It never fails that I get 2 or 3 emails requesting link exchanges on a daily basis. Most of the requests are from people with low ranking sites that have some relevance to us. However, I typically turn all of them down unless it is a member of our online real estate network. The biggest reason that we do this is because we are not here to promote sites of non-members. We created this network to promote our members and that is what we try to do.

With that said, yesterday I received an email that was requesting a link on our site and even went as far as to state that they would pay for the link. I replied to the email and it did not take long for the person to respond to my email. I basically told them the ONLY way that we would accept a paid link is if the link could have a “nofollow” attribute added to it. The person said “NO” and ran away.

Now, why would I have told him that? Why not just take his money? Well, let’s turn to Google Webmaster Central for the answer to that:

Google and most other search engines use links to determine reputation. A site’s ranking in Google search results is partly based on analysis of those sites that link to it. Link-based analysis is an extremely useful way of measuring a site’s value, and has greatly improved the quality of web search. Both the quantity and, more importantly, the quality of links count towards this rating.

However, some SEOs and webmasters engage in the practice of buying and selling links that pass PageRank, disregarding the quality of the links, the sources, and the long-term impact it will have on their sites. Buying or selling links that pass PageRank is in violation of Google’s webmaster guidelines and can negatively impact a site’s ranking in search results.

Not all paid links violate our guidelines. Buying and selling links is a normal part of the economy of the web when done for advertising purposes, and not for manipulation of search results. Links purchased for advertising should be designated as such. This can be done in several ways, such as:

• Adding a rel=”nofollow” attribute to the <a> tag
• Redirecting the links to an intermediate page that is blocked from search engines with a robots.txt file

Google works hard to ensure that it fully discounts links intended to manipulate search engine results, such excessive link exchanges and purchased links that pass PageRank. If you see a site that is buying or selling links that pass PageRank, let us know. We’ll use your information to improve our algorithmic detection of such links.

In closing, I am hoping this will help to shed some light on how Google actually looks at paid links. Many of the other search engines are starting to follow this same path. Matt Cutts of Google once stated “The best links are not paid, or exchanged after out-of-the-blue emails–the best links are earned and given by choice.” I have to 100% agree with him. Earning links or getting them because someone likes your site is so much better than obtaining them by having them built by paying for them, selling them, or even link farming.

Positive Real Estate Professionals (PREP) can help you achieve the recognition you and your business deserve through our highly versatile and search engine optimized member websites, lead capture, and visitor friendly layout. If you are a professional who works in the real estate industry or one of the related fields that service the needs of the real estate industry then this real estate network can be just what you need to take your business to the next level. If you have questions or would like to join CLICK HERE.

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Paid Links: A Love Hate Relationship is a post from: Positive Real Estate Professionals All rights reserved. ©

©2010 Positive Real Estate Professionals. All Rights Reserved.

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From Deep Linking to Do Follow v. No Follow links in your comment section, the use of links is an important aspect of SEO. WordPress makes it easy to add links to your business partners, resource sites, or any other website that your site’s visitors might find of interest. In this tutorial you will learn how to add links to your sidebar’s blogroll. The image at the bottom of this tutorial is ‘clickable’ (and will open a larger version in a new window).

To begin with you MUST be logged into your Dashboard. Once logged on this is the path: Dashboard>Links>Edit or Add New (depending on which you are doing).

I am going to approach this tutorial as if you are adding new links. Editing links works the same way you just have to select ‘Edit’ under your list of links that you wish to edit.

1. After clicking on Add New a screen will open that looks like the screen in the image at the bottom of this post. This is where you add links.
2. The first field on this screen is the Name field. This is where you enter the name of the website you are linking to; this does not have to be the site’s actual name but the best name that you and your site visitors will recognize and remember. NOTE: This is not where the URL goes.
3. The second field on this screen is the Web Address. This is where you enter the actual URL of the website you are linking to.
4. The third field on this screen is the Description. This is a completely optional field. Anything you enter here will appear when someone hovers over the site’s name on your website.
5. The fourth field on this screen is the Categories. This is where you organize your links. Many people choose to place all of their links in the Blogroll category. If you want to organize your links in a more specific manner this is where you can add the various categories you want to use. NOTE: You can put a link in multiple categories if you want.
6. Though this isn’t the last field on this page, the fifth field Target is the last field that most people utilize. The target field allows you to determine how your link will open. I always recommend that you check the top option (_blank) as this option has your links, when clicked on, open in a new window rather than in the same window (_none).  The advantage to a link opening in a new window is that your site’s visitor who clicks on a link is NOT taken away from your site.
7. The final step is clicking the Add Link button to place and activate the link on your website.

