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View Full Version : How do you define an authority link?



vangogh
08-13-2008, 01:04 PM
When you read advice about where to get links from you'll likely come across someone recommending getting links from authority sites. Usually there's not a lot of definition associated with what constitutes authority.

Michael Gray wrote a post today talking about authority and PR (http://www.wolf-howl.com/link-development/teaching-advanced-link-building-pagerank-die/) and mentioned how id you ask an SEO what they want in a link you might get a response such as"


"A keyword rich link from a well linked/important/popular page on a trusted and authoritative website, that is preferably topically relevant to your site"

It's funny to me, since I think I've offered that same advice a time or two myself.

Keyword rich and topicially relevant shouldn't be too hard to understand, but what about authority.

It used to be that PageRank (toolbar pagerank) was a measure of authority, but Toolbar PR has become less useful as a metric than it once had been.

Michael's suggestion is to look at a lot of different metrics (Alexa, Compete, FeedBurner, Hitwise, etc) and take what they say in total. I'll offer a little bit of country doctor common sense wisdom to the mix too.

I think often determining an authority site isn't as hard as it seems at first. Pretend there's no such thing as a search engine. Now think about your site's topic and think about the other sites in your space. If you had a question about your topic what sites would you go to for an answer? Where would you go for major news about your industry? Those sites are your authority sites. If others are also going to those sites for answers the sites are the authorities for the people in your industry. More than likely that's exactly how search engines will see it too.

If you're not sure what an authority site is from the perspective of a search engine take the search engine out of the picture. Think of what the word authority means, think about your industry, and ask yourself which sites in your industry match your definition of authority.

Search engines might not see it exactly the same way, but more than likely they will.

KristineS
08-17-2008, 04:39 PM
I hadn't really thought about this, but it's an interesting concept. It all goes back to quality of links vs. quantity of links. I know some people who just think they need tons of links and that will get them where they want to be. When I try to explain that it isn't quantity as much as it is quality, I just get a blank look.

vangogh
08-17-2008, 07:35 PM
I sometimes use an offline analogy to explain. Consider the idea of a link being a recommendation.

Now imagine you're having a problem with the pipes in your kitchen. Who would you sooner ask for advice. Your neighbor who happens to be a plumber or a random person walking down the street? If you asked 10 random people walking by and they all advised one solution, while your neighbor the plumber recommended a different solution, who's advice are you going to follow?

The quality of the recommendation is very important. So is the quality of the link.

KristineS
08-17-2008, 09:08 PM
The quality of the recommendation is very important. So is the quality of the link.

I definitely agree with you. I think the problem is that the idea that links are important has somehow become embedded in the minds of a lot of people who don't know much else about SEO. They really don't know how to quantify the value of links, so they just gather as many as possible. Odds are you'll probably get a few good ones in the bunch, but you're still going to have a lot that are useless.

vangogh
08-17-2008, 10:04 PM
I think it's also one of the reasons people have a hard time with seo and think it doesn't work. The basic ideas and concepts of seo are pretty easy to grasp. Understanding that links are important doesn't take a lot to see. The problem comes if you don't want to look deeper. Sure links are important, but not all links are equal.

In general the links that are easiest to get are the ones that count the least. That's very generalized of course. Some would rather not hear that since the implication is you have to work harder to get the links that will help you more.

cbscreative
08-18-2008, 10:21 AM
Interesting discussion, and I would go with the common sense you are outlining. The main thing that comes to mind for me on this is that quality links might be easier than some people seem to believe, but they do take time. I'm glad that I didn't pursue the link trading strategy. I get regular requests from people asking me to link, and I basically ignore them because I prefer to find relevant places to link to when it enhances the content of my site.

I've also found that others do the same. I don't have to ask for links. I've build a lot of content and found that other sites will link to that content because they like it.

Here's a strategy I've found to be very effective. A lot of the content on my site does nothing to put money in my pocket directly. For example, I have a lot of info on preventing computer disasters. Although I can provide this service, I really don't actively market it. The information is there for two reasons: To help small business owners realize the importance of protecting data, and so others will link to it without me asking them to. Since I know of univerities linking to this information, that has given it authority.

The benefit is even though I don't really care about actively marketing this as a service, getting good ranking in this area spills over into better ranking for things where I do make money like graphics, web, and copywriting.

People use the web for information. Providing useful information is an effective strategy to indirectly making money from a web site. It's not the fast track, but after doing it for a few years now, I know it works. It has also allowed me to stay consistent and keep growing through every change in search engine algorithms.

vangogh
08-18-2008, 10:34 AM
You hit on one of the best strategies for building quality links. Starting with quality content. You need to give people a reason to link to you in the first place. Informational content is so much easier to link to than sales copy. It's one reason I think blogs are a great way to market yourself. You certainly need to work at your blog, but a blog does provide the informational content necessary to drive links to your site.

yankeerudy
08-18-2008, 11:47 AM
I sometimes use an offline analogy to explain. Consider the idea of a link being a recommendation.

Now imagine you're having a problem with the pipes in your kitchen. Who would you sooner ask for advice. Your neighbor who happens to be a plumber or a random person walking down the street? If you asked 10 random people walking by and they all advised one solution, while your neighbor the plumber recommended a different solution, who's advice are you going to follow?

The quality of the recommendation is very important. So is the quality of the link.

This is funny, Steve, I use the business referral analogy in my "link building" presentations. For most people, this analogy helps the concept click -- a referral to your investment banking site from Warren Buffett carries alot more authority than a referral from Joe Bob's dry cleaners.

vangogh
08-18-2008, 12:16 PM
Unless of course Joe Bob is a millionaire investor on the side. You never know anymore.

Sometimes analogies are the best way to get across linking concepts. Here's my new favorite link analogy (http://www.seopscentre.com/seo/how-to-explain-link-theory-to-a-layman/). It uses light to explain how links work. I think it's a flexible analogy that can be used to describe most everything about links.

cbscreative
08-18-2008, 12:47 PM
Personally I love analogies. They help greatly in explaining concepts in ways everyone can understand. Even Jesus used them, they're just referred to as parables.

A few years ago, I spent a fair amount of time trying to come up with an analogy for describing the difference between a network OS and a client OS (http://www.cbscreative.com/nos.htm). A good analogy eluded me for quite a while, but I thought this seemed to work well enough.

vangogh
08-18-2008, 01:51 PM
I love analogies too. Analogy and metaphor are a great way to explain something complex to someone without the same experience and insider knowledge as you.