Internet Marketing - Matt Bailey [186]
The search engines block navigation links separately from the content of the website, because the navigation is the tool for both the searcher and the search engine to access the site’s content. The navigation is the primary internal structure and is more closely related to on-page factors than to off-page link factors.
Footers are also part of the block analysis, because the bottom of most websites now use the footer as a means of providing links to important parts of the website and important information. In a sense, they have become mini site maps. Because of this, the footer is considered to be a navigational link structure on the page, because it is usually repeated across every page of the website.
Content Links
Links in the content can be broken down into two categories: in-site links and off-site links.
In-Site Links
In-site links are also called internal links. These are links to other pages within your own website, but they are contained in the content of your site, apart from the navigation. In-site links within the content tend to be clicked more often and are more useful than the navigation links. The main reason is context. If the visitor is on a page of content and needs more in-depth information that is in another place on the site, the link placement on that page provides the immediate access to that information, without having to renavigate the site for that page.
In-site links are given a more “relevance” weight than navigation links, because they are contextual by nature. They are added to assist the visitor and add to the information flow. Typically this is an editorial decision to add to the content of the site by placing helpful links within the page.
Off-Site Links
Off-site links (those to sites other than your own) integrated into the site content contain the most value for establishing relevance. Based on the concept that links are word-of-mouth referrals, links made within the content are considered “editorial” type of content—content that is on the page and developed to provide information to the visitor. If you are linking to another website within your content, then there must be a very good reason for that link.
Whether it is a citation, a reference, a resource, or just simply necessary for providing information, a site owner making it a point to link contextually to another website shows that there is value in the site being linked, and it is a resource that the visitor needs or can benefit from seeing.
Gaining a link (especially with relevant anchor text) from the editorial content of another website is the most valuable type of link, and that link carries along with it the credibility and authority of the referring site, which assists in building both better rankings and increased visibility.
Advertising Links
Another way of gaining links is to purchase them on other websites. However, this practice has undergone a lot of scrutiny over the years. In theory, links that are purchased as advertising should not provide a ranking benefit since they were purchased as advertising, not developed based on editorial-type decisions. The reasoning is that sites could affect the ranking factors by buying their way to better link development.
Based on this, Google has developed strict guidelines on buying links. If links are purchased, they should be through an advertising server. Simply buying links on another website for the purpose of gaining a link for rankings is highly discouraged. This creates a gray area for link development. The goal of any SEO professional is to gain links to their website from other relevant and authoritative websites. Ideally, a website has a link to your site because they like you and want to recommend your business to others. However, there are opportunities to purchase a text link on a site or a network of sites that are relevant to the readers of those websites. In the