Linking back to a high authority site

[JDP]

I have an odd situation.  One of our most powerful links comes from a not-for-profit whom we have an advertisement with.  That ad gets us half of our business.  Recently, they slipped for the term that got them the traffic that flowed to our site.  I was thinking of linking back to that page to boost them up a bit.  Their page is a deep page on a high authority domain with only a few links.  I am an authority site for my niche.  I'd like to boost them up without diminishing my rank for other related terms. I'm willing to consider linking to them from my homepage, blog or link page.  To play it safe I could just link build  to them from outside my domain.  Can I just link to them and its not a big deal?

[Mike.Goracke]

As long as you are linking out to relevant content, it is perfectly fine to be cross linking between sites (as long as you are not doing like a site-wide footer link or something spammy).

Search engines do not find it odd when two sites that are relevant to each other link to each other, because that appears natural.

Hope this helps.

Mike

[TomRayner]

Hi there

It's a bit of an odd circumstance and I'm not sure whether you should do this.  Reciprocal links can look suspicious to search engines, but putting aside that issue for the moment, let's look at the SEO impact.

If you link to the site from your own website, it shouldn't effect your rankings.  If the site is high authority as you say it won't be a problem.  Problems can occur when your website is linking out to spammy or penalised domains, but this shouldn't be the case here.

If you're planning on linking to the site, I'd advise you to do so in the most contextual way possible, to avoid it looking like a link designed to pass PageRank (which, really, it is - hence my hesitance to say "go for it").  If you can reference the non-profit organisation, highlight who they are, what they do and how you two have collaborated together on projects, then you're reciprocal link should look A-OK.

It's an odd one because I'd always advise not to create or earn links for the sole purpose of passing PageRank or SEO value.  On the face of it, this is what it looks like.  But if you consider that your link may help to boost the site in the rankings and in turn your referral traffic, which is a considerable amount of your business, I can certainly see the reasoning, put it that way.

What I'd say is that if you're going to do it, do it right and just as you would when creating any content.  Give detail, user value and pull on the experience you've had together.  It might end up being a piece of content that goes a long way towards building legitimacy and brand trust, which would be great.  I'd also add that your link may not be enough to improve the ranking of the site, which means its all the more reason to make sure it looks like a real bit of content.

Hope this helps

[Ryan-Bradley]

I think you have the right ideas in mind.  I would start with the link building outside of your site.  Then after awhile if that doesn't work I would do a blog post on them or something.  I wouldn't link to them from the home page.

[JDP]

Thanks for the responses,

I should add that it is a page of ads.  They have 1200 or so links to their root and 9 to this page.   I guess I know  to play it safe i should work this one from outside but, it is a big deal to get that business back.

[EGOL]

Why link to them?  Just beat them.

If half of my biz was coming from an ad page on another domain that is slipping... and I was running an authority site in the niche.....   I would be producing some fantastic content on that same topic for my own site.   I'd be willing to put a lot of time and money into that content.

I would be trying to kick their butts.

[JDP]

That's why you're an Oracle.  Thanks for that.  I was looking at a short win and that is  the long game.

[EGOL]

If you go for the short win the long win becomes more difficult because you fortified their position.

Right now you are getting sales traffic from that page.  I'll bet some of the people who find that page are looking for information.  So, make some great content that is informative about same subject and buy a second ad on that page.

Then on that informative page have house ads for your sales pages.

[JDP]

That's some great advice.  I can see that the quick win is something of a losers strategy.  Content is king.

[KeriMorgret]

If I compiled all of EGOL's answers and tips, I could have one of the most awesome resources ever!

[Mike.Goracke]

I'd buy it.