| If you have a link directory on a website, how do you | | | | not likely if it has a lot of links ) or there could be |
| stop link theft by sites that don't link back, or trick you | | | | something about the page which is preventing Google |
| into thinking they do? | | | | from reaching it. |
| Whether link theft is anything to get concerned about | | | | Using your web browser view the page code as in 2 |
| depends on how many links your website has, the | | | | above and check for the robots meta tag at the top |
| quality of those links (Google Page Rank) and how | | | | of the page between the and tags. |
| many of those links you lose. Search Engine Ranking is | | | | If it says :meta name="robots" content="index,follow" |
| certainly something that's becoming more dependent | | | | ormeta name="robots" content="all"then all is OK. |
| upon the links to your website. | | | | If the tag says :meta name="robots" |
| You might be forgiven for thinking that when a website | | | | content="noindex,follow" ormeta name="robots" |
| no longer links back to you, that it was an accident | | | | content="index,nofollow" ormeta name="robots" |
| your link was removed from the link directory. Of | | | | content="noindex,nofollow" ormeta name="robots" |
| course accidents happen as I know from using some | | | | content="none" |
| link manager software. Just one click in the wrong box | | | | Then this page is not being given full access to the |
| and a website link disappears the next time you | | | | search engines. Do not link to this sort of page. |
| update your link directory. But the real link thieves are | | | | 6. If the robots meta tag you checked is OK but you |
| those people that use methods to rob you of a link. | | | | still suspect a problem with a low PR then you should |
| Here's 7 Top Ways Link Thieves work and how you | | | | check the sites robots.txt file. To do this type the main |
| can avoid being their next victim. | | | | URL of the site into a web browser but add robots.txt |
| 1. If a website asks you to exchange links, don't link to | | | | for example: " |
| them until they have given you the URL location of | | | | The robots.txt file is read by the search engines and it |
| your link in their link directory. If you link to them first | | | | tells it the directory and files it can access. A simple |
| they may forget to add your link. | | | | robots.txt file might look something like: |
| 2. Visually inspect your link by visiting the website page | | | | User-agent: * |
| your link has been placed on. In your web browser, | | | | Disallow: /cgi-bin |
| view the source code of the page. In Internet Explorer | | | | Disallow: /forms |
| go to View then Source and this will open up your | | | | Disallow: /contact.html |
| default text editor. | | | | If the URL of the page you were linking to was: |
| Using the text editor search on the page for your | | | | " |
| website domain and ensure when you find it that the | | | | Then you would want to be sure that in the robots.txt |
| link is a standard text link of the form :a href=" | | | | file you should NOT see: |
| target="_blank">Link Title. | | | | Disallow: /dir |
| The target="_blank" just launches a new browser | | | | Disallow: /dir/web-design.html |
| window when the link is clicked. | | | | This is telling the search engine robot not to index or |
| The link should have no JavaScript code | | | | follow the links in the link directory called dir and to |
| like:onclick="javascript:newWindow(' Title. | | | | ignore the links page web-design.html. |
| Links like this JavaScript one can be made to look | | | | And you should not see : |
| visually identical when viewed in a web page browser, | | | | User-agent: * |
| but to a search engine it's as if this link is not there. | | | | Disallow: / |
| Whilst a visual inspection to catch this form of theft is | | | | If you see : |
| always the best, you can catch some, but not all of | | | | User-agent: * |
| these types of links by using reciprocal link manager | | | | Disallow: |
| checking software. | | | | Then that's OK. |
| 3. Check that your link on the other web sites page is | | | | All sounds a bit complicated I know, but there is no |
| not being put through a redirect. By hovering your | | | | easier way to explain this sort of thing. Some |
| mouse over the link, check what link text appears in | | | | reciprocal link manager checking software will also |
| the status bar of your web browser. | | | | detect the incorrect use of the meta robots tag and |
| If your link appears as: | | | | also check the robots text file. |
| " or | | | | However some link manager software I have |
| " and not | | | | experienced, incorrectly reported a link page as |
| " | | | | blocked by the robots text file because it read |
| Then your link is on a redirect. | | | | "Disallow:" as prohibiting the search engine when in fact |
| Any form of link that has theirdomain and not | | | | it means allow (see above). It is "Disallow: /" that would |
| yourdomain in the link URL is only of benefit to the | | | | tell the search engine not to index the site. |
| other site owner and not you. Links like this point to | | | | 7. Once you've completed your link exchange and |
| their domain and not yours which gives the other site | | | | done the checks to ensure you're not being cheated |
| the link benefit in the eyes of the search engines. | | | | you must then check your links at regular intervals. |
| Don't link to this site if you want some search engine | | | | Once you have more than about 50 links you will soon |
| benefit from the link. | | | | find link checking becomes a time consuming process. |
| If you just want traffic from visitors clicking on the link, | | | | It's far better to build your link directory using some |
| that's the only benefit you'll get. | | | | form of link manager software that will automatically |
| 4. If you want to get search engine link benefit, don't | | | | check your links at intervals you specify. |
| link to web sites that have dynamically generated link | | | | To help you in making the right choices about setting |
| pages. If your link is on a dynamically generated link | | | | up a link directory read my article |
| page the URL of that page could be something like : | | | | "10 Mistakes to Avoid When Setting Up a Link |
| " | | | | Directory" which you can find at |
| The fact that the URL has a ? or & in the URL | | | | Of course not all link theft is intentional, sometimes it's |
| means that most search engines will never read that | | | | just the webmaster not knowing that the way he has |
| page, so they will never see the link back to your site. | | | | set up his link directory will not provide search engine |
| 5. Use the Google Toolbar Page Rank Tool to check | | | | link benefit to anyone that links to them. |
| the PR of the page your link is on. | | | | However some link theft is intentional, the webmaster |
| If the PR is 0 but the PR of the home page is much | | | | knows exactly what they are doing and by following |
| better, this could mean either the link directory is new ( | | | | this advice you can avoid being their next victim. |