Link building

[eyepaq]

Hello all !

I would love some opinions about one Link Building technical aspect from SEOs, link builders ...

How important is the number of outgoing links on the page you have the opportunity to place a link ? (from a scale of 1-10 / what about where dose this factor fits overall with your check list , as important to consider as far as link building)

Would you place a link on a page with 200+ outgoing external links if the page is ok (not involved in selling links, all links are related with the subject, target page, anchor text etc) or you would go with a link on a 10-15 links per page but not that 'powerful' and not that related (not spammy but more general on the subject that can contain links to some other non related resources).

Eg:

Option 1:

www.whatever-name.com/links.html

• the entire domain is about x.
• It has 250 links in that page (in the links.html)
• all links on the links.html pages are somehow related / resources with x.
• Your link can be placed with an anchor text related with x that will target a page on your site related with x.
• Domain page rank : 6 (as a general indicator),  Page PR, the links.html one, PR: 2

Option 2:

www.some-other-name.com/x-is-so-great

• the entire domain is NOT about x, just the page.
• It has 5..10 links in that page (external links more or less related with x - but not spammy)
• Your link can be placed with an anchor text related with x that will target a page on your site related with x.
• Domain page rank : 3 (as a general indicator),  Page PR, the links.html one, PR: 1

What's your best option ?

Thanks !

[DougRoberts]

The more links you have on a page, the more the value of any link-juice needs to be shared. You may be better off getting a larger slice of a small pie, than a minuscule amount of a large one.

The number of links aren't the only factor though. This article by Rand has a number of nice illustrations showing the value of different links:

All Links are Not Created Equal: 10 Illustrations on Search Engines' Valuation of Links

Hope this helps.

[eyepaq]

I agree with you on that.

In Rand's post there is no coverage on this.

I've got some strong feedback from a well known figure in the SEO word - extreme approach as far as the number of links per page and I am a little puzzled about this.

I am doing link building for several years now and I keep up to date with all movement but this is the first time I've received extreme sided feedback links this one (no, we don't care about the number of links per page at all and similar)...

So, where do you place this aspect on your checklist ? How important is this in your view when building links / evaluating links ?

many thanks.

[Thommas]

Hi eye

I guess I would place a link on a page with 200+ outgoing external links, provided the page has some solid authority and some useful content.  I would  consider the text - links ratio as well. It's not an easy question and I guess it really depends on the page.

[eyepaq]

Let's say that both pages are just a "resources" type of page: links and a short description of each link - no content on the page that is actually hosting the link.

I do have exact samples but I don't think that will help with the issue - as it's a general question.

Thanks.

[DougRoberts]

I'm generally wary about "links" pages. It's probably just me.

I like to take a look at the relevance of the list (both to the hosting site, and to my site/keyword). How naturally will my link sit in the list.

Are the links followed or no-followed? Such link pages tend to be used to provide links back to low quality directories that as you to link back to them. Once the directory has validated the link, links get removed or no-followed.

How will the list be perceived - both by search engines and also by human visitors. Does the list provide any value to humans?

If you take a higher level view and look at the overall link landscape how does the site you're getting a link from fit - is it an authority hub? (Normally this is reflected in the domain authority, but not in all niches).

If you had to explain to your customer why the link is there - can you provide an answer they would be satisfied with?

At the end of the day, you have to make a quick decision based on:

RISK / REWARD / EFFORT

If you can get a link, and it's not going to reflect badly on your site and it's easy to get then there's no reason why you wouldn't just do it and more on to getting the next link.

Obviously you'd want to try and target higher value links (where you're going to get more link juice and/or maybe even some direct traffic!) You don't want to only have low quality links...

[DougRoberts]

I think that maybe you're worrying too much about it. If there's nothing that triggers any warning bells, then get the link and move on.

Useful link/resource lists wouldn't be at the top of my priority list though.

[eyepaq]

Yes, I see what you mean but the fact is that those are the specs for a one year very expensive campaign and by expensive I mean really expensive.

Dose it worth to pay $200-300 for one link if it's placed on a page with 100,200 pr even more other links ? (even if it's exactly related and with good authority) or those money can be spent elsewhere ...

[DougRoberts]

I don't think you didn't mentioned that you were paying for the link!

RISK / REWARD / EFFORT(COST)

Personally I wouldn't pay $200-300 for one such link on the kind of page you're talking about.

Think about how much difference the one link is likely to make. Are you going to see a change in your rankings, or any direct traffic how much additional traffic will it take to make it worthwhile (what's your goal conversion rate, and what's the value of these goals)

You can get higher quality links for much less!