Types of backlinks

[DayTrader]

What are the different types of backlinks? How do they differ from each other? Which type is better for a site?

[veikoh]

1. Forum Signatures (YEP, links with NOFOLLOW tag still count for Google)
2. Directory Submissions (Number of Characters in page divided to number of links in page isnt part of Googles algorithm)
3. Article and blog writing
4. Reciprocial links
....

[imacy-ray]

Good list veikoh. Well the quality of the backlinks also play a major role in pushing your PR higher.

[rogercbryan]

1. Forum Signatures (YEP, links with NOFOLLOW tag still count for Google)
2. Directory Submissions (Number of Characters in page divided to number of links in page isnt part of Googles algorithm)
3. Article and blog writing
4. Reciprocial links
....

I'm going to have to argue a bit here... these are all the exact same kind of link.

Lets do a little analogy. A link is like a baby.. when its born they are all equal... they all have the same potential. But as they start to grow up things start to change.

Some live in a bad neighborhood (link farm or link exchange) so their potential for growing up and becoming successful diminishes. Others move to a good neighborhood but end up a C Student so they just blend in with everyone else (links on a PR0 or PR1 blog, article site, directory listing. All of these links live in the average world so they have little impact on society (your site).

Now others take time to stand out and not to blend in (non duplicate content on authority sites (PR2, PR3, & PR4). These links are like college graduates which have doubled their lifetime earning potential. It took them a little longer but their value sticks around and can even grow in time.

Then there are those that invest heavy in an graduate school (PR5, PR6) they realize that no matter how hard they work they aren't going to get everything out of life that they want unless they spend a little money. So they invest (in their education) and their value grows exponentially.

Lastly, their are those super smart super rich kids that get their MBA from Wharton and go on to start billion dollar firms (PR7+). There are very few of them and they are very sought after by the younger links (your site is a PR0 so why would they link to you?).

All links are not the same. Neither are the sources you get them from. The more a site links out the less value it has. The more duplicate content on a site the less value it has.

Did you know a single PR9 link to your site is worth 98,000 PR1 links? Think about that for a second. If you can get a PR9 to link to you for a specific keyword (based on the level of competition) you will be considered one of the top sources for info on that relative topic. How much would you be willing to pay for that? Well I'd pay a fortune... guess what... none are for sale.

Link building has become a science over the last few years.. all the art is gone. Becareful where your links come from... the smarter the link the more value it creates..

[imacy-ray]

Thanks for the info rogercbryan. It's not about the number of links, its about the quality

[veikoh]

So far as I have tested and heard, PR isnt anymore main factor for Google rankings. I assume they have went back to simple CTR (Click Thru Rate) algorithm which we wrote as important part to correct search results at first place in 1996.
Secondly, freshness of the link seems to be very relevant factor for Google.
As I have tested and found out, It has been worked same way if you put your link to link farm or write an decent article and put it to some blog to get it noticed by Google.
Dont blame me, blame Google who havent much implemented what they have promised (including the NOFOLLOW tag).

[rogercbryan]

Thanks for the info rogercbryan. It's not about the number of links, its about the quality

Ahhh... again this is wrong.. .its a combination of the two.

1000 PR1 or 2 PR7 as you can see its a combination of the elements.

[rogercbryan]

So far as I have tested and heard, PR isnt anymore main factor for Google rankings. I assume they have went back to simple CTR (Click Thru Rate) algorithm which we wrote as important part to correct search results at first place in 1996.
Secondly, freshness of the link seems to be very relevant factor for Google.
As I have tested and found out, It has been worked same way if you put your link to link farm or write an decent article and put it to some blog to get it noticed by Google.
Dont blame me, blame Google who havent much implemented what they have promised (including the NOFOLLOW tag).

Again not correct. Depending on which train of thought you follow there are multiple ways to test this. Links in the past two years have resurged as the single most important element to ranking a site. The value of those links has also never been as important. I now run SEO on 10 sites (real campaigns) and I've measured direct value of links (when done properly) based on PR and relative competition of keywords and PR does matter.

Example
rcbryan.com keyword 'business consultant' - Got the term to #1 with only PR0 & PR1 - I then stopped my campaign for this keyword. I've now slipped to #5 (relative competition 80)

rcbryan.com keyword 'business consulting' - Just got the term to #11 using only high value PR's but low volume. I'm testing what happens with the addition of a single PR6 link. Over the next 30 days I want to see how this effects rank for this keyword.

