The Maine SEO Blog

Recently, I blogged about a session at Social Media FTW (Search Engine Optimization and Social Media). In it, my boss, Rich Brooks, gave a great analogy for incoming links. I didn’t share it then since I wanted to give it its own special place…because I think it’s that powerful.

The analogy

Let’s say you’re visiting Chicago; so naturally you ask 10 friends what restaurant to go to while you’re there (as opposed to Googling it. You’re smart, you want recommendations.) 7 friends suggest Restaurant A, 3 suggest Restaurant B. All things being equal, you’re going with Restaurant A.

That is, of course, until you realize that those 3 friends are Chicago natives and the group of 7 are tourists, just like you. The 3 friends might even tell you “Tourists say Restaurant B, because they don’t know about A”. Then things change – the 3 friends have established their expertise now, and you’re on your way to B for some fine dining.

The same rule applies for Link Building

More links may be pointing to Website A than Website B. At first glance, that might mean that search engines would give more “value” to Website A (all other things being equal)…

But just like our restaurant scenario, things aren’t always as they appear. You see, as far as search engines are concerned, quality incoming links matter – not quantity. Sorry, A.

What’s the takeaway?

Sure, try to get out there and get all the incoming links you can. But the low hanging fruit won’t help you in the long term. Shoot for attaining links from those high quality websites that will help you establish your expertise.

Nicki Hicks
Visual Learner

Thanks for all the photos.

Tags: ftw, Link Building, social media ftw

This entry was posted on Friday, October 23rd, 2009 at 1:56 pm and is filed under Link Building. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.