Link EXCHANGE thread (websites, not Etsy shops)

Posted by Hilary Johnson on February 20, 2008 at 4:45pm in General Indie Discussion

Lots of folks have been listing links on the other thread, but seriously, it's not going anywhere in terms of getting our shops/sites to show up on search engines.

The BIG search engines (Google, Yahoo, etc) send spiders and crawlers and other colorfully labelled bots to go all over the web collecting data. All that data is brought back to a central hub and run through algorithms that would take most of us a lifetime to decipher and comprehend, unless there's some high-level mathematicians amongs us ... y'all would shrug and say: "What's so hard about that?"

What's neat about the bots is that when they see a link in the data they are gobbling up, they spawn another spiderling/crawler to check out that link. Cool!

But, always a but ... if we want our websites to show up higher in the search engine heaps (and for the jewelry artists among us that's one huge heap) we need more inbound links. LOTS of inbound links. And many of the SEO astute will tell you they need to be quality inbound links.

That's what we can do for one another. Those of us who have a website and/or blog can lend a helping hand. It's called reciprocal linking. I link to you, you link to me. AND LINK TO EACH OTHER. Either on a blog or on a website, it doesn't matter. On a blog, the link list can go to the bottom of the right or left hand column. On a website, a separate Links page can be added (it's very helpful if your Links page is linked from your home page .... gotta give those spiderlings a boost).

It doesn't have to be pretty, unless you want to make it pretty. It doesn't matter if humans visiting your page link to me or whoever else. What matters is that the spider/crawler sees the link. They love links. They live for links. Links help them live. They gobble links!

So, shall we exchange links? Please don't list your link unless you're willing to go the distance. Copying and pasting other's links to your site/blog is going to be work. But if everyone makes an honest effort to RECIPROCATE, we'll all be towards the top of the search engine by next year (hopefully).

There's other things to consider to optimize your site for search engines to notice, but those are topics for other threads.

Those who only have an Etsy shop, don't worry about linking here. Etsy is already well-optimized. Just make sure all your descriptions and your shop title (what's under your banner) is rich with keywords.

Tags: links, seo

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Klaire on April 2, 2008 at 5:29am: Not sure if I was added. I just discovered yesterday how to add links to my blogspot site.

So, please do send me yours.
Mine is http://mysticsilks.blogspot.com

Thank you; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Marla on April 2, 2008 at 5:37am: Klaire - I will add your blog to mine as well - http://seaglassthings.blogspot.com - thanks!; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by WHITE LYE Soap Co. on April 2, 2008 at 6:31pm: It's becoming hard to go through the links with the back and forth taking place on this discussion. If you link someone, please post to their individual indiepublic page. I know it takes a while to do so, but, it take a long time to weed through this discussion to make sure everyone gets posted. This way we can indvidually keep track of who is posting our links to their sites. hilary mentions in the first page to let the person know when they are linked up.

i appreciate all the exchanges!; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Kelly on April 3, 2008 at 6:15am: I agree. I'm a bit lost myself. If anyone has linked to either my site or my blog, and you don't see your link on either site, please message me so I can add you. Thanks.

Kelly; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Klaire on April 3, 2008 at 7:05am: Is there an easier way to collect the links of those that wish to exchange links?
Just an idea, but it may make it easier to post our blog sites, have those who are interested in exchanging links leave a message on our blog site, that way the info is right there in front of us, and there's no need to keep coming back to indie to check on link exchane info.
My blog site is http://mysticsilks.blogspot.com; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Kelly on April 3, 2008 at 7:20am: What I belive we are supposed to do is, post our page (s) we want linked. I posted both my site and my blog. Go to the first post, and start linking to anyone or everyone. Go to that persons comment page and leave them a note telling them they are linked and where on your site the link is, so they can link with you properly. That person then leaves you a message saying you are now both linked. I know that is a lot of work, but in the long run saves time for everyone.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by 27lauriebethbeggin on April 3, 2008 at 8:02am: Yep, you're right Kelly....and in the end, once you get started it's a pretty quick process. I just leave my site parked, and go back and forth...I did get a bit confused when I was off of here for a week but now I just check it daily...I think I have all of your links memorized now! So, I can spot a new person....this discussion has slowed down with new people coming on so it's possible we could start a new discussion and get new people. The other thing I am going to try and find out is how to make a seperate page for my blogspot....if you notice, it's getting reaaallly long! Which is a good thing! I have a traffic logger and I get a lot of hits on my blog from links at other's sites....passitonplates has been one of the heavier incoming views for me thus far...it's worth all the effort! With gratitude, Laurie B.; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Simply Lin on April 3, 2008 at 8:05am: hey me too,

can someone link my website http://mysimplylin.com/

ill gladly link you guys up on two of my blogs
http://howdoyoumakethat.blogspot.com
primandproper; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by 27lauriebethbeggin on April 3, 2008 at 8:15am: I'll link you up! Thanks!! With gratitude, Laurie B. http://lauriebethbeggin.blogspot.com; ▶ Reply to This

Permalink Reply by Simply Lin on April 3, 2008 at 8:32am: okay thank you, linked you up at my new web. www.mysimplylin.com and blog too; ▶ Reply to This