swirt
Forum founder. Former Owner.
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- May 17, 2008
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I just received an email from a client, passing it on asking if it was a wise choice to do what the email was asking.
Linking to your listing on a major well-established directory can be a good idea if done right. Linking to some little directory with an inablility to see that in order to make innkeepers happy, they have to have a keen focus on travelers, not innkeepers is a bad idea. Remember, in the eyes of the search engines, you are judged by who you link to and who links to you. Who links to you can rarely cause harm (a bad site can't hurt your site by linking to you). Who you link to can cause you harm.
Here are some issues I have with this:bedandbreakfastHOME.com said:Good day
1) Would you like to add your listing link www,bedbreakfasthome,com/yourbbnamehere/ on your website? BedBreakfastHome.com "Link-back" shows potential guests that your property is featured on one of the top Bed & Breakfast / Inn guide. This will also enhance your website's search engine optimization. If you are interested then please use the html source code below to ensure that viewers clicking the badge will open an independent browser window, without leaving your website. They will go directly to your "Detailed Listing Page on BedbreakfastHome.com".
Please contact your webmaster to help you add our link. This will not take more then a few minutes.
- "top Bed & Breakfast / Inn guide" is a bit of a stretch - For the area they are referencing, they don't show up in the first 10 pages on a search for [city state bed and breakfast]
- This will not enhance your website's SEO it will enhance theirs. In the case of the inn in question, there is even no link from this site to the inn, so there can be no SEO benefit.
- When you get to the page that they have created for your listing the two biggest things on the page are these banners (below) which are clearly aimed at getting money from innkeepers as opposed to doing what they should be dong, attracting travelers. These banners are of no use to travelers, they shouldn't be there.
Linking to your listing on a major well-established directory can be a good idea if done right. Linking to some little directory with an inablility to see that in order to make innkeepers happy, they have to have a keen focus on travelers, not innkeepers is a bad idea. Remember, in the eyes of the search engines, you are judged by who you link to and who links to you. Who links to you can rarely cause harm (a bad site can't hurt your site by linking to you). Who you link to can cause you harm.