Hi there, I am new to web design and have a question regarding web crawlers.

I have designed and maintain about 18 different websites. Would it be a good idea to interlink all those sites by placing hidden hyperlinks at the bottom of each of the pages?

I have read that the webcrawlers index sites by going to the hyperlinks that are located on the pages. I am figuring that if I place links on each site, even if visitors can't see them, the web crawlers will and index the associated sites more efficiently.

Is there any merit to this theory?

Hi there, I am new to web design and have a question regarding web crawlers.

Welcome to the forums, its a privilage to have you here! :)

I have designed and maintain about 18 different websites. Would it be a good idea to interlink all those sites by placing hidden hyperlinks at the bottom of each of the pages?

Do not, I repeat, do not interlink each site with hidden links. DO NOT! The last thing you want is to be banned from the engines and your strategy can lead to that.

I have read that the webcrawlers index sites by going to the hyperlinks that are located on the pages. I am figuring that if I place links on each site, even if visitors can't see them, the web crawlers will and index the associated sites more efficiently.

Don't do it, web crawlers are smart, they know about these tricks.

I recommend staying away from this stuff for now.

Your best bet is to find other related web sites to link to your sites. You CAN do some *visible* cross linking between the sites, however its not recommended unless you know the potential penalties if not handled correctly.

Thanks for the replies. I am just looking for ways to get the search engines to list the sites I design as high as possible and as quick as possible. SearchEngineWatch.com has provided some good tips and design techniques. I also have some promotion software that submits the urls to various search engines. Guess that's the best I can do short of fee-based advertising.

Originally Posted by Clynn:
I also have some promotion software that submits the urls to various search engines. Guess that's the best I can do short of fee-based advertising
I would not do that either. Let the crawlers find you,there is no reason to submit especially automated submissions.

Get a few "real" links to each site- spidering & ranking will follow.

Use the software or crosslink them all- get spidered, but good luck on the ranking.

Many times my clients let me link to them from my site during the initial stages of optimization and linking. I've spent some time making sure my own site is spidered frequently and putting a client in my portfolio can get them spidered quickly in turn.

It's OK to link all your sites to a hub (like a directory or a portfolio). It's kinda, sorta OK to link them visibly to each other (though I really don't recommend it unless they are related content-wise), it's NOT ok to link them to each other invisibly.

Some designers even link their sites to each other invisibly without the client really understanding the risks involved (and there are many). This is possibly the worst thing anyone could do (you could get sued - TP did). I'm not saying you are thinking of doing this, but it bears mention while I'm talking about the rest.

And as steve said, it's generally considered bad form to use automatic submission software. For one thing, some gets you spammed, the rest are pretty useless (spiders prefer to find sites on their own).

My suggestion is this: go to this thread: http://forums.searchenginewatch.com/showthread.php?threadid=2783

And submit your clients manually to all the free ones listed. This will accomplish what you want without the dangers. There is much more to SEO than free directory submissions, but this is a WAY better start than invisible links and automatic submission software.

Welcome to the SEW Forums!

Ian

Welcome clynn!

>Good practice or not?

Not is the correct answer.

> I am just looking for ways to get the search engines to list the sites I design as high as possible and as quick as possible.

So is everybody else :) I find the "trick" to that is how you approuch the challenge.

Fundamentally web sites are for people not robots, if you focus on that I believe that you will have more sucess in the medium term.

Adding hidden links to your site doesn't decieve the search engines, they will see the links and short term it will help them discover all your sites. Functionally I see no difference between that and "I've spent some time making sure my own site is spidered frequently and putting a client in my portfolio can get them spidered quickly in turn". Both tactics are designed to fool the search engines into thinking the sites are of greater value than they actually are and at best its a short term game.

>new to web design....18 different websites

You are one busy webmaster!

If they are client sites the simple solution is too add/include a directory submission package to your quotes, in today's www you need to spend a little money on getting listed in human edited directories.

If they are all your sites the same goes although a little relevant interlinking may help keep costs down.

St0n3y pretty much nails it, if that helps.

Definately as above. As NFFC was stating, interlinking some may keep your costs down. How to do this?

Link site A > site B which links to > site C which links back to site A.

Think triangle or even square. One site on each point, keep them one way, not interlinking. Mix them up, 3, 4, 5 sites, etc, so the SE's don't see some distinctive pattern, especially if they are all linked from / to a hub as McAnerin stated above.

Welcome to SEW Forums Clynn!

I changed the thread title from "Good practice or not?" to "Good link building practice or not?" by making it more specifit to what we're talking about.

Good thread!

Another consideration is to ask yourself what you are actually trying to achieve. If you're looking to link for the sake of linking, then you're not exactly be achieving the sort of benefits your might think you are actually getting. Also, there's the possible issue of IP linkage - if your client sites are all on the same server, then the actual linking benefits for Google at least may be very limited indeed.

Ultimately, ask what you want from your linkage. "Great rankings!" is the wrong answer - you need to be able to whittle it down into a specific SE strategy, whether it's simply IP distribution or focussed attacks on specific keywords. And especially try to ensure that your actions appear justifiable in the public domain, should your linkage be looked into.

2c. :)