Should I only link to sites in my category?

[jpwjewelry]

Would be grateful if someone could answer if I should only link to sites in our category? Meaning we are a jewelry site should we only link to other jewelry, and jewelry related websites? I thank you in advance for your help.

[Duke]

In a word, yes.

It's always best practice to link within your topic or with sites that compliment it.

[aceofadsense]

Yes, its always good to link to the sites which are dealing in your category. Theres no point in linking to irrelevant sites which may spam and this might hurt ur rankings in search engines..Good Luck

[Duke]

I thought I'd add that just because a site is in your niche that still does not mean linking to them can't hurt you. What you really want to check for is that they are not linking to everyone and their dog.

You'll be amazed sometimes when you actually browse other sites link pages because some sites just link for the sake of linking. Also, I'd only link with sites that have a clear hierarchy or organization within there linking structure because linking to a site with links page 1, links page 2, links page 3..., likely means no one would ever find your link anyway.

[The Old Sarge]

One thing I'd like to add to the good advice ...

Try to make the landing pages for the links as relevant as possible. Some pages are far more appropriate and relevant than others.

For instance, if your site sells a wide variety of products from running shoes to tents, make links from sites about camping land on your tent page and sites about jogging/running land on your shoe page.

[The Leader]

I still wonder why we believe we must link form relevant sites but we all link from SEO sites through our signature links?

[The Old Sarge]

Some links bring PR and SE position, some bring real, breathing, human visitors. :D

[Duke]

Some links bring PR and SE position, some bring real, breathing, human visitors. :D
I think this is the biggest reason really, to attract visitors rather than a backlink.

There's really no point in even attempting to get backlinks from forums in this day and age especially since the ones worth linking from usually use nofollow tags on all forum links.

I've even gone one better at Lifesupporters, now I won't even allow new members to post any type of link until they've reached approx. 10 legitimate forum posts and even then only if it follows the guidelines I have setup in the interests of Family Friendly (http://www.lifesupporters.com/family-friendly-news/site-news/family-friendly-directory-2007090572/1/). Anyone who tries to post a url has their post go to a moderating queue so even the spammers that make it in past my filters are still never allowed to spam the forums and have their crap indexed.

[The Leader]

I still firmly believe the object it to get visitors directly too your site from a google search. To meet that object link to high pr sites that will improve your serps.
By all means link to related sites to get some of their traffic but the conversion rate is very poor!

[The Old Sarge]

I still firmly believe the object it to get visitors directly too your site from a google search. To meet that object link to high pr sites that will improve your serps.

Do you have anything to support the claim that links from high PR sites result in better placement for the site linked? SOmething concrete?

By all means link to related sites to get some of their traffic but the conversion rate is very poor!

I would think that depends entirely on the two sites, what they're about and the particular visitor.

[Duke]

I still firmly believe the object it to get visitors directly too your site from a google search. To meet that object link to high pr sites that will improve your serps.

I would also be interested in learning where you found this tasty tidbit?

I think the only reasonably high PR site link I have is from dmoz in a category that's around 3 or 4 of 10. I don't believe this one inbound link is what puts me first page in google for my targeted keywords/keyword phrases, I think it's good on page article optimization and possibly supported by a linked forum discussion.

[www.GameFriends.com]

I would err on the side of caution and only link out to somewhat related niches, but this doesn't mean you should limit your own link building to related niches..sometimes other places will link to you that are seemingly unrelated.

[dks]

No, you can take link on other niches.but if you take link on same niche then those links give more benefit for your site.But if you will take links on non thematic websites its also beneficial for your websites.

[Phil Staff]

No, you can take link on other niches.but if you take link on same niche then those links give more benefit for your site.But if you will take links on non thematic websites its also beneficial for your websites.

Google says 'have relevant sites link to yours'. If you take a link on non relevant sites is will NOT help your website. If you have a high volume of irrelevant links or irrelevant sites pointing to yours it can actually reverse all your hard SEO work.

Relevancy is the key!

