This is one area I have no experience. My suspicion is that the reality is that these links either make no difference, or can possibly hurt slightly in some cases where abuse is suspected.

Thoughts?

Long ago I belonged to a web ring, didn't remember seeing any backlinks to it, but it is something I don't have much experience with. I think I would choose other methods to increase link popularity.

I think I would choose other methods to increase link popularity.

I absolutely agree with that. I think I'm more interested in whether it would hurt or not, like linking to a link farm.

I'm not really sure about that, and I'd rather not venture a guess on it, if it does cause problems.

Anyone else have some info to share on WebRing link pop?

One thing I WILL mention is that a webring can be a very good place to find reciprocal link partners.

They have already shown they are interested in linking and they are on topic.

I've never used a webring as such, but IMO they can be great link building tools. ;)

Ian

...a webring can be a very good place to find reciprocal link partners.

Great idea! A friend has asked me about whether he should or shouldn't add his personal site about dogs to one, and I honestly didn't know what to tell him.

Hi, dstew. I hope this help.

Webrings were very popular several years ago. There are two type of webrings:

1. Intrasites. An intrasite webring is designed to increase/facilitate navigation and improve traffic within pages of a site or portal.

1. Intersites. An intersite webring is designed to increase/facilitate navigation and improve traffic between sites.

The democratic idea behind a webring is that sites (or pages) part of the pre-patterned link structure (circular, in this case) have the same probability of being visited by a user at a given site part of the ring. This probability is 50-50, assuming one reciprocal link scheme per member (no crossed links or jumps between members).

I can think of two things that can help or hurt members of such link structures.

One is the composition of the ring. If all members are topically business related, this is a plus. Small companies, linked to large companies or competitors gain visibility and recognition among peers, which is a plus.

Another thing to consider is the link mechanism itself. If the "Next" and "Previous" mechanisms are hard coded links (statics) and are keyword optimized, this is a plus. But if the webring mechanism is dynamically generated (eg., via a javascript), chances are the link may not be crawled or followed, so no great link building benefits are derived here from the crawling standpoint.

We have experienced with webrings with mixed results. Back in 2002, I taught a graduate course with lab in which I asked my students to build ecommerce applications. One was a webring.

I asked the class to create javascript-controlled webrings (dynamic). One can achieve a similar mechanism with static links. However this has many drawbacks, especially for huge webrings. Each time someone want to be in/out of the ring, it creates an administrative nightmare to the webmaster as he/she will have to hard code the pages, one by one. Because of this, a single dynamic webring mechanism sitting at the server level is recommended.

Each time someone want to get in or out of the ring, the webmaster only need to remove a single link array entry from the script. This is the preferred webring mechanism, but with the above "no follow" drawback.

Last but not least, stay away from client-side scripted webrings, unless they are heavily encrypted. We know of spammer looking for link structures to eventually spam members of the ring. Also a client-side database of links that is part of a webring can be used by your competitors or who know for what reason or business intelligence (BI) purpose. Take this kind advice from someone in the BI business.


Orion

I asked the class to create javascript-controlled webrings (dynamic). One can achieve a similar mechanism with static links. However this has many drawbacks, especially for huge webrings. Each time someone want to be in/out of the ring, it creates an administrative nightmare to the webmaster as he/she will have to hard code the pages, one by one. Because of this, a single dynamic webring mechanism sitting at the server level is recommended.

Each time someone want to get in or out of the ring, the webmaster only need to remove a single link array entry from the script. This is the preferred webring mechanism, but with the above "no follow" drawback.

Digital Point recently created an ad server link exchange network which allows randomized static text links in his community which mixes the links based on site size and distribution.

http://www.digitalpoint.com/tools/ad-network/

Hi, Aaron.

Yes, static randomized links can serve as a good link building solution, provided the links are topically connected. Still, randomized links no longer provide the benefits of webrings; ie., that all members have 50-50 chances of being visited by someone at a member's site. Since are randomized, I'm not sure what link weight the hosted site gains when a crawler crawls the link, if the link is crawled at all.

One possible solution is the use of the W3C standard for link tags. But again, the link tags in the head of pages work well for intrasite webrings (pages from the same site or portal). A description of "previous" and "next" link tags is described here

http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/struct/links.html#edef-LINK

Orion

Hi, Aaron.

Yes, static randomized links can serve as a good link building solution, provided the links are topically connected. Still, randomized links no longer provide the benefits of webrings; ie., that all members have 50-50 chances of being visited by someone at a member's site. Since are randomized, I'm not sure what weight the hosted site gains when a crawler crawls the link, if the link is crawled at all.

One possible solution is the use of the W3C standard for link tags. But again, the link tags in the head of pages work well for intrasite webrings (pages from the same site or portal). A description of "previous" and "next" link tags is described here

http://www.w3.org/TR/REC-html40/struct/links.html#edef-LINK

Orion

I think weighting the ads by how many ads are displayed does a great job of opening the ring up to more sites and pages. Most rings just had the home page or link page in them, but now the ring gets added distribution by being provided links on every page.

The links are included via an include file and they are set up in a way that search engines can and do index them.

Ah, I see. You are talking about randomized ads. My fault. I misunderstood, Aaron.

Yes, randomized ads in a network of links is a great asset. That component could be added to a webring structure as a marketing resource. No doubt about it.

Orion

Great info all. I certainly appreciate it.

I'm guessing that since nobody has posted otherwise, I can tell my friend that it is safe to do the webring if it as JS, or other server side links. I was initially concerned that it might have the same effect as linking to a link farm, but I suppose that it is not a concern of anyone here.

Thanks!

Great info all. I certainly appreciate it.

I'm guessing that since nobody has posted otherwise, I can tell my friend that it is safe to do the webring if it as JS, or other server side links. I was initially concerned that it might have the same effect as linking to a link farm, but I suppose that it is not a concern of anyone here.

Thanks!

the SSI thing can be a link farm, so there is a bunch of trust that goes into signing up to it.

since JS will likely not be followed there is not as much commitment (risk) or gain (in link popularity) with JS webrings.

you still do not want to join webrings that link into shady stuff because by linking to it you are still telling your site visitors that you (at least to some extent) approve of the other sites in the link ring.

the SSI thing can be a link farm, so there is a bunch of trust that goes into signing up to it.

since JS will likely not be followed there is not as much commitment (risk) or gain (in link popularity) with JS webrings.

you still do not want to join webrings that link into shady stuff because by linking to it you are still telling your site visitors that you (at least to some extent) approve of the other sites in the link ring.

Also very good info. Historically, I have been VERY conservative about who I link too. Some would say too conservative possibly. Anyway, I have zero knowledge of link farms, webrings or other schemes.

By the way, do you think my hat is too white? ;)

By the way, do you think my hat is too white? ;)

if you are doing things right it does not hurt to be cautious. many of us drift back in forth in our beliefs over time.

I think some of the best SEOs have flopped back and forth multiple times. you should feel comfortable with everything that you do though.