Are Facebook links really helpful?
-
If they are no follow, how can I benefit? If Google isn't using this data, than why would we bother to LIKE anyone or anybody?
-
Great! thanks for all the info! I guess my mentality needs a shift. I get so focused on what google wants rather than the user. I will start my day from that mind set today.
thanks
-
Facebook Likes play a significant role in Bing search due to Facebook's partnership with Bing. When you use Bing and are logged into Facebook you see when your friends have Liked something in the search results which can strongly influence click through rate.
-
The value of anchor text varies as does the value of any link. With respect to a link which is crawlable by search engines, the anchor text helps associate the keyword with your webpage. Whether a link is crawlable on facebook varies based on privacy settings. Try logging out of facebook and then visiting the facebook URL which contains the link to your site. If you can see the link, so can search engines. In that case, the value of the anchor text can be applied in any algorithms.
On the other hand, if a link is not crawlable, anchor text can still have value for readers. Consider reading these two recommendations:
I was recently in Las Vegas and it was a fantastic trip! I had many memorable experiences including a chance to dine at my favorite Italian restaurant!
Next consider,
I was recently in Las Vegas and it was a fantastic trip! I had many memorable experiences including a chance to dine at my favorite Italian restaurant: http://www.mirage.com/restaurants/onda-ristorante.aspx
Both methods work, but the first appropriately uses anchor text and may arouse curiosity. What is the name of his favorite Italian restaurant? Whereas the second link is presented without the anchor text and you know the name is "Onda Ristorante".
My suggestion is Google and other search engines reward anchor text because it offers real value. Many of the things we do "because Google says so" is actually backwards. Google encourages site owners to adopt behaviors which Google has learned offers the highest value to consumers. Often site owners disagree, but Google has invested millions and billions into learning what consumers want, and they design their systems accordingly.
With respect to Bounce Rate, no one knows exactly how that metric is used in Google's algorithms. When a visitors clicks on a Google search result and visits your site, Google has a perfect picture of the bounce rate and likely considers it as a factor in determining ranking. If a visitor enters your site from facebook, Google still has a considerable amount of data if you use GA on your site. Google can also gather data from your Google Chrome browser, your Google WiFi network, etc. That data could be used to measure bounce rate as well, but again it is unclear how the process works exactly and what amount of weight is applied to bounce rate in the overall rankings.
My best recommendation is stop trying to figure out what Google wants but instead focus on what your user's want. You will be a step ahead of the game with this approach.
-
thanks, with that said! It would be fair to say that "anchor text" in a FB link really doesn't matter. What matters is the quality of the traffic to "XYZ.com". Then if the bounce is 99%, I would not see an bump in rank...OR bounce rate wouldn't apply here?
-
Studies show information shared in social networks is valued by friends and others in the sharer's network. Whether you are sharing your experience about a cool new device, a restaurant or a great tax preparer, your friends and others in your network are likely to consider your personal share much higher then most other sources of information.
The REAL value is any link is not whether Google will see the link and give your site a 0.01 bump in rankings for the relevant search term. Instead the true value of a quality link is the direct, quality traffic your site would receive from the link.
Put the needs and wants of your site visitor's above all else. Then determine how you can benefit them and earn a profit from doing such. This business model is what makes Google so successful, and if you follow that model your company can climb to greatness as well. [If you are an anti-Google person, you probably don't love this analogy but you cannot argue Google is the most dominate player in their market].
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Can anyone please explain the real difference between backlinks, 301 links, and redirect links?which one is better to rank a website? i am looking for the help for one of my website
Can anyone please explain the real difference between backlinks, 301 links, and redirect links? which one is better to rank a website? I am looking for help for one of my website vacuum cleaners
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | hshajjajsjsj3880 -
Link juice through URL parameters
Hi guys, hope you had a fantastic bank holiday weekend. Quick question re URL parameters, I understand that links which pass through an affiliate URL parameter aren't taken into consideration when passing link juice through one site to another. However, when a link contains a tracking URL parameter (let's say gclid=), does link juice get passed through? We have a number of external links pointing to our main site, however, they are linking directly to a unique tracking parameter. I'm just curious to know about this. Thanks, Brett
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Brett-S0 -
Linking to own homepage with keywords as link text
I recently discovered, that previous SEO work on a client's website apparently included setting links from subpages to the homepage using keywords as link text that the whole website should rank for. i.e. (fictional example) a subpage about chocolate would link to the homepage via "Visit the best sweet shop in Dallas and get a free sample." I am dubious about the influence this might have - anybody with any tests? I also think that it is quite weird when considering user friendliness - at least I would not expect such a link to take me to the homepage of the very site I was just on, probably browsing in a relevant page. So, what about such links: actually helpful, mostly don't matter or even potentially harmful? Looking forward to your opinions! Nico
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | netzkern_AG0 -
Link Building Strategy?
If I use unique content written from writers & post it to good sites (free blogs, bookmarking, directory, articles sites, etc.) having nice good cache, good PR, different IP's do i still have a chance of get hit by Spam actions of google? Planning to do like just 30-50 a month all with unique content or say 1 unique content then re-written & used not more than 3 times. If not this then What else would you suggest? One more thing to add up, like i have 1000+ pages out of which i have like 80-90 pages that matters to me (important pages) then how do I spin the anchor text between all the pages. Should i spin them between 1000+ pages or use only 80-90 IMP pages. If the content is 300 words let say then how many anchor tags should i have?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | welcomecure0 -
SEO Effect of Outbound Links
Greetings MOZ community: What is best practices when it comes to creating outbound links to other websites? Will adding such links improve the MOZ domain authority of my site? How many outbound links should be added to each page? For example I run a commercial real estate web site in New York. About 20 pages are written about neighborhoods. If several outbound links are added to each neighborhood page, and these links point to pages that provide further information about that neighborhood, will my neighborhood pages where the links originates from see improved ranking (or ranking potential)? Are these outbound links a critical SEO factor? Thanks everyone!!
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Kingalan1
Alan0 -
Penguin Apply To Internal Linking?
Is Penguin focused primarily on backlinks or does it also assess internal linking/anchor text? We've lost about 3,000 visitors a month since the rolling updates were implemented. I'm always careful not to over-react to algo updates but enough time has passed that I think the dust has settled. I try to stay white in all I do but I think if I've over-done anything its the internal linking related products/categories with exact match. My backlink profile also has an over-abundance of affiliate links but that's kind of out of my hands isn't it?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | AWCthreads0 -
Links on My website
I am looking to create some more trust on my website by subscribing to BBB. I have heard that my site is penalized and loses "link juice" if I place the BBB logo link in my page footer on every page of my website. Does anyone know how much I am penalized? Should I only put it on my conversion pages and maybe my main 10 sub pages? My main goal is to assist in getting conversions but I don't want to do it at the expense of getting a penalty. Any help is greatly appreciated. Thank you, Boo
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Boodreaux0 -
Links on Google Notebook
I have used OSE to look at links of a competitors site and notice they have dozens for links from Google Notebook pages eg http://www.google.pl/notebook/public/05275990022886032509/BDQExDQoQs8r3ls4j This page has a PA of 48 Is this a legitimate linking strategy?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | seanmccauley0