users.