Site links versus landing page links?

[Limozine]

I'm trying to get links for a relatively new site, and want to know whether I should send incoming links to the home page or the landing page. I sell a variety of products (all related to the golf industry), and have optimized several landing pages for some of my major products. If the links point to my home page, will that still build the PR for the inner pages as well?

If I point the links to the landing pages, then I'm afraid other landing pages not directly linked would miss the benefits of the links.

[Robert_Charlton]

If I point the links to the landing pages, then I'm afraid other landing pages not directly linked would miss the benefits of the links.

For a landing page to rank well organically, it needs to be well integrated into your site. If it's just linking into the site with no links back to it, it won't get good PageRank distribution from the rest of your site, and will be seen as an "orphan" page. Pages that the engines see as important because site navigation empasizes them are likely to do best for you.

If you set up your landing pages this way, and think of them as part of the site, then links to them will benefit the rest of the site, and links to the rest of the site will benefit them.

Inbound links to your optimized pages, both from within your site (via site navigation), and external inbounds from other domains, will help these pages. So if your "landing" pages are set up properly, there's no reason not to get external inbound links to them. If they're just isolated pages pointing into your site, though, chances are you're not going to do well anyway.

[Limozine]

Thanks for your reply and the information. But I'm confused about one statement:

"So if your "landing" pages are set up properly, there's no reason not to get external inbound links to them."

You seemed to be saying elsewhere in your comments that as long as the landing pages are prominently linked from other pages within the site, that external links directly to the landing pages aren't necessary. But what do you mean by the statement above? Should I have external links pointed to the home page or the landing pages? I just don't want to waste quality external links on individual landing pages if they can benefit the site as a whole.

[Robert_Charlton]

Should I have external links pointed to the home page or the landing pages? I just don't want to waste quality external links on individual landing pages if they can benefit the site as a whole.

If the pages are integrated into the site, inbound links will always benefit the site as a whole, but they provide the most benefit to the page that's linked to. In the eyes of most search engines, external links, independent of your own linking network, carry more weight than internal nav links or those from sites you own.

Think of links as references. Would you trust a reference more from someone's family member or relative, or would you trust a reference from a trusted third party?

So... depending on where you need the boost, you're sometimes better off getting an external (trusted third party) link to a 'landing page' rather than a link to your default home page. The quality of the linking site, the anchor text of the inbound link, the topic of your landing page, the competiveness of the phrase(s) your particular page is targeting, and PageRank distribution within your site, will all affect how each link works.

In general, the better the content of your landing pages, the more likely you are to get links with relevent anchor text to them, and the more likely they are to rank.

The way it usually works out, your home page will get more external inbound links than your landing pages will. It's most strategic, then, to set up your site so that you're targeting your most general phrases, which are also the most competitive and need the most external link boost, higher up in your navigation hierarchy... and then target your more specific, less competitive phrases on your pages that are deeper down.

It's something you should think through before you build your site.

[Robert_Charlton]

A PS to the above... A page with an extremely popular article might end up getting more inbound links than your home page will. If that happens, you need to set up navigation from that page to help boost the other pages that need the boost... but definitely keep the article integrated into the site.