I keep hearing some "Search Engine Optimization gurus" yapping out stuff about how you should never give out do follow backlinks as it takes away some of the power from your ranking. Well to be honest, I believe that's crap. Today I'm going to show you, the one tip that's so powerful in giving your site some authority, that Google will respect your site, and actually be satisfied if you have a ton of 0 Google Page Ranking possibly spammy links (well sort of). Before the panda update, some sites with thousands of backlinks roamed on the top of the rankings, and then Google caught on and slapped them down a few hundred or so rankings. Why? Because the sites didn't have any authority, Google recognized them as low quality, spam sites. I've read my fair share of ebooks, and quite honestly, I always chuckle at how some 'mastermind' preaches that you need to keep all your link juice to yourself, to never link to another site, and if by some god forgiven chance you do, make sure to make it a no follow link. Why is that garbage information? You see, Google's authority system is based on who's linking to you, and who you are linking to. While some sites with their blasted xrumer links managed to survive, it was only because Google saw some authority in those links, or they followed this tip. Some high authority sites, are like .gov or .edu (no wonder those are so valuable), or high quality info sites with tons of new content, like Wikipedia. So why should we allow these already powerful sites to take some of our power? Because Google actually checks who's linking towards you. Yes inner page/post linking is great, but if your site has no or minor authority, then really those links aren't helping except it allows spiders to navigate easier. By giving a DO FOLLOW to a trustable source (hey do a Google search on maybe a news site on your niche), you are showing Google that you're not all that bad and that you want your website to be trustworthy and have some authority to it. By the way, make sure your link is DO FOLLOW, as no follow links pretty much informs Google that because you want to save whatever authority you have, you can't link to them. But Mr Baconator, why is obtaining no follow links good? 'No follow' links are only good if they actually come from an authority site, as Google does take a note on that, while you won't get the full benefits, Google will still keep in mind that you did get a link (that's why it keeps track of them in the first place). So hopefully this will help you guys break through your rankings. While I've never been panda slapped, I'd like to see someone who has, try this, as it might actually have an effect. (This was written by me guys, so if you have any questions, then just ask them.)
Great post Bacon. I think a lot of people do not really understand the importance of authority when it comes to back linking. Most people just focus on the domain PR and that's bout it.
Another important factor is LocalScore based on the Hilltop algorithm. LocalScore is calculated by scoring links from "expert document" links. Each link is a "vote of confidence" for the target page. The importance of the Panda/Farmer updates are that the content farm articles are no longer scored as "expert documents".
I'm glad someone actually came out and said this - because I never believed giving out links was actually a bad thing.
Yep, you're totally right. Not only ingoing links matter, but outgoing too. That's why many SEO specialists advice to write articles with link to your site, and 2 links to another great sites with hight "trust" rand (wikipedia etc).