Skip navigation
newsletter signup

Linking

Penalized for Buying Links?

November 19, 2008
In Google's Webmaster Tools there is a section where you can submit someone you think is buying links. Here is what I don't understand – can Google really penalize you for purchasing links? Read More >> Related Forum Posts >>

Keywords, Traffic and Link Popularity

October 22, 2008
I performed a keyword analysis for one of my projects, picked several powerful "traffic juicy" keywords and optimized the landing pages for those keywords. My site went to the first page in the search engines, and yet we've got no more than 100 unique visitors per month. Have you any idea why? Read More >> Related Forum Posts >>

Measuring Success Beyond the Search Engines

September 10, 2008
I admit it. I'm a Google Analytics junkie. I try to stay away, but every now and then I hear it calling my name and I break down and log in. I feel the familiar rush of excitement running through my veins almost instantly. And I know anything else I may have planned to do that day won't get done because I'll be in my own world for hours. My analytics world. Just me and my stats. Ahhhhhhhhhhhh… Read More >> Related Forum Posts >>

Example of Nofollow in Action, Unsustainable?

September 10, 2008
Last week Twitter decided to remove the ability to gain any link popularity via people's Twitter profile page. This set off a firestorm from some SEOs who always look for as much link popularity as they can gather. What really made them mad was that they felt that Google (via Matt Cutts) had "bullied" Twitter into the decision. Read More >> Related Forum Posts >>

Are Websites Ranked as a Whole?

July 16, 2008
I recently signed up as an advertiser with [a blog review website] so I could purchase blog review postings for one of my clients. After enrolling, I purchased a PR5 blog review posting at the standard PR5 price of $40. Eventually my offer was picked up by a blogger, but the review posting only stayed on their PR5 home page for one day as the next day it was shifted from the front page of the blog to an archived page that had a PR0. Read More >> Related Forum Posts >>

Will Linkbait Ruin the Internet?

May 28, 2008
When the term "linkbait" first appeared on the search marketing scene a few years ago, I wasn't too keen on it because it has a lot of negative connotations. In fishing, bait is not really a good thing (to the fish). One minute the fish thinks he's going to have a tasty meal, and the next minute he IS the tasty meal! Works out nicely for the fisherman, however. Read More >> Related Forum Posts >>

Lost Toolbar PageRank

May 14, 2008
The front page of my website has a [toolbar] PageRank of 4 and most of my inner pages had a PageRank of 3. After this quarter's Google [toolbar] update, my homepage remained a 4, but most of my inner pages went down to a 2. Read More >> Related Forum Posts >>

SEO Consequences to Adding a Sharing Button

May 14, 2008
While this question may not be directly SEO-related, I'm wondering if there might be any negative SEO implications to including a social bookmarking and sharing button to the more popular pages on our website to leverage some of the popularity of social networking? Read More >> Related Forum Posts >>

Using Nofollow: Good, Bad, or Indifferent?

March 26, 2008
Now that the nofollow link attribute has been around for awhile, and even sanctioned by Google's Matt Cutts for "PageRank Sculpting," forum member "nethy" is wondering what your thoughts are on it. Read More >> Related Forum Posts >>

Yes, [Toolbar] PageRank Means Nothing!

February 6, 2008

There's a good thread in the forum from member "fishermack" explaining why toolbar PageRank is not an effective measurement for website traffic and sales.

Read More >> Related Forum Posts >>

PR Popping

November 14, 2007
Two weeks ago, my Google PR was still at 0/10. We have a 6-month-old site, for which I've been doing many of the "slow growth" SEO tactics as my time allows. This week, I find that my Google PR is now 5/10. Read More >> Related Forum Posts >>

Increasing PageRank - Forum Post of the Week

October 31, 2007
Forum member “Reflections” is looking for a quick way to increase PageRank because the usual routes take too long. Read More >> Related Forum Posts >>

Google’s Paid-link Smack in the Face

October 24, 2007
The SEO world is abuzz today with Google’s smack in the face to a number of websites that are selling obviously paid-for, keyword-rich text links. Read More >> Related Forum Posts >>

Anchor-text and Nofollow Links

October 24, 2007
I noticed something interesting the other day that made me wonder whether links that have the nofollow attribute on them can/do still pass anchor-text “juice” in Google. Read More >> Related Forum Posts >>

Article Submission Services

October 3, 2007
We have an information site which sells nothing. Our site consists of about 140 articles. I have authored several, and I'm wondering about submitting a couple of my articles to certain type of sites which claim to boost links to your site. Read More >> Related Forum Posts >>

Mentor-Me-Meg Social Media Experiment

July 25, 2007
To go along with our blogging theme today, I wanted to point out something that my sister Beth, CEO of Nobscot Corporation, is doing that I think is pretty cool. On her blog, she has told the world that she is on a mission to convince Meg Whitman, CEO of eBay, to mentor her! Read More >> Related Forum Posts >>

Article Dos and Don'ts

June 20, 2007
Forum member "1dmf" asks the High Rankings gang: "If you wrote an article/blog, how do you do the links? Read More >> Related Forum Posts >>

