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| To Link Or Not To Link? |
Copyright © H. Balsagnia
Every webmaster and SEO manager in the world invented
Google....................oh wait, no they didn't! But they sure would
have you think they did!
I wonder why it is that every SEO person on the face of Planet Earth
seems to have completely differing ideas of how Google works. It all
comes down to the pages on Google's website that are titled things
like, "How Google Works," and inept webmasters' failure to actually
read and understand these pages. But I know, you're thinking that SEO
is all about figuring out the tricks and patterns that Google doesn't
want to tell you outright. Well until you wheel Stephen Hawking over to
the computer in your basement where you run your site and have him try
to figure out Google's algorithm, you probably will never know it
(especially since it's ever-changing).
But getting to the point: Reciprocal linking is one of the most popular
and (probably) effective ways to increase your PageRank. And although I
have questions whether or not your PageRank actually means anything,
that's another article for another day. The idea is that the more sites
on the web that point to your site, the more important your site must
be. And many (including myself) think that a site with a high PageRank
is considered "important," so your site is considered important, to
some degree, when that site links to yours. Some also would say (I'm
still on the fence with this one) that having external links on your
site in some way "hurts" your PageRank or search engine placement
results. I'm not sure about this one, but I make sure to keep only a
few external links on any given page. You can bet that Google doesn't
give a crap about your one link page that has eight-hundred and fifty
thousand links to every poker and penis-drug website in cyberspace.
But what really confuses and amazes me is how the simplest, widely
known facts can be so misunderstood by so many webmasters. A webmaster
who can take the time to learn html inside and out, and perhaps
programming and database management as well, but he can't seem to grasp
some very basic knowledge about search engines. The most frequent
unnecessary issue that I encounter when managing my reciprocal linking
campaign is webmasters who deny my request to exchange links for the
reason that my page or site isn't indexed by Google yet, so they are
not interested. Let me explain something: If you type in your URL into
Google search, and your site is displayed in the results.......Google
has indexed your site!!! I hope as you read that you think to yourself
"Well duh." But sadly that is a concept which is completely
unfathomable by a LOT of site managers. And trying to explain it to
them is like pulling teeth. I have sent them URL's to the search
results page where Google lists my site, they don't understand. I send
them a .jpg screenshot of Google's results page where my site is
listed, and they argue that it still doesn't mean I'm indexed. I think
it may come down to the fact that many SEO managers and webmasters
either do not know what it means to be indexed, or they don't know the
difference between being indexed and having a PageRank. Indeed, if you
have a PageRank of any sort, you almost certainly are going to be
indexed. But if you are indexed, you may not have any sort of PageRank.
Once this is learned by webmasters far and wide, my job will become a
lot easier. If you are one of these inept webmasters, please go to
Google and read their "For Webmasters" sections.
About the Author:
H. Balsagnia is a writer and contributor for several sites, including
the music site www.roamingbovine.com.
He writes mostly about his several and widely unique personal interests
including computers & the web, music, food, money, security,
and more.
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