A link is a link. Is a link any link?

[Nacho]

The intent of this thread is to start a discussion on when will links really have different amounts of value on the web, if this is one of the things Page and Brin wanted to find when they created the basis of it's technology.

In John Battelle's book "The Search" he talks about (page 74, paragraph 1):

"... the structure of the Web's graph would reveal not just who was linking to whom, but more critically, the importance of who linked to whom, based on the various attributes of the site that was doing the linking.

From this makes me believe that some day in the not too distant future we shall see that links will have different values based on many elements, such as:

• Was it as a positive vote (or reference) or a negative one
• Is it commercial or informational
• Does this link represent a new discovery on the world wide web or is it a mirror duplicate of the real McCoy
• Has this link remained on the web for the last 7 years or did it came to be 7 days ago.
• and the list could go on....

I'm positive that search engines have started to play around with the idea of assigning values to links, but how much is that a reality? What have you noticed has great impact in today's world and what do think will have definate impact in the future of links?

[Sharon and Roy]

::: What We're Currently Witnessing About Link Reputation :::

Originally Posted by Nacho

I'm positive that search engines have started to play around with the idea of assigning values to links, but how much is that a reality? What have you noticed has great impact in today's world and what do think will have definate impact in the future of links?

Hi Nacho,

We know that currently Google is only giving link reputation for up to 8 words in a link for its anchor text or its alt text per page.

For example, in the following link ...

<A HREF=http://www.domain.com/>Frugal Living Tips from Frugal Town - Where Frugal Living is Fun!</A>

... Only the first 8 words are passing link reputation points to the homepage. The words ...

living is fun

... Will not pass any link reputation points to the homepage.



Here's another example. Let's say that you find the following 3 links ...

<A HREF=http://www.domain.com/>Simple Frugal Living for Moms</A>

<A HREF=http://www.domain.com/>Shopping Tips and Ideas for Frugal Families</A>

<A HREF=http://www.domain.com/>Gourmet Cooking, Meals and Recipes for Frugal Singles</A>

... On the SAME page and listed in the order shown. This simply means that ONLY the first 8 words are passing link reputation points to the homepage. Thus, the following words ...

simple frugal living for moms shopping tips and

... Are passing link reputation points to the homepage but the other words that follow ...

ideas for frugal families gourmet cooking meals and recipes for frugal singles

... Are not. To further help you to understand this concept, let's say that you find the following 3 links ...

<A HREF=http://www.domain.com/>Gourmet Cooking, Meals and Recipes for Frugal Singles</A>

<A HREF=http://www.domain.com/>Simple Frugal Living for Moms</A>

<A HREF=http://www.domain.com/>Shopping Tips and Ideas for Frugal Families</A>

... On the SAME page and listed in the order shown. This simply means that ONLY the first 8 words are passing link reputation points to the homepage. That means only the first link is passing link reputation points and the other two links are not.

Special characters such as question marks < ? >, commas < , >, periods < . >, exclamation marks < ! >, ampersands < & >, colons < : > and the like are not treated as words and therefore, do not count as a word when used as anchor text or in HTML elements such as the title <TITLE></TITLE> or the heading <H1></H1> of a page. The search engines treat these characters just as if they weren't present. They are nonissues and do not help or hinder your rankings. The only exception would be the apostrophe (i.e., he's, she's, let's and it's) because they are treated as 2 words.

We've seen evidence in some cases where only the first 6 or 7 words are passing link reputation points and in other situations we've seen it as low as just a couple of words. There is also evidence where certain links on a page are not passing link reputation points while other links on the SAME page are. And of course, we've seen evidence where no links on a page are passing link reputation points even though the page "appears" to be because it is indexed and it is found in the SERP when you query the various anchor text used.

Your Friends,

Sharon and Roy Montero

[glengara]

*.. what do think will have definate impact in the future of links?*

Wish I knew, I'd been expecting some kind of Topic Sensitive Pagerank to feature prominently by now :-(

Between TSPR, TrustRank, Semantics etc. G seems to have acquired the tools/methods of scrutinising links much more closely, and though "trust" and "intent" seem to be featuring more in comments, I've learned not to hold my breath ;-)

[Nacho]

Originally Posted by Sharon and Roy

We know that currently Google is only giving link reputation for up to 8 words in a link for its anchor text or its alt text per page.

Hello Sharon and Roy,

It's always great to see you participate in our forums. Thank you!

You mention *up to* these 8 words are "per page". Have you seen a limit in value transfered by domain?

Saludos!