Picture of Link Neighborhoods
What’s the best order in the Chaos of Linking?
I’m often asked these questions:
How does Google order websites? How do Yahoo, and MSN order websites. Why don’t they give the same results? What does it take to be #1? Why did my rankings change?
I’m going to attempt to answer all these questions with a picture and a bit of explanation.
Here’s a picture of some linking neighborhoods. Print it out, then read below.
Think of all these clouds and houses as separate websites. The arrows represent links. Some links are one-way, and some are reciprocal.
Now, look at the picture and answer me quickly. What is the most popular sport?
Give up? Good, it’s a trick question.
Think of any search engine looking at this picture and trying to decide who should be #1.
They can "kind of" understand the neighborhood (here’s a bunch of sports sites linking around in a community), but even within this, who has the best equation to be #1?
Maybe Google likes the equation in my picture for "Hockey" and will place that at #1, and maybe MSN favors the linking equation of "Basketball", and maybe Yahoo favors "Tennis".
Maybe next month Google will change what equation it thinks is best and will favor "boxing" and sites with that type of linking structure. Yahoo and MSN will surely change what linking structures they prefer over time too. This is why rankings often change. It’s not always that you did something "right or wrong", it’s just that ranking equations change, and they always will. What is perfect today, may not be tomorrow.
Next thought: Look at that site on the top right which is called "SEO". This site follows popular SEO’d sites patterns (it’s got lots of links to it - but not from within the neighborhood). Each day, these types of sites are slipping in rankings.
Moral: Rankings change, and they always will. Stop chasing a moving target, and just settle down in your neighborhood and start making connections there. Buy, beg, borrow, or barter your way in, or get in with great content. He who is most connected in his neighborhood will have the most and the best rankings accross time and engines.
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September 27th, 2005 at 2:17 pm
[…] Jim Boykin offers excellent advice in his most recent post on link neighborhoods: Rankings change, and they always will. Stop chasing a moving target, and just settle down in your neighborhood and start making connections there. Buy, beg, borrow, or barter your way in, or get in with great content. He who is most connected in his neighborhood will have the most and the best rankings accross time and engines. […]
September 27th, 2005 at 5:59 pm
[…] Jim Boykin schreibt in einem Blog-Eintrag über Linknachbarschaft und liefert dazu ein Bild zur Illustration mit. […]
October 8th, 2005 at 12:11 pm
[…] This was also interesting: What’s the best order in the Chaos of Linking?. Via Threadwatch’s SEO’s Stick Out Like a Sore Thumb […]
October 12th, 2005 at 6:47 pm
[…] Who you trade links with is your closest neighborhood. Who are they getting their links from, and is it in a neighborhood that’s in any way related to your neighborhood? If not delete the email. (for more info on neighborhoods, see this post.) […]
October 18th, 2005 at 11:44 am
[…] I’d look at what Google might be trying to achieve in the top 10 results, and that will give you some clues as to what Google might be looking for, and just how little tweaks in their algorithm can cause such havoc in rankings. I’d also follow it by looking at link networks, the way Google might strive towards. […]
November 11th, 2005 at 8:44 pm
[…] Picture of Link Neighborhoods - Sept 26 […]
January 31st, 2006 at 7:27 pm
Pingback 1. About page Show your history. “…since 1945″ looks real nice to someone wondering if your legit or a dropshipper with a markup and no customer service. People are going to skim online. Don’t waste words and highlight the most important things. 2. Pictures of REAL people Even if your kinda fugly show your smiling mug. Using photoshop for zits is okay. 3. An 800 number Preferably with someone that actually answers it (at least during business hours). 4. Contact page with physical address
February 14th, 2006 at 6:37 pm
I believe its true “He who is most connected in his neighborhood will have the most and the best rankings accross time and engines”. Provided that they in turn have good “Page Rangings”