Trusted Back Links For Your Site after Penguin.
If you have been following this blog, and many of the better SEO sites on line, you know by now that with the recent (and not so recent changes) in the Google ranking systems that the more “trusted Sites” you have linking to your site, the better your site authority is going to be. There is nothing new in this, except that on August 10th 2012, Google made additional changes in its algorithm that in essence gave what they consider “trusted Sites” an even higher boast in Authority.
I’d like to introduce some sites that I consider “trusted”. If you use them for your site, you will find they fall into the SEO philosophy we try to practice, that being, if you would want to add your site or get a link on a site even if Google didn’t exist, it’s probably a good idea to do so, and will meet the Google guidelines on quality links.
A few other considerations for a back link opportunity (and these all help in considering a web site or page trusted).
- Will this web site provide additional traffic to your site, and will it be quality traffic. This principle in itself will knock out about 95% of the “directories” on line. Many, if not most were set up for SEO purposes. We have been tracking 100 + directories over the last 12 months to see what effect the Google Algorithm changes would have. The most basic research method is to look at the sites Page Rank in the past, and see if it has dropped or disappeared. Many of the directories once used in abundance by web masters and some a SEO’s have lost some or all of the Google page rank once reported. A sure sign the site is considered low quality by Google.
- Would you be embarrassed if someone judged your business by it’s presence on this site. Or perhaps a better way to put it, would you be pleased to be found on the site. Now I know, most of the low value places you can list your site will never be seen by any of your customers, so this question is really an internal thought process, and it goes with the first point exactly.
- Is it easy to add your site? There is a direct correlation between the ease of adding your site or information to a web site, and the value it offers your business.
- Does this site relate to your business? Trust me, this is important, and it goes to the point number 1 again. Why are you adding your information to a site in a foreign country that has no relationship to your business?
- Does this site have follow links? Who cares? You shouldn’t. Follow, no follow makes no difference if you are following the principle of using a site for great traffic or visibility.
There are more principles I will blog about later, for now I am due on a webinar. Let me give you a couple of sites we think you should be on, and you tell me if they make sense. I would also be interested in your thoughts on these simple principles.
We can start with some simple listing sites, and later we will go into directories, Social sites, forums and blogs. I want to give you what may seem to be obvious (or not) and some that are a little off the beaten track.
Site One: Google Plus for Business. http://www.google.com/+/business/
Site Two: http://www.ikarma.com/
I think you will find both sites fall into the parameters. I could pontificate on the reasons and the research, traffic and results from these sites, but I’d rather hear your thoughts, as well as your suggestions.