Links get better with age There seems to be mounting evidence that as a text link ad pointed at your website ages, its positive effect on your website increases. A good friend recently noted that links with anchor text he focused on over 4 months ago seem to be helping him out greatly, while the most recent anchor text that he focuses on seems to have little effect. Then, after 3 to 4 months, almost magically, the power of the text link ad anchor text begins to kick-in and search engine position increases for the targeted anchor text key phrase. This illustrates the need to find and keep long term linking partners. Observational evidence indicates that a PR5 that has been pointing to your website for over six months is much more beneficial then a new PR7 text link ad. If you have “aged” links pointing at your site you should do everything in your power to keep them in place. Many webmasters focus way too much on PR flux instead of other metrics that may have more effect on the power of an individual link. Metrics such as link age, relevancy, Alexa rating, and click-throughs are all pieces of the puzzle that should be given consideration. A website’s PR can and will ebb and flow over time because PR is a metric effected by the natural process of the web’s evolving linking structure. While no one can control the web’s linking structure, you can control your own linking structure within the matrix of the entire web, therefore, you need to utilize this control wisely as it is critical to your website’s success. The key point is if you have a text link that moves from a PR7 to a PR6 you should not panic and start swapping out those ‘aged’ text links. Chances are any PR6, if it has been pointed at your site for over 3 months, will benefit your website’s page popularity more than the shiny new PR7 text link ad you replace it with. Look at the big picture when evaluating a text link advertisement. If you are one of the PR obsessed, investigate why the PR dropped. Was it natural ebb and flow, or was it some type of search engine penalty? Keep in mind that overall PR levels have dropped during last year. All sites are being graded on a much tougher curve. Today’s PR6 is yesterday’s PR7 as the grading scale has been shifted upward as the students of the web (SEOs) have gotten smarter. So keep those older text link ads that may have dropped a point or two. They probably are helping your site more then ever, no matter what the little green bar says…
Buying Text Links Should Be a Long Term Strategy
Don’t waste your money on a one month experiment. Think long term; because relevant text links pointing at your website for over a year are like gold. Constantly churning your links based on PR flux is a rookie mistake that will cost you time, money, and search engine position. To be successful, you need to gradually build the number of relevant text link ads pointing to your site each month. Free links, natural links, paid links, reciprocal links, and directory links should all be part of your long term link strategy. Set a text link advertising budget and strategy and stick to it – because in today’s world of SEO, there is no overnight fix, your way to the top of the search engines can be a long road, but if done properly it will be a rewarding road.
