The Times: Linking To The BBC Will Boost Your Google Ranking
O.K. I am going to pick on The Times because it is funny. On Sunday they published an article entitled Searching to get to the top of Google.
Most of the article is O.K. and it is nice to see SEO getting mentioned in a major newspaper, however some of their facts are a little off.
On the 3rd page of the article it says the following:
“As well as using appropriate vocabulary, a website also needs to be well-networked to gain traction. Links to esteemed websites such as the BBC or a national newspaper act as advocates for its content, boosting its ranking with Google.”
There is a common mis-conception that linking to authoritative websites can boost a website’s rankings in the search engines and I have spoken to many people who have thought this before. This is of course not true, linking to a website can improve it’s rankings, linking out from one cannot.
This has got to be great linkbait for the BBC and the all of the National newspapers, I can just see all the Sunday Times readers going out and linking them now. Who knows, maybe they made the mistake on purpose.
Posted in Google By David Eaves
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May 6th, 2008 15 Comments
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May 7th, 2008 at 12:58 pm
David, I think it’s also worth pointing out that linking to the homepage of our site can also improve a site’s search engine rankings
May 7th, 2008 at 4:14 pm
FAIL. Well, actually, only sort of.
I regularly talk to journalists about how to incorporate SEO into what they do, and I regularly recommend linking out.
Now I’m not suggesting that doing this will have an immediate impact on your rankings, but linking out is certainly a good way of becoming more networked and therefore makes it more likely that you will end up on a blogger, or suchlike’s radar, and receive more inbound links in return.
I’m not for a second going to suggest that this sort of tactic is likely to work with the beeb though!
I also happen to think that it makes it less likely that a user will quickly click back from your content to search for the things you mentioned, but didn’t link to, and, as popularity/historical data becomes more important in ranking, is likely to have a long-term benefit.
May 7th, 2008 at 4:21 pm
Linking to web sites with ‘Conversation’ in the URL can also boost your rankings.
For now, I won’t charge anyone to link to me. This deal ends soon…
May 7th, 2008 at 4:44 pm
Further to Nick’s comment I’d just like to mention that linking to my site (the delightful http://www.seopscentre.com ) will not only improve your site’s SERP positions, it will also make you look really cool, reduce your carbon footprint and bring about world peace.
)
(I can see these comments turning into an arms race of outlandish claims - sorry Dave
May 7th, 2008 at 9:44 pm
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May 7th, 2008 at 9:45 pm
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May 7th, 2008 at 9:46 pm
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May 7th, 2008 at 9:50 pm
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May 7th, 2008 at 10:01 pm
[…] The Times: Linking To The BBC Will Boost Your Google Ranking, Seoco.co.uk […]
May 8th, 2008 at 2:58 am
BBC is so tricky, i think it press this article in order to publicize itself.
May 8th, 2008 at 9:11 am
@mybaiaogu - err, the BBC & The Sunday Times have absolutely no connection whatsoever. One is a state-owned broadcaster, the other is a newspaper owned by Rupert Murdoch.
And tricky? Really? Compared to what?
May 8th, 2008 at 5:42 pm
To further this discussion. Linking to my site will not only increase your rankings in the Search Engines, but will also make you better looking in at least 10 different body parts, make your floor clean itself instantly, and will result your article going hot on Sphinn.
In fact just the no-follow link to my site from the comments section here will probably cause this post to go hot.
Well look…it just did.
May 9th, 2008 at 12:44 pm
[…] David Eaves at SEOCO.co.uk pointed out an article from The Times Online about SEO which stated that “Links to esteemed websites such as the BBC or a national newspaper act as advocates for its content, boosting its ranking with Google.” Which probably sent a load of Times readers scurrying off to add links to the Beeb on their sites in the hope of improving their own rankings. Oh dear. […]
May 10th, 2008 at 4:06 pm
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May 11th, 2008 at 11:01 pm
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