Getting back links - homepage has PR, links page doesnt

[metaphase]

I am beginning to build links back to my site from others sites, and understand that releveancy as well as PR of the site that links to you is important.

However, as it often happens, a sites homepage can have a good PR, but their links page where your own link would appear would have alot less, maybe even 0.

If a site has a good homepage PR is it still worth getting a link from their links page, even though that specific page might have no PR at all?

[sarumu1]

Here are some of the generally agreed upon factors that affect the value of a link - in no particular order:

1. the link contains anchor text that is related to the content of the page that it is pointing to - versus perhaps "click here."

2. the topic of the page (page title) that contains the link is related to the content of the page that the link is pointing to - versus perhaps a page titled "other sites of interest."

3. the link is "embedded" within the natural content of the page - versus perhaps being located in a margin that contains several other links.

Several people suggest that PR is over-rated (Google included, I believe :) ). I wouldn't worry about the PR of the page where the link will be placed.

I will suggest that the value of the link may be discounted by some unspecified factor if it is included on a page that can clearly be described as a "links page." A "links page" tends to have very little valuable content and therefore, very little relevancy - a "links page" contains several other links that point to pages that may not be inter-related - fairly easy for a search engine to identify.

Perhaps, it should be stated that a link is better than no link - so just get what you can and work towards getting links that contain anchor text embedded within content on relevant pages.

Note: I am not an SEO dude and I'm not intelligent, but on at least two occasions I have been accused of having average intelligence. This post has been derived from an accumulated knowledge acquired by interacting with several smart people - some of whom post on this board.

[JohnW]

IMO dont worry about the PR and in addition to looking for positive attributes like those listed above, it’s very important to consider some things to avoid. At a minimum at least check the SE to make sure the page is in the index and make sure the page is part of the normal navigation structure of the site. And *very* important for a few reasons - make sure your link will be a “real” link.

There are lots of other things than can add or subtract to the value of the link. If you poke around in these forums you will be able to find lots more stuff about this.

[Chris Boggs]

Hi I saw this thread and thought that it may be of value to see the article mentioned in this thread (http://forums.searchenginewatch.com/showthread.php?t=5333).

[Jeff Martin]

A "links page" tends to have very little valuable content and therefore, very little relevancy - a "links page" contains several other links that point to pages that may not be inter-related - fairly easy for a search engine to identify.
That doesnt mean that you cant have a directory section of relevant cross industry sites. You sell office chairs and you may have links to paper retailers, small business health insurance companies, CPAs, lawyers (NOT Meso lawyers but corporate/contract lawyers).

All those links may be relevant to your users and, in the end, THATS what matters. Let the SEs play catch-up.