Free Link Building from a PR5 Web Site is Back!
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A couple weeks ago, I deactivated the link love plugin here on my website then I explained my decision why I deactivated the nofollow in another article and with the help of a great graphic from Josh, I think I got my point across. Link building only works if the links are genuine, remarkably since deactivating the plugin I’ve seen a tremendous drop in comments (both SPAM and otherwise) but not a noticeable trail off of traffic to the website.
90% of the comments on my websites appear to be made by roughly 1% of my visitors.
The problem is that genuine comments tend to get lost and too many commercialized links slip through the cracks, after all working on my blog is a part time endeavor as I do actually maintain a full time job outside my blogging activities. The other problem is that while giving away free nofollow links to some wonderful websites is rewarding on a personal level, there’s no true incentive for me to keep it up which is what’s led me to deactivate the link love plugin and make the vast majority of the links on my website nofollow, including links to much my own content.
By ensuring the majority of links on my pages are now nofollow, it provides those links which I do want to promote significantly more value with regards to PageRank.
How PageRank Works
Simply put, PageRank is Google’s measurement of authority and it controls where you rank in the Search Engine Result Pages (SERPS). The higher your PageRank, the closer to the first page your website will appear on any given subject. While that’s an over simplification, the ideas are basically there.
When a web page links to another website, Google considers it a vote for the second website but it divides the ‘vote’ between all the links on a webpage except for those marked as nofollow. Simply put, the PageRank transferred is equal to the total PageRank of a page, divided by the number of links not using a nofollow attribute.
On my home page for example, there are 172 links on my homepage including 139 links to links on my own website. Of the remaining 33 links on the page there are roughly 10 links to my other websites or profiles and another dozen are for websites who link to me. Since my website currently has a PageRank of 5, the 33 links each receive a vote of PR 0.151515… from my website. If I decreased the number of links to just 10, each page would earn a PR vote of .5 from my website.
Spending Your Credibility
There are several ways I choose to spend my PageRank, and make no mistake that linking to other websites ’spends’ PageRank. Every time your website links to another website, Google assumes that you are voting for it by actually transferring a small part of your own site value to the new website. If you’re linking to higher value websites, there is no effect but if you’re helping to promote lower ranking websites Google counts your vote as your willingness to lose some authority while boosting another websites credibility. This process helps ensure link farming is discouraged while link swapping between genuine and reliable websites is encouraged.
Who I Link To
When I deactivated the Link Love plugin a couple weeks back, I was surprised by the reaction of a few commenters who’d assumed that my willingness to give a free PR5 link was something they simply had the right to have. In truth, nobody has the right to have links, not just from my website but from any website. I struggle everyday to earn quality links and honestly assume that everybody else does too. So who do I link to and how can you get a free link from my PageRank 5 website to yours?
Write a Guest Post
Take the time to write a guest post here on thisismyurl.com like Casper Christensen and build your website traffic by letting my readers know about your website. If thisismyurl.com isn’t your cup of tea, perhaps you’d enjoy writing a piece for one of my other websites?
Feature me as a Writer
A new section of my website called “What I’m Writing” can be found on the footer of every page and features a list of ten recent articles that I’ve written for other websites including my own.
Link to my Articles
If you’ve found an article interesting or a plugin useful, include a link to the posting here and find yourself included in the nofollow free Who’s Linking section on the bottom of every page. That’s where I list genuine, nofollow free Pingbacks to articles here on my website.
Do Something Amazing on Your Blog
Every week (sometimes more often) I write a summary article of what I’m reading on the web today, it also appears in the footer of my website and usual features a half dozen great links to wonderful articles I’ve enjoyed reading this week. It’s a great way to promote yourself.
If you’d like to learn more about how the PageRank tool works, I would encourage you to visit Ian Rogers great article on the subject.
Ah, entitlement. Isn’t it a wonderful part of our culture? Everyone is entitled these days.
Thought the idea of a link for the top contributors was a good one. Unfortunately, some have a different definition of “contribution” than others.
I think the move to a content-based contribution structure focusing on actual content rather than volume of comments is a good one.
Appreciate your blog and the value it adds. Thanks.
Chris’s last blog post..Corporate Blogging Scary? How to Benefit from Losing Control
As usual a few bad apples ruin it for everyone. Its a shame that when you try to reward your readers a bunch of spammers jump in to take advantage.
I recently had to ban an IP address from commenting on my blog because she was bombarding me with useless comments such as “nice post” or “i agree”…its a blatant attempt to get a quick link and adds nothing of value to my readers.
@Chris & @Mike, you’re both 100% correct and it is a shame that a few bad apples caused me to take down the follow options. I can understand the knee jerk reaction my decision had but also believe that basing my linking habits on quality of contributions rather than quantity of comments is a great thing for all my readers.
There is no wrong to deactive the follow option in your blog, for sure the number of comments will be decreasing as they think that they no longer get follow link from you. But it’s a good choice which you can now get more honor comments in your blog and benefit your readers.
I believe that sometimes comments help your readers more than the article.
Regards,
Lee
Lee Ka Hoong’s last blog post..Internet Make Money Online Survey
@Chris I hope that this doesn’t come out negative:) I was just wondering how writing posts for your blog, as I did, will return in a PR5 backlink? The posts has to have the PR5 backlink, for this to be correct, unless you create some “Guest Authors”-list which is located somewhere on your index page
No doubt both aspects of commenting -quality and quantity are important.But I see nothing criminal if a person says It is nice posting,appraises always encourage the author.
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Thank you so much Chris for this backlink! I love it :P
Chris: You truly have a way to engage your readers and get the communication going. I appreciate your gesture on PR5 links and no one should ever take link love as a right, it should be earned. On my blog I highlite interesting ideas that I come across in my travels in marketing on the internet as well as tweet them . Sharing is an important part of contribution and participation an it has to be round trip. I will post one of your articles on my site
Rob
Twitter id: http://www.twitter.com/RobboM
Hi Chris!
Been awhile since I have visited your blog (awhile since I’ve been online more than 30 seconds at a time), so I just thought I’d stop by :)
I still agree with your decision on this PR5 link-thing, but please tell me if this is a mistake or am I not understanding this right: you write:
“find yourself included in the nofollow free Who’s Linking section on the bottom of every page.”
but those links are nofollow. I don’t get it.. :/
.-= Casper Christensen´s last blog ..4 Unstoppable Strategies for More Twitter Followers =-.
Comment Spam SUCKS! I hate it when these freakin spammers mess every thing up for the good people in the world.
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