Interview with Jennifer Laycock - Viral Marketing & Social Media

June 14, 2007
Pauline caught up with Jennifer Laycock, editor-in-chief of Search Engine Guide, in order to find out her thoughts on viral marketing and social media. Read More >> Related Forum Posts >>

Best Place for a Blog

May 23, 2007
Our site has a blog which is www.blog.domain.com — should it really be www.domain.com/blog ? Read More >> Related Forum Posts >>

Anchor Text Question

May 16, 2007
Forum member "Nystul" remarks: "Due to the long name of my website (keyword), a couple of my backlinks are anchor text as 'thisisme,' instead of 'this is me.' Read More >> Related Forum Posts >>

Do Forum Links and Signatures Help SEO?

May 16, 2007
Forum member "vertigo" has been busy posting in online forums and says, "For about 20 of these forums I have replied to existing posts with original info, and have put a keyword-rich hyperlink to my website in my signature. Read More >> Related Forum Posts >>

Matt Cutts and Paid Links

April 18, 2007
Forum moderator Michael Motherwell (aka “ProjectPHP”) wondered what all the hubbub is regarding a post Matt Cutts made at his blog asking for people to report paid links to him/Google. Read More >> Related Forum Posts >>

6 Newbie SEO Questions

April 4, 2007
Someone emailed me with a list of quick questions about some SEO terminology they didn’t understand. I figured if one person was looking for these answers, many of you would be, too. Read More >> Related Forum Posts >>

Posting in Forums To Gain Inbound Links

March 7, 2007
Forum member "Jon H" is looking for ways to build links and has started a few different threads on the topic: Read More >> Related Forum Posts >>

Using Valuable but Non-related Content To Bring Links

March 7, 2007

Paying Bloggers for Links

March 7, 2007
"Ryan2" is also looking to build links and was wondering if it's okay to pay bloggers to link to your site. Read More >> Related Forum Posts >>

Question About Cross-linking Websites

February 21, 2007
"Jammin' Jake" tells the forum, "My employers would like to start three new websites for these three aspects of our consulting services to focus on each individual consulting service." Read More >> Related Forum Posts >>

Penalty for Linking to Unrelated Sites?

February 14, 2007
Forum member “LarryB713″ was told by an SEO “expert” that linking to unrelated sites could get his site penalized by the search engines and was wondering if it was true. Read More >> Related Forum Posts >>

Redirecting Non-www to www Version

January 31, 2007
I am surprised to see that your own website still has both the www and non-www version in place — no redirect to get the “link juice” from the non-www version. Do you consider this a not so important issue? Both versions have good PR. Read More >> Related Forum Posts >>

Confused About Nofollow? So Is Google!

January 31, 2007
Did you know that Google supposedly doesn’t crawl nofollows? My understanding was that they are to be used for untrusted links, not to keep Google’s spider out of places. (There are already tags/attributes for that.) However, Google seems to keep changing what they want to use the nofollow attribute for. Read More >> Related Forum Posts >>

Now You See It, Now You Don’t

January 3, 2007
I recently SEO-ed my site. Yahoo started re-indexing my website: they already showed 37 of the new links (internal URLs) within my site. This morning I had another look at these links within Yahoo and got an unpleasant surprise: they showed the links from the previous version of my site. I’m wondering if you have an explanation of why this happened. Read More >> Related Forum Posts >>

Links in New Window

January 3, 2007
I am continually frustrated with web sites that provide a link, but when I click on it, it takes me OFF their site and onto another. Read More >> Related Forum Posts >>

Fewer Links, but Better Rankings

December 13, 2006
I have better backlinks than my competitor and my site is also optimized, but why is my competitor’s ranking better than mine? Our backlinks are around 90 and the competitor’s backlinks are around 55. What can I do for better rankings than the competitor? Read More >> Related Forum Posts >>

Outbound Links

December 13, 2006
In the scheme of things, do you think it is important to add outbound links from a web site? Read More >> Related Forum Posts >>

Search Engine Using Old Domain Name

December 13, 2006
At the beginning of October we regenerated our entire site and ran into a very strange problem. All of a sudden all our search results were showing up under one of our old domain names. Read More >> Related Forum Posts >>

Seth Godin Interview About Squidoo

December 1, 2006
Back in June, Jill and I were front and center at SES Toronto listening to Seth Godin, entrepreneur, best-selling author, and marketing guru. He is as excellent a speaker as he is a writer! Seth delivered a thought-provoking as well as motivational keynote speech, and if you ever get a chance to hear him speak, it is a truly remarkable experience! Read More >> Related Forum Posts >>

Redirected Links

September 6, 2006
I’d like to thank you for the great information that you make available. I read it and implement it — and it works. Thanks! Read More >> Related Forum Posts >>

Why Would Anyone Link to Some Sites?

August 16, 2006
Push the button of every SEO expert and he/she will start talking about the importance of links for high rankings. Read More >> Related Forum Posts >>