[Duke]

Google says 'have relevant sites link to yours'. If you take a link on non relevant sites is will NOT help your website. If you have a high volume of irrelevant links or irrelevant sites pointing to yours it can actually reverse all your hard SEO work.

Relevancy is the key!
Just to clarify for my own purposes, this should only relate to reciprocal linking and/or linking offsite to sites that are not within your niche. I believe both of these methods if not used correctly can indicate that you run a link farm and have no interest in actually offering your visitors anything of value.

However, since you have no control over who links to your site, where, when and why I can't see that hurting your site from an SEO standpoint.

...assuming of course it's a one way link only and better yet, not to just one page/area on your site.

[Jenie0109]

well if you do link building.. You should always keep in mind that either one-two-three way link building, it should be relevant

[Ghost Wytch]

I have never been able to understand why it makes sense to add links to my site to a competitors site (relevant links). Why would I want to send my customers to a competitors website? That just goes all against evey form of marketing I've ever learned.

[Phil Staff]

No one says you have to link with your competitors and if you do surely you will *require* they link back so it is two-way street.

More often than not people link with vertical markets. Other sites that are in your visitors interests but not really a *direct* competitor.

The relevancy of the following is considered by the search engines:

1: keywords in the url of the outgoing link
2: keywords in the url of the incoming link
3: keywords in the title of the outgoing link
4: keywords in the title of the incoming link

So in theory linking with your competitors gives more strength to your rankings because of the keywords used in the links in both directions.

Will you lose your visitors to a competitor? From another perspective - Will they lose their visitors to your site?

I guess it depends on the quality of your site - the level of your customer service and how persuasive your sales content is. =)

That is my two cents on linking with competitors. It works for some industries really well and doesn't for other industries.

Phil Staff

[lumbalumba]

Yes, just like what everyone on this thread said, it's better if you do. As long as the links in your category are entirely related to yours. No use linking your site to irrelevant links, this will just add spam to you and you don't want that to happen.

[Proweb SEO Company]

I would say yes, but if you link via keywords from this can also assist

[mduko05]

It is depend on your website niche if your website niche is Travel then take links in travel category.

[greenlime]

In one word, yes. You should link to sites in your category because it will help your website's popularity. That's why internet marketing gurus always recommend that you use relevant keywords and link to relevant websites. You'll be helping those websites and in turn, they'll help you.

[Phil Staff]

You'll be helping those websites and in turn, they'll help you.

Very well put. Sometimes people forget that if you remove the search engines from the equation the Internet is what it is; a vast set of links on one site to other sites.

The more relevant sites you exchange links with the more 'relevant traffic' you will also share. Many times traffic from a link is more 'pre-qualified' than someone who is just browsing the search engines.

[Ghost Wytch]

Can someone please explain to me what "no follow tags" are?

And would somone mind taking a look at my links page and telling me how I can improve it, make it more search engine friendly? At one time, I was on the first page of google and now am lucky to be found on the 5th page :(

Thansk :)

[Ghost Wytch]

The relevancy of the following is considered by the search engines:

1: keywords in the url of the outgoing link
2: keywords in the url of the incoming link
3: keywords in the title of the outgoing link
4: keywords in the title of the incoming link

So in theory linking with your competitors gives more strength to your rankings because of the keywords used in the links in both directions.

Phil Staff

So Phil......are you saying that the keyword in the above 4 examples should match (be the same) in both sites? Then they will be relevant and therefore complimant one another and satisfy the search engines?

Thanks :)

[Phil Staff]

No they wouldn't all the the same. Your outgoing links would be to other sites so you wouldn't want to make them the same.

You can make your incoming links text all the same if you are targeting one specific phrase. If you also have your incoming links pointing to URLs with those same keywords in them it is more powerful.

Phil Staff

[jakerhodes]

In my experience Google doesn't actually pay any attention to the relevancy of backlinks. However I still only tend to build reciprocal links with sites in a similar niche to me as I want my resources to be useful to my visitors and for my website to look professional.