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Why Does Page Rank Matter in Mutual Linking?

Thursday, August 24, 2006

Real Estate BloggingI received an e-mail from the webmaster of a real-estate oriented website, asking to do a link trade with us here at Real Estate and How. Actually, I think it's one of those pre-written letters that webmasters send en-masse to specific prospective partners.

Here is a quote from the letter...
This is in regards to Link-exchange program for our two websites movers.com & moversweb.com with Page Rank having 5 & 4 of Home page. This is part of our Search Engine Optimization program where we would like to place our two links on your sites. I hope that I will receive link from you in exchange of our links. As soon I receive a conformation for the link proposal, we will place
two links to your website.
This person is asking for a link exchange, but wanted to let me know that her two websites have a PR5 and PR4 respectively. I guess that's important for her to mention.

This is actually among the more tame link trade requests I get. Many of them demand that I may only link with them if I happen to have a site with a PR value of 3 or higher. In other words, they spam all the real estate sites, and remind everyone not to respond if they're too small!

It seem the real estate industry is very hell bent on getting back links from other sites, but has this belief that no one wants to exchange links with you if you're a low on the totem pole. What the Hell does it matter?

Just happy be you're getting a link. It's hard just to get even that!

I know what they're thinking. They're thinking, "If I have a page with PR6, and I'm linking to a site with PR3, then I'm giving them more PR value than what I'm getting back".

Don't look at it that way guys! First, look at it as getting traffic from that website. Any link, reasonably placed, will produce at least some traffic back. If you can get just a couple visitors a day from a link, and then manage to do link trades with another 50 websites, you could get anywhere from 100 to 1,000 visitors a day.

More importantly, each site you link with is going to grow. That PR3 site you're exchanging links with will easily become a PR5 with average effort. Many will eventually reach PR6, but only the very best will get to PR7.

And what the heck good does Google's Page Rank mean for mutual linking anyways? The better links are one-way links, the kind where people link to you just because they like you. This has more value with ranking high on search engines. Create good content, and you'll get this.

The most important part about linking is the anchor text. It doesn't matter if a PR1 site is linking to you, just make sure they're enclosing the right text within the anchor tags. This is the text that Google is going to optimize your website with.

A PR1 site linking to you with the words "real estate" is worth more than a PR6 site linking to you with "Janet's Properties". And consider that the PR1 site will someday become a PR6 site, hopefully with your link still there.

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7 Comments:

  • This is a great blog on a very confusing topic of link exchanges and one way links. Thanks for your hard work!


    FASTEST MORTGAGE
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    By Payment Advice Editor, at 3:29 PM  

  • i absolutly agree with you. Especially in todays market wher many of leads are generated online.

    I suggest also going to seochat.com to see how others have taken recipricol linking to the next level.

    Seo is about more than just back links with high PR.

    wellington real estate

    By Anonymous, at 8:17 AM  

  • I agree with you completely, especially with the fact that it's hard enough to get someone to exchange a link with you as it is. I find that I spend as much time building links and writing content for my site as I do prospecting for new clients.

    Laguna Niguel CA Real Estate

    By Frankie, at 9:33 AM  

  • Actually, PR means very little now. Any SEO worth his spit knows this. Clearly, the link request is from a link spammer who either doesnt care or has no friggin clue.

    Also, link exchanges are really dead. You have to be selective who you link to and selective who links to you.

    As Google's patent revealed, "bad" neighborhoods can indeed bring down your rankings - cause it is indicative of link spam.

    Frankly, link exchanges are good if there is truly mutual benefit to it. For my company Servaunt, I have links on the front page of all my clients that I designed websites for, pointing to me. I also link to them in my clients/portfolio/case studies page. That's mutually beneficial.

    Truly - one "secret" I suggest is to find mutually beneficial link partners and just ask them. Be creative. Also, I look for testimonials.

    One of the things I've asked my own clients and I suggest to my realtor clients as well, is to find out which of their customers have a blog. Suggest or ask if they wouldn't mind blogging about their experience working me (or the realtor). I mean, if I did a good job I figure it wouldn't be a stretch for them to blog about me.

    But, a link is a link. If it doesnt have SEO benefit, then it better have true traffice benefit.

    That's how I approach my link building and link exchange...

    Servaunt: Real Estate Interactive Marketing

    By AK Works, at 11:06 AM  

  • I couldn't agree more with the whole linking matter. I have just had two spam link emails within the last 3 hours.

    Whatever happened to personal contact.

    Colorado Springs Real Estate

    By Alan Daniels, at 4:05 PM  

  • By Alan Daniels, at 8:13 AM  

  • More details at http://earn-money-google.com



    ** Create a useful, interesting web site and other sites will naturally link to it.

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    ** Consider buying text link ads on other sites.

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    ** Create a blog and get it listed in blog directories.

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    ** Locate a popular site in your niche which would appreciate having you as a regular columnist. Write tips, lively commentary, product reviews, or whatever topics suit your niche.

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    By Anonymous, at 9:02 PM  

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