What Makes a Web Site Link-Worthy?
by Eric
Ward
Original July 2002, updated
July 2009
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What
is the motivation for one web site owner to link to another web site? The
fundamental principle of the web is to allow any document to link to and
to be linked from any other document. This is how Tim
Berners-Lee intended it when he first proposed the hypertext protocol
in 1989, before most of us had ever heard of the Internet. Initially
developed as a way to help researchers interlink related documents from
computers all over the world, the web was soon discovered by those more
interested in commerce, and several years later, here we are.
It's interesting to me that
nearly every commercially related web development since its founding has
been in some way related to the link (that is, an attempt to find new ways
for one site to be linked to another). Banner ads are, at their core just
a link from one site to another. So are text ads, whether on web sites
or in newsletters, or in an email message. And buttons, badges, icons,
etc., are all just another form of link. A PPC listing or a Twitter tweeted
URL or a list of search results are nothing more than links. Your Yahoo!
directory listing, BBB member page listing, even that cool widget you created
-- no matter how you spin it -- are all links.
Anything to be clicked on that
shuttles people from one place to another while online constitutes a link.
The development of all form
and fashion of linking types has never improved upon the original, and
no amount of cleverness will ever change one universal truth: the less
useful your content, the less likely you are to ever receive a link to
it. Let me write that again, and as you read it, try to sound like
James Earl Jones.
The
less useful your content, the less likely you are to ever receive a link
to it
If we think of the word "useful"
as a continuum, then the most useful sites are those that provide rich,
quality content on a specific subject on which the editor or provider is
an authority. Think of the U.S. Government's CancerNet
site aka The National Cancer Institute. Now there's the ultimate
example of content on the right side of the continuum -- tens of thousands
of pages on every facet of cancer, all free, all generated by experts in
the field.
In fact, with no marketing department,
the CancerNet site has tens of thousands of links pointing to it from other
sites around the world. It's one of my standard sermons: Useful content
gets linked. When CancerNet hired me for some link analysis and strategy,
there wasn't a whole lot for me to do. It took me less than a month to
augment and improve what was already in place -- a great collection of
inbound links. My impact was minimal, if any.
But...the reality is we can't
all be CancerNet. Most sites simply do not have the kind of content
that engenders tens of thousands of links. So what do you? What if
you are simply trying to sell a few widgets and don't have any reference
to quality content? If your site lands on the left side of the useful continuum,
you accept that you are not going to get many links. And those links you
do get, you will probably have to pay for. And those links you pay for
are not likely to help your rankings, and might even hurt them.
If you don't want to accept
this reality and truly want to earn links to your site, you have one (and
only one) other option available to you. Make it link-worthy.
What is a linkworthy site? Let's
imagine you have an online magic store that caters to professional and
amateur magicians. On your site, you sell tricks, supplies, hats, capes,
and wands, even the saw-the-person-in-half gag.
If your content were nothing
more than an online store, why would anyone link to it? You might get a
few links on any magic-site web guides and link lists. But then what? If
you are an online store with nothing but products as your content, then
you MUST look to associate/affiliate programs as a means of generating
links. Basically, paying for them.
But maybe there is something
more you CAN do, if you are willing to roll up your sleeves.
What if, along with your products,
you create a searchable database of information on magic. What if you had
complete biographies of more than 700 magicians? What if you had a section
devoted to magical world records, or a glossary of magical terms, or a
directory of magicians on the Internet?
This would then be an excellent
example of how a store site can add rich, relevant content, value, interest,
and community to its web site, as well as sell merchandise. This
site would be covered by just about any writer who writes about magic and/or
reviews web sites.
The above is not just a wide-eyed,
hypothetical example. In fact, the site I'm referring to is called MagicTricks.com.
It's difficult to find high-trust
online media outlets and curator/site reviewers willing to cover or link
to marketing/sales sites. The more a site offers deep information on a
certain subject, databases, community, guides, forums, reviews, etc., the
more likely the editors are to want to cover it. Whether it's a business
or consumer site, the more content-rich the better, especially if the site's
mission is sales. A site designed to sell a product is far different than
a true reference site with hundreds and hundreds of pages of free information
on a particular subject.
CancerNet
and MagicTricks.com could not
be more different, yet but they do have one incredibly important thing
in common. Both have topic specific content written by passionate
experts.
The best analogy I can think
of to explain a sales-focused web site is a public library. A library is,
first and foremost, about content, although it does sell things. You can
buy copies of books, order maps, buy online database search time, or rent
study offices or PCs. Some libraries even have video-rental services and
snack shops or restaurants. Money definitely changes hands at a library.
But nobody would confuse this commerce with a library's true mission: helping
patrons find content.
In like manner, a web site also
needs to be a library of information on whatever its focus might be. Add
great content to your product site.
Why bother?
Because useful content gets
linked. Products don't.
Link well my friend |
.Link
Building Best Practices
Eric
Ward founded the Web's first link building and web promotion services,
called NetPOST and URLwire, in 