The problem with Search Engine Optimisation is that every body does it. Whenever a new technique gets into the public domain, it soon becomes overused. In order to maintain the credibility and usability of their search results, the search engines quickly reduce the weighting in their ranking algorithms of such techniques. Linking is a case in point. A central factor to “relevancy”, inward/outward links contribute significant weight to page rank and overall search ranking. However, as linking is now both hackneyed and abused, the SE’s are damping or reducing the weighting attached to certain types of links. As they become more sophisticated, the SE’s are able to differentiate between links for their relevance both to the page they are on and the page they point to.

This has in turn led to a renewed emphasis on quality content – useful, unique, timely, fresh – and links that fit into this new paradigm are given more weighting than those that don’t. Not only are link farms out, but links on so-called resource pages, even when properly categorized and sparingly placed (not more than 100 per page) are being penalized. The SE’s, unable to fully differentiate between organic link building, and software-enabled, cookie-cutter link spamming have tweaked their algorithms to consider the context in which the link is placed. The factors being considered are: The number of links on a single page – for “quality links” not more than 5. The link to text ratio – the fewer links per quantity of text, the higher the link quality. The link relevance – both to the content of the page the link is hosted on, and the page it points to. The keyword focus – this should be as narrow as possible both to channel maximum ranking weight to the links, as well make for a readable, useful page.