Beware of Link Beggers

If you have a web site you probably get requests to share or exchange links from other site owners and link campaigners which I call “Link Beggars.” Although perhaps not in these same words, the point they’re trying to get across is: ”I’ll put your link on my web site if you put my link on yours.” Sheesh! What is this, kindergarten?

I got an email from a client the other day asking if I thought what she had received was a gimmick or if I felt it should go on her web site. So, I opened it up for a look-see and what I found was a “special offer extended to a very short list of businesses.” They made it sound like she should feel honored to have been given the opportunity to put this wonderful award on her website because it “would enhance the impression your website creates to its visitors.” To display this prestigious award on her site all she had to do was copy and paste their pre-set code into her website and she would have an instant award which of course would make her website and business the thought of as being amongst the elite of web sites. Puhleeeeze! When I went to school, you earned awards, you didn’t just get them handed to you on a silver platter.

In reality, this “award” was nothing more than an image configured with a link to the sender’s web site so that if my client would have put it on her site and it was in truth nothing more than an inbound link to the senders web site pumped up with all this “you’re special” stuff to make it sound like it was this really important award. It wouldn’t have done my client one bit of good. She runs a legitimate business so why in the world would she want a bogus award on her web site? Think about it, what would that really do for her credibility as a business person?

Every Site Needs GOOD Inbound Links

Which is one of the reasons these link-exchange solicitation emails are so popular. Most (not all but most) of these are nothing more than people trying to “stuff their inbound link box.” I get lots of link exchange solicitations, very few of them will I put on my site. 99.75% of them hit the circular trash immediately.

Recently I was having a very frustrating day and one of these came in. I had about one nerve left and she got on it. I had often wanted to point out the absurdity of a supposed SEO Specialist sending a real live SEO person one of these “will you put my link on your site” requests. I decided I was going to tell her just why I wasn’t going to honor her request and emailed her back saying something like “Now why would I want to put YOUR link on MY website when I provide the same service you want to sell on my site? A real SEO Specialist would first READ and EXPLORE the website they want the link to go on and would realize that what they’re asking for would be an advertisement for me to send people to my competitor. They would also realize that link campaigns such as this one are not the best way to go about gaining inbound links.” In my opinion, a reputable SEO Specialist would not stoop to this technique.

Google puts a huge emphasis on the number of inbound links to any web site, it’s a priority for them. They use this for ranking purposes, the more relevant inbound links a site has tells the bots that this is a popular site. It’s not all they use, but it’s very important. There are a some kicks to this. The inbound links should be relevant to the topic of the site the link is pointing to. In other words, placing a link on a website that sells candy from a web site that sells pet supplies is not relevant. What does candy have to do with pet supplies? Displaying a link on your website to another website (known as an outbound link) only serves to help the recipient of the link which is the other website. It doesn’t help your site. You wind up being just the nice guy who’s willing to put links on your site to other sites. What you want are good quality inbound links.

Act Don’t React

When you get a link-exchange solicitation – pay attention. Read it thoroughly, then read it again at least one more time before doing anything else. After that, it’s a good idea to get someone else’s opinion. I don’t just mean your next door neighbor either. Consult with someone who’s respectable in the business such as your web designer or SEO person. After doing that, act on it accordingly, don’t just go into auto-react mode and run over to your website to add it.

Some of these campaigners are really slick about it. They say all kinds of pretty things to pump up your ego or they might try to get you to fill out some form so that you can claim your award. If you’re not savvy or not paying enough attention you inadvertently wind up with nothing more than a subscription to their mailing list (or worse) which may or may not be a good thing. I guess they *could* be selling a product you’re interested in. Some of these slicksters do this without telling you outright on the form (translation “sign up for our mailing list”) that this is their real intention, they don’t give you the option to join up or not. You’re claiming your award, remember? It’s illegal to collect email addresses for mailing lists without giving people an opt-in/opt-out opportunity. Not offering this in an obvious way can be considered spamming which is illegal.

I get a kick out of some of them I get, the ones that come from other SEO companies promising me they’ll “get me to the top of the search engines!” is a great example. Don’t believe this for one minute. There is no such thing as a guarantee to top rankings. Not legally anyway. You won’t get arrested for “Possession of Illegal Links” but you sure can hurt your site indexing and you can potentially set yourself up for getting your web site banned.

Then there’s the ones that want me to post links to their web design or web hosting services. A legitimate person looking for a valid link-hookup would first check out the web sites they’re sending all their crap to. Will someone please tell me where it makes sense for a person like me who offers web design, web hosting and search engine optimization services to put links on my own business web site that points people to others who do the same thing?  Hellooooo! Is this not the same as telling people to shop at my competitor?

Honest Inbound Links are Best

One of the keys to getting good inbound links is having good content. It needs to be interesting and say something that people like to read and talk about. It helps to really believe in what you’re writing about because you can be passionate about it. Might you stir up some debate along the way? Yes! This is good because if you have a blog you’ll get people to post comments that way. You can respond and get a real dialogue going. If people like what they’re reading or feel its worthy of passing along to their friends, co-workers or others you’ve got a winning thing going. These people will want to link to your site and return to it over and over to find out what you’ve got to say tomorrow and the next day and the next. The more people you get motivated to do this the more inbound links you will naturally and honestly gain! Remember, controversy can be your friend when it comes to gaining popularity.

So people, beware of the Link Beggers. Don’t just plop these things on your websites without first totally understanding what they are, what they will (or won’t) do for you and what they will do for the people who want you to use them on your sites. If you don’t understand it, contact your web designer or competent SEO person and ask them to look at it for you.