mg1000
10-12-2006, 05:42 AM
I have a niche site about clothing and when I search for places to add a link or exchange links I get a strange assortment of sites and most of them have nothing to do with my type of clothing that I'm selling.
I get joke sites, shrimp farming, authors directories, etc. Subjects that have nothing to do with my topic.
Should I still trade links with them for Google, or skip them?
mcanerin
10-12-2006, 10:18 AM
Your first assumption should be to avoid them. Bad neighbourhoods can harm your rankings, and sites that are accepting off-topic links often find themselves in bad neighbourhoods.
Keep in mind, though, that there will be some sites that are not clothing related but may be relevant.
For example, other wearables like jewelry and sports gear may be a good match. If you sell clothing aimed at teens or a subculture like goths, then possibly sites that offer tattoos or body jewelry. If you sell suits, then perhaps a business supplies or printing shop may be appropriate.
You should stay focused and relevant to your visitors, but there is no rule that you have to only link to your direct competitors.
Here is a rule of thumb: every single page in your website should have a discernible topic. "Links" is not a topic. "Links for PR" is trouble. "Links about Fashion" is perfectly acceptable.
If I can't figure out the topic of your links page at a glance, you are on the wrong track. If you have multiple relevant links on different topics, then divide them into pages on those topics.
Still not sure? Look at the anchor text of the links. Are those words ones that could appear naturally in an article you write for your site? If you sold suits and wrote an article on acceptable workplace attire, you would talk about all sorts of things, from cologne to watches to shoes. Therefore, links with words associated with any of those topics should be OK.
Ian