1-Way Link Dirty Trick (even by mistake)

[pintobuck]

(SEF = Search Engine Friendly)
I noticed that LinkManager cannot crawl some Non-SEF urls that contain "php?".
Hence LinkManager cannot find the reciprocating URL, which is actually there.

This made me ask the question about 1-Way Dirty Tricks.

If you exchange links with a website that does not have SEF URLs, then Google cannot find the reciprocal link on his website. But Google does find his link on your website, which does have SEF URLs.

My conclusion is that you are effectively giving him a one-way link, even though you can visit his website and see a reciprocal link. Websites with non-SEF URLs might as well have "no follow" on their reciprocal links.

Conclusion: Do not exchange links with websites that do not use SEF URLs.

[Phil Staff]

Pintobuck,

First let me thank you for your questions, comments and feedback as they are greatly appreciated and help us to answer questions other people who read this forum might have on their mind. Additionally it helps us make the system better for everyone.

(SEF = Search Engine Friendly)
I noticed that LinkManager cannot crawl some Non-SEF urls that contain "php?".
Hence LinkManager cannot find the reciprocating URL, which is actually there.

LinksManager's Link Checker is like most search engine spiders. There are always some links that cannot be found even though they are "visible" to the human eye. If the search engines can find the link it is highly likely we can too. If the search engines cannot find the link it is highly likely we won't either.

Here is the Knowledgebase Article that directly deals with Link Checkers not finding your links when you know they are there: http://linksmanager.com/knowledgebase/5.html#5 .

They could be redirecting, using dynamic links pages or using robots.txt to block spiders.

If you open a HelpDesk ticket and let us know the Link Id # that you are seeing as reciprocating and the link checker isn't finding it we will be happy to further research that link as each link is checked individually.

This made me ask the question about 1-Way Dirty Tricks.

If you exchange links with a website that does not have SEF URLs, then Google cannot find the reciprocal link on his website. But Google does find his link on your website, which does have SEF URLs.

So we are talking about linking for the sole purpose of the SE's finding the backlink? ;)

"Dirty Trick" is a little harse. Certainly the webmaster didn't have that goal when he created his site. Maybe he just wanted a free CMS program to build his site with and he is forced to use Non-SEF urls based on the system he chose.

I don't think they sat down and thought (in advance) he would need to design a system that would capitalize on Non-SEF urls so Google only sees links from other sites to him and doesn't see the links from his site to yours.

If the other site is obviously linking to your site and you have verified that visually but Google doesn't see it, their visitors and other humans still do, right? Just because Google doesn't see a backlink doesn't mean the link isn't beneficial to both you and your visitors.

Google sees ranks incoming and outgoing links differently. They understand that not all sites will link back. They expect that there will be links on your site that don't link back but you keep them because they are highly relevant and beneficial to your visitors.

Additionally Google doesn't show *all* your backlinks either. There are some backlinks that they *can* find but they may consider *irrelevant* so they
a) don't count them and
b) don't list them.


My conclusion is that you are effectively giving him a one-way link, even though you can visit his website and see a reciprocal link. Websites with non-SEF URLs might as well have "no follow" on their reciprocal links.

In this situation in Google's eyes it would be a one-way link. In the other webmaster's eyes it is a reciprocal link as their visitors can click it and go to your site.


Conclusion: Do not exchange links with websites that do not use SEF URLs.

Summary: You should be linking for the benefit of your end users and not to just improve your search engine rankings.

In the long run linking with highly relevant sites that deliver you "qualified" traffic from other sites will produce better results. Linking was around and widely used before Google and will continue to be used as a website marketing and branding method.

Hopefully this is helpful in addressing your concerns. Yes Non-SEF urls are out there and are being used my many CMS systems; however, those open source developers are constantly working on ways to improve the urls so they are SEF.

Phil Staff

[pintobuck]

I was hoping to generate some comments and discussion. The thread title was a little catchy. Maybe it should have been called "1-way Link Dirty TRAP (even by mistake)".

There is value in the reciprocal part of Reciprocal Linking. Otherwise, we might as well give away 1-way links, and who would need to pay a monthly fee for sophisticated LinkManager software? An entire industry has built up around the requirement to reciprocate each link.