[duggieuk]

Hi
Unlike a few years ago, it seems that almost every web site that i visit does not have a links page. I know of many sites with thousands of backlinks but they dont link back to anyone and rank at the top for specific keywords. Is it still important to have a links page anymore or to even link to sites that require a reciprocal link?
Thanks

[BlueDreamer]

One question, will a page of links be useful for your visitors?

If "yes" then have one, if "no" then don't

[Renaissance-Design]

BlueDreamer, on 09 November 2011 - 07:24 PM, said:

One question, will a page of links be useful for your visitors?

If "yes" then have one, if "no" then don't

BD's nailed it. If you build your site with your users in mind at all times, it will be a pleasant site to use and they will link to it and recommend it to others.

[Born4Digital]

Agreed - link pages are rarely needed for your users.

[neil0wen]

Most web designers don't chase backlinks anymore because its simply not worth it. Web design search terms are so over saturated that getting any sort of high volume of traffic in this industry is next to impossible for the average web designer. If you think about it, there are maybe 10 decent search terms and god knows how many thousands of designers in the UK. With a high amount of work you maybe able to get somewhere for local searches, but this will only provide a few visitors a month!

My advice would be to social network, get yourself of a couple of decent directories and get yourself out into the big wide world and chat to people, ask them if they need a site!

Once you have built up a portfolio of clients, you will start to gain more work by word of mouth.

[Jason Dexter]

neil0wen, on 10 November 2011 - 04:27 PM, said:

Most web designers don't chase backlinks anymore because its simply not worth it. Web design search terms are so over saturated that getting any sort of high volume of traffic in this industry is next to impossible for the average web designer. If you think about it, there are maybe 10 decent search terms and god knows how many thousands of designers in the UK. With a high amount of work you maybe able to get somewhere for local searches, but this will only provide a few visitors a month!

My advice would be to social network, get yourself of a couple of decent directories and get yourself out into the big wide world and chat to people, ask them if they need a site!

Once you have built up a portfolio of clients, you will start to gain more work by word of mouth.

What are the ten decent search terms you're on about?

I've recently just finished a website for a client which ranked number one in google for a selection of keywords and is only targeted to a small town near me. They get around 300 visits a week maybe. It's only been live for two months so can really get stuck into the data yet.

Saying to give up on SEO just because it's a little be tough to rank for a few keywords is a bit of a sweeping statement.

Look at it like this:

My client is a plumber in Nottingham.

He has a well designed websites and wants to get more clients through it. Which of the following keywords will get him the most conversions?

<sarcasm>

Porn - Possibly one of the most searched term's on the planet. Imagine ranking for that right?

Plumber in Nottingham - Might get a trickle of searches, not really worth it. I mean come on, a website only performing when it was a bazillion users on it.


</sarcasm>

If you answered B, you're right. It's not the number of people you get to your website, it's how targeted that user is. If I search for porn, I want porn not some plumber. If I search for a plumber in my area, then I'm looking for a plumber in my area.

Back on topic:

Link pages are pointless, and always have been (within my professional life anyway)

Whats the point in having 100,000 links pointing to a website, if you have 100,000 links pointing to different sites?

Links are used as a form of reference system within Google.

Scenario:

You have a boil on your head, I refer you to a doctor. He doesn't then refer you to a foot specialist does he, because he'll lose credibility.

[neil0wen]

You have completely missed my point!

The point being is that you are far more likely to get work by talking to people and networking. The effort needed for such a difficult search term won't be as beneficial unless you spend a lot of time and effort over a few years.

You also have to remember that Web design in Nottingham would be a lot more difficult than Plumber in Nottingham.

This is not to say that SEO is not worth while depending on the type of search you are targeting and they type of business you run!

[Phil Comforthost]

Jason Dexter, on 10 November 2011 - 05:43 PM, said:

You have a boil on your head, I refer you to a doctor. He doesn't then refer you to a foot specialist does he, because he'll lose credibility.

But if he refered you to another Doctor, that would seem quite reasonable, wouldn't it? My point being that I thought Google valued backlinks from similar websites (content), it does still champion backlinks afterall.

So a links page of random links is maybe useless for users and SEO, but a planned and relevant page of links (all reciprocal) may be useful for users and benefit your SEO.

I realise its not the be all and end all of SEO practice, and true that newer sites these days no longer seem to bother, but a links page doesn't need to dominate your design so could still be useful yet descrete.

[rallport]

neil0wen, on 10 November 2011 - 04:27 PM, said:

Most web designers don't chase backlinks anymore because its simply not worth it. Web design search terms are so over saturated that getting any sort of high volume of traffic in this industry is next to impossible for the average web designer. If you think about it, there are maybe 10 decent search terms and god knows how many thousands of designers in the UK. With a high amount of work you maybe able to get somewhere for local searches, but this will only provide a few visitors a month!

Yer totally agree. It's very hard. It does however, highlight the importance of targetting your niche effectively. For instance, target locations close to your business E.g. wesite designer in [locality] etc.

Also, those (what I call) vanity phrases are nice and would no doubt generate a lot of traffic, but how many of those would convert? For example, It would be lovely to be one page one for the phrase "Web Design" - people want info about the topic, web design advice, web design blogs - not necessarily a web designer. For those big vanity phrases I'd also bet quite a lot that some of the types of visitors that makes up those 1000s of visits for each phrase comes from other SEO's and offshore companies looking for people to spam - so the figure may look massive at first, but a lot of that traffic is useless to your business.

I'm by no means an SEO ninja, but I'm still a firm believer in long tail phrases being on the whole, much more beneficial to businesses.

The latter gives me an idea for a new blog post

neil0wen, on 11 November 2011 - 02:32 PM, said:

You have completely missed my point!

The point being is that you are far more likely to get work by talking to people and networking. The effort needed for such a difficult search term won't be as beneficial unless you spend a lot of time and effort over a few years.

You also have to remember that Web design in Nottingham would be a lot more difficult than Plumber in Nottingham.

This is not to say that SEO is not worth while depending on the type of search you are targeting and they type of business you run!

The effort and skill needed for such a hard term would be insane - scares me to think about it. Take the term "web design" - for the companies listed there they either have a full time SEO working on their site, or even a full time employee managing the SEO on their for them.

The bit of freelance work I do nowadays - it's all come from word of mouth. Recommendations and trust are worth a bloody lot nowadays.

This post has been edited by rallport: 11 November 2011 - 07:36 PM

[rallport]

Jason Dexter, on 10 November 2011 - 05:43 PM, said:

Saying to give up on SEO just because it's a little be tough to rank for a few keywords is a bit of a sweeping statement.

I think he's saying that because of the the particular niche i.e. web design. Have you seen some of the link profiles for the top sites listed high for these broad phrases - they are insane!