Add A Link To Your WordPress Website is a post from: My WordPress Tutorial

©2010 My WordPress Tutorial. All Rights Reserved.

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Linking is an important SEO tool for any website. If you do a Google search for ‘linking’ and you will find numerous blog posts on the subject. This is such an important topic that you can find numerous posts written by the admins right here on Positive Real Estate Professionals:

My Site Is Wonderful, Link To Me – Marketing Your Business Online

Engaging Your Site’s Visitors

Using Comments to Build Links and Drive Traffic – Part 1

Using Comments to Build Links and Drive Traffic – Part 2

Relevant Links and What They Mean To You

Link Farming is just another form of Spam.

Today I want to look at Deep Links. What is a deep link? According to Wikipedia: Deep linking, on the World Wide Web, is making a hyperlink that points to a specific page or image on another website, instead of that website’s main or home page. While the links in your blogroll are great, they by definition are not deep links. Do you see the links to the articles immediately preceding this paragraph? They are examples of deep linking because they go to a particular location (the individual blog posts) and not the overall blog URL.

Deep linking is not confined to linking to blog posts alone, though this is one of the most common practices. A deep link can also link to a non-main page, a bio page, a form, or any other informational page. You can easily create these deep links either externally or internally. An external link connects to a webpage on another website. An internal link is one that links to information on the website where the post is actually written; i.e. linking to a previous relevant post or another minor page on the same website.

Deep linking, like using keywords, should be done in moderation. Deep linking is an effective, and the easiest, of  link building tools. Though deep linking is a good tool to use, it should not become a substitute for reciprocal and one-way linking with other websites.

Positive Real Estate Professionals (PREP) can help you achieve the recognition you and your business deserve through our highly versatile and search engine optimized member websites, lead capture, and visitor friendly layout. If you are a professional who works in the real estate industry or one of the related fields that service the needs of the real estate industry then this real estate network can be just what you need to take your business to the next level. If you have questions or would like to join CLICK HERE.

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Deep Linking is a post from: Positive Real Estate Professionals

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One of the best things aside from the versatility of a WordPress website is the ability for visitors to do virtually everything without ever leaving your site. This eliminates the need for the back arrow on your browser. This also allows you to have numerous tabs or windows open at once for ease of movement between those tabs or windows. *Let me clarify: tabs are multiple sites opened in a single browser window while windows are opened in their own browser window*

To make pictures or text that you are linking within the body of a post open in a new window rather than directing a visitor away from your site there is a simple but important step that you must remember when creating the link. To link pictures you must select the image by clicking on it. You are then able to insert the link by using the For text, you highlight the text you wish to link and then click on the to attach a link. NOW FOR THE STEP THAT MAKES YOUR LINK OPEN IN A NEW WINDOW! When you click on the link icon a window will open in the middle of your page. This window is where you put your link’s URL. This is also where you can make your link open in a new window. Directly under where you put the link’s URL is the ‘Target’ field. This field has a dropdown arrow that allows you to make your link open in the same window or in a new window. Select ‘Open Link In A New Window’, hit insert, and you are done. Now your link will open in a new window.

Make Your Links Open In A New Window is a post from: My WordPress Tutorial

©2010 My WordPress Tutorial. All Rights Reserved.

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Commenting: Friend or Foe? This is the million dollar question that we will be looking at today. Please understand this before we go any further, the information provided in this post pertains to blogging for business. Even though it MIGHT hold value to regular bloggers, my thought process is based business oriented blogs. With that [...]