Hi,

This is something I have never really considered before as link exchanges have never really produced much in the way of results for me. Here is an article I have produced on my findings…

Search Engine Friendly Web Directories Why on earth should anybody knowingly submit their valuable links to a non SEO, (Search Engine Optimized), web directory?

What Is A Search Engine Friendly Web Directory? Basically we are looking that all the links on the pages of the web directory can actually be spidered by the search engines. These pages must be able to be scanned by the SE robots so your links will be cached and assigned a page rank.

Let’s Build A Search Engine Friendly Web Directory… Redirects… It is surprising how many link exchanges / directories use redirects for the link listings. Even with a basic knowledge of SEO you know that a redirect does not count as a back link so your listing is worthless. A redirect can be used for link statistics. Also, consider that the PR formula will effectively reduce the PR of the owners link site as it is applied to outgoing links. Using a redirect will work to the benefit of the link exchange owner but against you as your links are never actually seen by a bot. So beware paying for a link to a directory with a high PR before first checking it out.You can check out the possibility of a redirected link by placing your mouse over your link and seeing if it shows your actually site or goes through a script first.

Nofollow, Noindex tags… These tags will prevent the search engine robots from spidering pages. If these tags are used on pages containing links then the link is never seen. Using these tags also prevent the link exchange site having to share its PR. 

Too Many Links On A Page… This has the effect of burying the link so it probably will not be indexed. Opinions differ in that my research produced one line of thought saying 10 links per page is optimal, another saying no more than 30… take your pick as Google probably wont tell us. To be on the safe side I have decided to limit the maximum number of links within Taff’s Search Engine Friendly Link Directory to be 8 on any one page. 

Site Maps Are Good… Let’s make it as easy as possible for the bots to crawl our links therefore a site map is a must.

Mod Rewrite… Should have this to make a dynamic, (non spiderable), link into a static, (spiderable), link. This is done at the .htaccess level.Use relevant anchor text when planning your link. Click Here is not what the search engines like to see. Use your keywords as your anchor text. I will use an internal link to my article directory as an example - why waste an opportunity? 

Bad Link: For Taff’s Article Directory Click Here

Good Anchor Text Link: Taff’s Article Directory

Better Anchor Text Link Using title Attribute: Taff’s Article Directory The code for this is title=” Taff’s Article Directory”> Taff’s Article Directory

I am setting up a niche SEO link exchange so if you would like to help out the testing by submitting your link it would be much appreciated. Be aware that I am still adding the finishes touches to the link exchange and this will continue over the next few days. http://www.taffs-article-directory.com/link-directory/ Taff

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