Chris Boggs has a nice post on Search Engine Roundtable, where he spots a thread on Cre8asite forums about "the seven degrees of separations" when linking topically.
Tomc asks:
When performing a link building campaign, how effective is it to gain links from entirely non-relevant sites but which share some words from your keyphrase?
I’ll use an example – if I’m trying to get links for a site about Football Boots and the keyphrase I wish to target is ‘Football Boots’ then how useful is it to gain links from sites which are about ‘Hiking Boots’?
Will this help? Both mention the word ‘Boots’ but are not really relevant to each other…
Here’s the discussion on cre8ateasite.
So what do you think…..
1. If there was a page on the sports site about soccer shoes, and I linked that page to page about "hiking shoes" on a outdoor clothing site is that ok?
2. If I were seeking links to a clothing site, and I found a sports site, and I got a link on the sports sites linking to a "sports bra" page on the clothing site, would you think that was ok?
3. If there was a page on a sports site about the Miami Dolphins, would you link that page to a Miami Real Estate site?
— FYI, I might be guilty of saying "yes" to all 3.
Where do YOU draw the line?
8 Responses
I’m inclined to say yes to your examples as well. You might have a narrow search scope initially, but most people are open to different opportunities. I might be seeking out soccer shoes right now, but I might want to look for hiking shoes in the near future. Word association, therefore, can be a very good thing.
Think about an eBay store, for example: you might want a floppy drive for your computer, but upon seeing other items that the seller has available in the auction (or after you pay on PayPal), you might want to get something else from that store. It never hurts to have an item that is associated by name only.
I’ll take a link from all 6 example sites to:
Any rX site, Any Mortgage Site, Any Gambling Site or Any Porn Site.
😉
YES.
YES
YES 😉
Yep… I thinik each of those example are fine… BUT… the more relevant the IBL’s are to the content the better…
1. If there was a page on the sports site about soccer shoes, and I linked that page to page about “hiking shoes†on a outdoor clothing site is that ok?
Probably, it would depend how hard I was finding links to get – the harder they are, the deeper you search.
This one is the hardest to justify of the 3, IMHO
2. If I were seeking links to a clothing site, and I found a sports site, and I got a link on the sports sites linking to a “sports bra†page on the clothing site, would you think that was ok?
Absolutely, even better if its a women’s sport site.
3. If there was a page on a sports site about the Miami Dolphins, would you link that page to a Miami Real Estate site?
Yes, particularly in the context of ‘Fan? Wanna move here? These guys can set you up’
Links on non-related topic pages *work*. That needs underlining.
But links on related topic pages are *preferable*.
For me, I’d have to see the sites and it’ll depend on the site I’m optimizing for… but in general, I would also say “yes” to all three of your examples – they are no less relevant than what Google serves up for contexual ads…
About first question:
I suppose the main point is keyword. The keyword is shoes. So the link will be effective
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