etiquette for posting links?

Ye' old general discussion board. Basically, for everything that isn't covered elsewhere. Come here to shoot the breeze, shoot your mouth off, or whatever suits your fancy.
This forum is not for asking programming related questions.

Moderator: General Moderators

Post Reply
lafflin
Forum Contributor
Posts: 123
Joined: Thu Jul 26, 2007 6:26 pm

etiquette for posting links?

Post by lafflin »

Hello, I am new to DevNet, and for that matter all things web development. My question is about posting links for the purpose of SEO'ing.
what is proper etiquette for that? I mean obviously if I'm a newbie asking really obvious questions that I could easily find answer for using google and I'm putting eight different links in my signature then that's obviously inappropriate. But what is appropriate for a newb? and how well do one way links from forums help a google ranking?
User avatar
Jenk
DevNet Master
Posts: 3587
Joined: Mon Sep 19, 2005 6:24 am
Location: London

Post by Jenk »

I'd have thought posting any link solely for the purpose of boosting rankings is heavily frowned upon. From what I gather (with what I have seen on here from existing members) is that providing it is something like your blog, or a good article/blog for say Security awareness, or perhaps a link to your favoured open source project it is OK.

But I have no authority around these 'ere parts.
User avatar
superdezign
DevNet Master
Posts: 4135
Joined: Sat Jan 20, 2007 11:06 pm

Post by superdezign »

You shouldn't do anything purely for SEO. You may not know this, but search engines have a problem with it, because you are trying to "trick" them into thinking that you have quality, useful, and related content.
User avatar
RobertGonzalez
Site Administrator
Posts: 14293
Joined: Tue Sep 09, 2003 6:04 pm
Location: Fremont, CA, USA

Re: etiquette for posting links?

Post by RobertGonzalez »

lafflin wrote:and how well do one way links from forums help a google ranking?
It is my understanding that inbound and outbound links mean more than just inbound or outbound links. Ideally you want people linking to you and you want to be linking to sites that others are also linking to. Thing of it sort of like an Internetwork of sorts.
User avatar
superdezign
DevNet Master
Posts: 4135
Joined: Sat Jan 20, 2007 11:06 pm

Re: etiquette for posting links?

Post by superdezign »

Everah wrote:
lafflin wrote:and how well do one way links from forums help a google ranking?
It is my understanding that inbound and outbound links mean more than just inbound or outbound links. Ideally you want people linking to you and you want to be linking to sites that others are also linking to. Thing of it sort of like an Internetwork of sorts.
Also, I'm sure Google has methods for dealing with forums and PageRank. The same link posted multiple times on one site won't affect your PageRank for any more than 1 vote, and it may count for none if Google can differentiate between forum signatures and actual votes.
User avatar
onion2k
Jedi Mod
Posts: 5263
Joined: Tue Dec 21, 2004 5:03 pm
Location: usrlab.com

Post by onion2k »

What you can put in a signature is defined in the rules: viewtopic.php?t=30037 ... particularly rule 10.5
Member signatures are allowed, even encouraged, as long as they...
10.5 Do not contain links to web sites whose primary purpose is advertising.
If you want to link to 8 different sites that all have their own content then that's fine. If they're all full of banner adverts and nothing useful then you'll have crossed the line.
User avatar
boo
Forum Commoner
Posts: 42
Joined: Mon Jul 02, 2007 11:30 am
Location: NY

Post by boo »

I have links to websites that I am currently working on so people can see some of my work. These sites are designed, developed, and hosted by my company.

So do I see this as advertising or SEO?

I see it as advertising (getting the word out) about my sites to other individuals that might see them as something useful.
lafflin
Forum Contributor
Posts: 123
Joined: Thu Jul 26, 2007 6:26 pm

Post by lafflin »

superdezigns, your probably right, I'm sure endless links from one site is just a link from one site.

also let me say, that the reason I asked this question is purely for my own knowledge. NOT to point the finger at anyone who has been kind enough to offer me much appreciated help in past topics.

What I'm going to take from this question is that:
1) it's ok to post links to my own projects provied that that my site isn't full of banners.
2) posting a link in my signature very likely isn't going to count for more than 1 vote and it will likley be a weak vote.
3) someone created an application named Everah which searches for posts, scans them for keywords, and somehow through some stroke of programming genius is able to create and post relevant answers to those questions. This application has helped thousands and has actually posted over ten thousand times! amazing!
User avatar
RobertGonzalez
Site Administrator
Posts: 14293
Joined: Tue Sep 09, 2003 6:04 pm
Location: Fremont, CA, USA

Post by RobertGonzalez »

lafflin wrote:3) someone created an application named Everah which searches for posts, scans them for keywords, and somehow through some stroke of programming genius is able to create and post relevant answers to those questions. This application has helped thousands and has actually posted over ten thousand times! amazing!
This amuses me greatly. Thanks, I am honored.
Post Reply