You may not be aware that linking affects your blog’s rank in Google and other search engines (and you might not care) but it does. (And you should.) In a great Health Blog Helper post Are Your Links Causing Leaks?, Matt writes:
It’s useful to think of your blog as a bucket, and your search engine visibility as a valuable liquid that it contains. When you link to another blog or website, a little bit flows out of a hole in your bucket into theirs. When someone links to you, a little bit comes back. The bigger their bucket (i.e., the more popular the site that links to you), the more liquid they have to send your way.
While his post is all about using a nofollow tag to plug such leaks (which is a good idea, and you should def read his post), I’d just like to talk about another way to plug the leaks: stop linking so goddamn much.
One thing that drives me crazy when I’m reading blogs is too many links. Sure, it’s great to link to yourself a lot. You want to keep people on your blog for as long as you can. And you might have new readers hitting your blog on any given day, so it’s just better to link to an older post instead of getting a million questions.
But let’s talk about how to not abuse links.
- Don’t link to a site more than once in a post. For example, if I am talking about my blog, I can link to it. But later when I mention my blog again, I don’t need to. (See what I just did there?) When I see a hyperlink every time a blogger references the same thing in a single post, I want to gouge my eyes out. Not only are you hurting your SEO, it’s just distracting.
- Don’t link every time you talk about your blogging BFFs. Most of my readers know who Leah is at this point. Unless I’m linking to one of her specific posts, I don’t really need to link to her. I link occasionally to her main page, but if we’re hanging out for an entire weekend, I’ll link in the first post in that “series” and then not again. Your readers get it. They know. And if it’s that important to them, they’ll figure it out without you peppering your post with blue font.
- Don’t link to a site that everyone can get to without your help. Facebook, Amazon, Google, Twitter…anyone need a URL on these? Seriously.
- Don’t link to two pages on a site twice if it’s not necessary. For example, don’t link to CNN.com and then link to the specific article you’re referencing. Just link to the article! We all know how to find the homepage once we’re on a site.
- Use strong anchor text when you link. Instead of writing, “If you want to know more about making a volcano cake, go here,” I can write, “For more info, you can read my post How to Make a Volcano Cake Erupt.”
- Don’t be a link whore. Personally, I know I can tell when a blogger crafted a sentence specifically so she could link to an older post (or several). Sometimes it makes sense. Other times it’s like, OK, that was a real stretch, lady.
Links are what makes the world wide web a truly awesome network, but don’t get so excited about this crazy Internet thing and get all, “Hey I’m Rachel and in my blog I write about food, exercise, and sex.” It’s distracting, unnecessary, self-serving, and can actually hurt your blog in the long run.
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{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
Thank you thank you thank you for this! There is one blog in particular (I won’t name names…) where seriously, sentences are thrown in, completely out of context mind you, just to link back to their old posts. It drives me absolutely bananas! Why I still read I’ll never know. Oh wait yes I do, it’s because my job is a joke and I have way too much free internet time
Therese´s last blog ..Wont you be my Lovah
I also hate when the link does not open a new window. Some people like when it just redirects, but I hate having to click “back” 8000 times. Then I click it too much, and I end up on a different page, then I’m frustrated, and I say Eff this post, I’m done. Or I start reading the new page and forget to click back to the actual blog post.
I’m sure other people hate having a lot of new tabs opening.
I snickered all the way through this post. It really drives me crazy when there are links littered through posts. I think it could also be noted to check your links before hitting post. I’ve made that mistake a few times.
Kendra´s last blog ..Looking Glass Confessional- Sometimes We Crack
Seriously? This is one of the most helpful “blogger helper” posts I’ve read in a while. As someone who really has no technical knowledge of things like how search engines and SEO works, this was incredibly useful.
I also get annoyed when blogs litter links throughout their posts. I don’t think I’m a huge offender, but I’ll definitely put more thought in to those urls that I copy and paste! So…thanks!
This is a really helpful post. I fluctuate between over-linking and under-linking, so I’m trying to find a balance. I think sometimes I end up overlinking because I want to make sure if I’m taking something from somewhere, that people are getting the credit they want/deserve.
zenLizzie´s last blog ..Why I love reading recipe reviews but hate writing recipes