Some Links Are Bad Links

Links are touted as the way to higher search rankings. But not all links are good links.

Broken Links: Whenever I look at a web site, one of the first things I do is to check for broken links--and I always find them. Broken links on your web site drive away visitors. They need to be found and fixed. My current favorite utility for identifying broken links is Xenu Link Sleuth.

What about broken links that used to go to your web site from other web sites? These are links that other webmasters felt were valuable to have, but which are doing nothing to help you. How do you find links on other web sites? Use search commands such as "link:www.yoursite.com" and "allinanchor:yourbusinessname". When you find a broken link contact the webmaster for the site with the broken link. Let them know about the broken link, and provide the correct link and link text.

Even when a link to your web site is not broken, it still may not be of value. The link text is critial. Search engines use link text to determine relevancy of the page the link points to. Link text such as "Click Here" is very common, and essentially useless. Also link text unrelated to the topic of the page is generally not helpful. Politely contact the webmaster of the site with the link text you'd like to see changed and ask them to change the link text to wording that will be more usedful to you and their visitors. You should, of course, provide some suggested text.