Posts Tagged ‘linking’

4 Ways To Hide Links (Don’t Do That!)

Wednesday, January 19th, 2011

If you are looking for ways to hide your links on your web pages so that you can trick the search engines into giving you credit for anchor text, valuable linking, and increase your search engine rankings, then I’ve got some news for you. Good news, and bad news.

The good news is, I’m about to teach you how to hide your links. There are probably more than 4 ways to do this, but I’m going to show you 4 ways to hide links on your web pages so that your website viewers don’t see them but search engines do.

Now for the bad news. These methods could get your website banned from the search engines.

  1. Hide your links over an image – A few years ago, webmasters discovered they could hide text over images. Then they discovered they could link that text. This is bad. If the search engines discover you’ve done this, you’ll be banned or penalized.
  2. Using small font – If you can think you can make your font so small that humans can’t see it while the search engines eat it up, think again. The search engines don’t like it and they’ll de-index you.
  3. Using small characters – Some webmasters have gotten a little savvy and linked using small characters like periods, commas, semi-colons, hyphens, etc. Again, if the search engines find out, that’s bad news for your website.
  4. Hide links in CSS – In the last few years, webmasters have been hiding their links within CSS. Yes, this too will get you banned.

Search engine algorithms may or may not find your hidden links, but if they are noticed by savvy web denizens who report you, then Google’s spam team will review your website with human eyes. If they find any of these hidden links on your site, you’ll be penalized.

Do yourself a favor. Don’t risk it.

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Posted in link building | No Comments »

Is Linking Unethical?

Sunday, January 31st, 2010

It seems that some media companies don’t like people linking to them. They want to charge to be linked to. The history of the Web is such that website owners have always linked to content on other pages – ones they don’t own – without needing permission or paying for the privilege to do so. The Web is the public square.

That does not mean that the Web is public domain. You can’t steal or appropriate whatever you want for your own purposes just because it’s out there. Intellectual property rights still apply online.

But where is the line?

I think the line is clearly intent. Are you being helpful and does your link benefit the site you are linking to without detracting or impinging on their right to profit from their own content? If so then I’d say you are good for your link.

Linking has always been seen as a form of payment. When you link to another website you are essentially benefiting them in the search engines because that link could be counted by Google, or another search engine, in its search ranking algorithm and could potentially benefit the other site by pushing it up in search rankings. But you are benefiting the other site as well in another way. Traffic.

If you send traffic to another website because you link to it then that’s payment. That new traffic could very well purchase something.

So I really don’t understand these media companies that are complaining about being linked to. And, remember, if it’s true that you are benefiting those websites you link to then it’s true that sites linking to you are providing you with unpaid benefits as well. Why complain?

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Posted in link building | 3 Comments »

SEO Tips to Boost Your Ranking

Friday, October 10th, 2008

There`s nothing more exciting or better for business than having your business website as number one on Google. With the right SEO techniques, you can really boost your ranking. Here are a few that you can put into use for great results.

  • Research those keywords. It`s important to pick the right keywords. General keywords just aren`t going to cut it when you start competing with the top results in Google. You can check out how to actually do this type of research here.
  • Use an SEO website template. This is vital for optimum results. Just using keywords in your content isn`t going be enough in this competitive world of search engine optimization.
  • Use keywords as blog categories. Keywords aren`t just for content and titles . . . using them in the blog categories that you set is just as useful and can boost your search engine ranking.
  • Add keywords to anchor text. Whenever you use deep linking (which should be frequently) make sure that you use keywords in the anchor text to add an SEO boost.

Increasing your ranking in the search engine results for your chosen keywords and keyword phrases is something that needs to be done on a consistent basis. Some of these techniques will allow you to do them once and leave it (website template), while others will require that you continue using them to keep your site highly ranked. SEO is an important business strategy.

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Posted in SEO for Small Business | No Comments »