There are a lot of variables here to consider. My point is that currently link building (when done correctly) will have the single greatest impact on your rankings. The trick is doing it correctly. You CAN NOT BUY LINKS in mass. You need to create them. There are short cuts to this. The only people who say links do not have value are the ones buying packages for $19.95 expecting to get 1000 links. That's just a waste of money.

[veikoh]

There are a lot of variables here to consider. My point is that currently link building (when done correctly) will have the single greatest impact on your rankings. The trick is doing it correctly. You CAN NOT BUY LINKS in mass. You need to create them. There are short cuts to this. The only people who say links do not have value are the ones buying packages for $19.95 expecting to get 1000 links. That's just a waste of money.

Here I do agree with you. BTW, most of the directories like mine will reject those robots links anyway... BTW It does not matter what term you are linking on what PR site.
I have put my sites up using around 300-500 links from PR0-PR1 sites if that PR number what shows on some SEO tool sites even is correct. When Google webmasters tools had a PR value, it showed low-medium-high. Somehow some sites that I didnt bothered to do any link building showed there medium value with no high position, same time where I just started to build links the value was still low but I got sites up with desired keywords I used in anchor texts having no much matching content even for those keywords in my site (a dating profiles site).

[rogercbryan]

Here I do agree with you. BTW, most of the directories like mine will reject those robots links anyway... BTW It does not matter what term you are linking on what PR site.
I have put my sites up using around 300-500 links from PR0-PR1 sites if that PR number what shows on some SEO tool sites even is correct. When Google webmasters tools had a PR value, it showed low-medium-high. Somehow some sites that I didnt bothered to do any link building showed there medium value with no high position, same time where I just started to build links the value was still low but I got sites up with desired keywords I used in anchor texts having no much matching content even for those keywords in my site (a dating profiles site).

We are getting closer to agreeing... I'll still say the term matters as well

Example:

Bath Bomb (keyword) I'm running a campaign for a site that sells bath bombs. The few companies out there that do this have very low PR which in turn means they have very low value PR links coming to their site. So all other things being equal my single PR6 link for an anchor texted <Bath Bomb> will create a significant amount of value. Why? Well no one else has this keyword linking to them from a PR6.

Business Consulting (keyword) now with this keyword even a PR6 means very little (from a competition stand point). Why? Most .edu sites have a PR9 and they then link out to wikipedia for definition of terms in case studies. Because of this the link value for the term 'business consulting' is very important as there are high PR links being driven to sites out there.

Does this make sense?

[rogercbryan]

Here I do agree with you. BTW, most of the directories like mine will reject those robots links anyway... BTW It does not matter what term you are linking on what PR site.
I have put my sites up using around 300-500 links from PR0-PR1 sites if that PR number what shows on some SEO tool sites even is correct. When Google webmasters tools had a PR value, it showed low-medium-high. Somehow some sites that I didnt bothered to do any link building showed there medium value with no high position, same time where I just started to build links the value was still low but I got sites up with desired keywords I used in anchor texts having no much matching content even for those keywords in my site (a dating profiles site).

Sorry... also... great discussion! I rarely see real SEO conversations going on here.. .

[DayTrader]

Thanks for the friendly arguments and conversation. It is through discussions like this that we learn more. There's surely a lot to learn about back linking. It's not as simple as it sounds. There is a lot of technical terms to learn.

[rogercbryan]

Thanks for the friendly arguments and conversation. It is through discussions like this that we learn more. There's surely a lot to learn about back linking. It's not as simple as it sounds. There is a lot of technical terms to learn.

If you don't let yourself get intimidated by the terms you'll be fine. The reality is that if you are willing to spend a few dollars each month you can get high PR links very easily. I can get you 100 PR2 to PR3 permalinks for $500. You would be amazed at how well these links work. They are not link farms they are not BS directory listings. These are real articles spun out to select blogs that have been around a while. I'm not trying to sell you on anything I'm just showing with a few bucks that you can accomplish everything you need with out being a rocket scientist...

[Gpaje]

Has anyone tried the backlink services out there? I wonder if you add too many backlinks, if Google will penalize you?

[veikoh]

Has anyone tried the backlink services out there? I wonder if you add too many backlinks, if Google will penalize you?

I havent ever seen a message in Google Webmasters Tool that tells your site has been excluded from our index because you had too many backlinks (or you created too many backlinks in short period of time).
The problem with services is that most decent directories have capthca verification or other methods to prevent automatic link submissions. So the best way is still to build them manually.