Links, links and more links; that’s what Google wants, right? And the more it finds your link out there the better… but that may not necessarily be true. Google is now on the hunt for unnatural back links. Those that don’t really make sense where they are or those that are just repeated over and over on every page with an unnatural keyword anchor text. What do I mean by that? Let’s say you are a real estate agent in Louisville... if all Google finds for your links is that phrase linked to your website over and over, it doesn’t seem natural. Google wants to see a natural link in content that would make sense such as, “real estate investing tips” if I’m talking about real estate or investments in another blog post or page. It wants related links, posts and natural anchor texts. Even naked or “visit our website” will work.
A naked link is the link in it’s most natural form such as www.findcarealestate.com or the full link, http://www.findcarealestate.com.
If you link to a page do it because it makes sense, not just to throw a link in there. Google will start discounting those unnatural links and you will have wasted your time. Sure, we can’t expect Google to think everything we do is perfect so the more natural links and related links it finds, the better. But we may not be able to count them all so the more you blog, the more you link and the more you acknowledge your page AND OTHERS, the more Google will see your site as an authority on your subject.
Whatever you are talking about, give the reader as much information as possible. If you are talking about refinancing or a case of loan modification, link to that page just like I did here. It makes sense because I’m talking about it.
Think Wikipedia and News websites; all they do is link from one keyword to another when it makes sense in order to provide the reader a wealth of information and a way to get it. By clicking on a link you are taking the reader to even more information about whatever it is you are writing about.
TIP: One big issue we are finding is the links in signatures... even on your ActiveRain signature. It was fine for a long time but now we are seeing that these links in your signature are getting pinged as unnatural. Your signature is fine for contact information but for a link back, save it for the content itself.
And link AWAY! from your site. What? That doesn’t make sense. I know it sounds weird and you certainly don’t want your reader to link away from your site but as long as you target the link to open in a new window, your site stays open and running. But, you have provided your reader with even more knowledge and information, even if it wasn’t from you. Google will see this as a REAL way you are trying to provide your reader as much information as possible even if it doesn’t always come from you.
So mix up those links, make them valuable and relatable and don’t miss an opportunity to pull your reader into more of your content. [Post originated here]
and *suggested*, too!
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