Link Exchange Puzzle :((((

[freetraff]

Hi,

I recently got into a dispute about link exchange on my web site. The people that were disputing the link structure on my web site suddenly stopped answering (I did not offend anyone, my word )

The dispute was if it is ok to have link exchange directory and categories inside. The directory has direct links to home page (and home page to directory as well). And the categories inside directory don't have direct link from home page, but have a link to home page.

If you know how this structure may affect the link popularity inside my categories, please submit a post.

[Mogga]

So you're saying you have one way link from your main page to the directory links page?

[freetraff]

Originally Posted by Mogga So you're saying you have one way link from your main page to the directory links page?

I have a link from main page to directory links page, and this page has a link back to main page. But I don't have a direct link from main page to the pages of directory categories, however these pages have links back to main page.

Any suggestions?

[Mogga]

url would help.

Do the pages have a good pr?

What did they say - why were they not happy about this structure?

[freetraff]

Originally Posted by Mogga url would help. Do the pages have a good pr? What did they say - why were they not happy about this structure?

I quote what they said "in order for any link page to be effected you need a link from you main site"

When I explained them my web site link structure, they replied like, the structure us not good, plus your PR is not big (they are right, PR is just 2, but we are a little more than 1 month online with our project). When I asked them about what is wrong with the structure, they gave no reply.

If you have any comments, please post them. I got used to correcting mistakes when I have them. If I don't, I go on working.

Thanks for the help.

[drivetowin]

I presume what they're working on is that as the page containing their link is not linked to directly from your homepage, that the links page is therefore likely to have a PR of zero and therefore they gain no PR from having a link on your links page.

Whether you support that argument depends on how much you believe PR still affects search engine ranking

[pricethat]

It doesnt sound like much of a puzzle to me, anyone worth linking to doesnt want to find their reciprocal link

a: Showing on a site that isnt even worth anything to them
b: Buried away in some directory structure

They probably just stipulate or want a prominant link, either from your main pages or at very least on a links page.

Added to the fact that the page you say their link will display on is a page rank 2 then i am not suprised personally.

[freetraff]

Ok. And if I post direct links from main page to all categories in my directory (kind a block of links). Let's say on main page I put text links to 'Free Web Site Traffic', 'Internet Marketing' and other categories in the directory. Will this be a better structure (not taking PR into the account)?

I thought to make it cause the name of my categories are keyword optimized. But to put so many links on main page may seem boring.

Any ideas?

[Mogga]

Think about how useable links are from a user's point of view rather than the search engines.
Is that link likely to bring them any traffic? If not then *why* should search engines give the link any value either?

If people don't want a link from you then you don't have to link to them.

If you want to have a valuable resource though which people might bookmark and visit a lot then you should work on getting the right links and content and structure to allow them to deal with.

[freetraff]

Originally Posted by Mogga Think about how useable links are from a user's point of view rather than the search engines. Is that link likely to bring them any traffic? If not then *why* should search engines give the link any value either? If people don't want a link from you then you don't have to link to them. If you want to have a valuable resource though which people might bookmark and visit a lot then you should work on getting the right links and content and structure to allow them to deal with.

You see what puzzled me, I have gathered quite a nice directory, and people were eager to exchange links with me. These guys were the first to make trouble and I though, 'Maybe I am losing something. Maybe something is wrong '

Others did not dispute the usability value of my directory and links inside, providing their links into the directory. With my PR web sites up to PR 6 agreed to link exchange: this is a good result I think.

So, I decided to do some extra investigation about this, maybe I was wrong. I got some tips here, thanks for the help forum members. I don't seem to have questions now. If you wish to use this thread for your discussion, I am not against.

[Mogga]

a url might help us to pinpoint what their exact problem might have been...