Community link swapping

[PCC]

Hi guys, My name is Lexx and I'm a webmaster.

While working on my mates carpet cleaning website I started coming across this crazy scam that carpet cleaners and getting caught up in! As a full time google nerd, I was outraged (seriously!!!)

The gist of it is that small business operators (like yourselves) are paying upwards of $250 a month to have their business website listed on these "Carpet cleaning" listing sites who come up within the first few pages of google for words like Carpet cleaning, tile & grout cleaning, steam etc...

My mate was about to do what all the other CC's were doing and just pay the money until I suggested that there is another way

So here it is - no scams, no financial cost to you guys and all it takes is 30 seconds...

If you have a carpet cleaning website, instead of paying for listings - why not work as a collective of carpet cleaners? I mean it's simple and if done correctly, your entire community can benefit!

So what do you guys need to do to increase your web exposure for your business without having to pay for it? It's actually very simple and will save you a lot of money.

I propose that we all get a community of linked carpet cleaning websites going. BUT hold on!!!! (I hear you say) I understand that linking our websites will increase our google page rank and therefore increase our visibility on the web - But wont that mean that my competitors may get jobs that should be mine?

Great questions my friends! But the answer is NO.

As a community we are from all different cities, states and even countries here on this forum. The fact is that if we follow some simple guidelines, we as a community can ensure that linking only takes place between;

A) small operators with websites

b) not linking sites with people in the same city's

c) helping each other maximise key words on our web pages.


Now I know this may not make sense to some of you guys, thats because your job is to provide your customers with an awesome carpet cleaning service, not stuff around with websites and google rankings, so I will try and make it simple.

Basically I want to link my mates website to yours and yours to my mates. from there we can all link together and move up googles pages without having to pay a cent while not impacting on ANYONES business. In essence work as a community to promote ourselves for free.

This is real and works, it just takes a bit of time and effort.

If anyone is interested in 6 months time not having to pay for links or for ads, please send me a PM and we will trade links on our websites. The more of us that do it the stronger we will be as a community and the more all of us will $ave.

Thanks to the admin on Mikey's for understanding that this is not for profit and for the community.

Cheers guys

-Lexx

 

[alazo1]

Hi Lexx, thanks for the heads up. A lot of us here are doing just what you're suggesting and like you said it has helped most that are involved. John Braun (thanks John), the person that put it together is no longer adding new sites but you can contact anyone in that list and I'm sure they'll trade links. You can take a look at it at www.crystalcd.com/links.html Email me with your link info and i'll be glad to trade with you (alazo1@yahoo.com).

Got a question. What do you think about the value of link exchanging in the future?. Some think that google and others may start placing less importantance in relevant 2 way links and may actually start penalizing sites that have too many.

Google nerd eh. Does that mean you worked for google and helped write the search engine program?. I always wondered what google does when an engineer no longer works for them. Do they zap them so they forget all the secrets?

Albert

 

[Blue Monarch]

Farming emails and spamming us isn't very cool though.

 

[Noidios]

Google places no value on reciprocal links. Trading links will not boost your pagerank at all.

 

[alazo1]

Google places no value on reciprocal links. Trading links will not boost your pagerank at all.

Do you have an article/link to support this statement Russell?

Albert

 

[Blue Monarch]

Is page rank really that important? Serious question.

I thought SERP's are what matters. Seems like you can show up high on the SERP AND have a low page rank.

Very confusing.

 

[joey895]

Is page rank really that important? Serious question.

I thought SERP's are what matters. Seems like you can show up high on the SERP AND have a low page rank.

Very confusing.

It's intended to be confusing. Google will also occasionally change the criteria which in a lot of cases leads to people disagreeing of what works and what is a waste of time. The bottom line is google does not want you to know how it works because they don't want you artificially increasing your rankings.

 

[PCC]

Hi Lexx, thanks for the heads up. A lot of us here are doing just what you're suggesting and like you said it has helped most that are involved. John Braun (thanks John), the person that put it together is no longer adding new sites but you can contact anyone in that list and I'm sure they'll trade links. You can take a look at it at www.crystalcd.com/links.html Email me with your link info and i'll be glad to trade with you (alazo1@yahoo.com).

Got a question. What do you think about the value of link exchanging in the future?. Some think that google and others may start placing less importantance in relevant 2 way links and may actually start penalizing sites that have too many.

Google nerd eh. Does that mean you worked for google and helped write the search engine program?. I always wondered what google does when an engineer no longer works for them. Do they zap them so they forget all the secrets?

Albert

Thanks Albert I will contact you soon

The last Google update that took place on the 8th November 2007 change their algorithms to place importance on non payed link exchanges or natural link backs. We had some major upsets where small sites who had reciprocal links went up in page rank and large sites that pay for 1 way links went down. Thousands of dollars were lost by the larger companies as their websites depreciated in value.

We are currently in 2008's first update and it should be finished any day. My own personal site went from GPR 4 in November to this week being given a page rank of 5. (I'm all for reciprocal links so obviously at this point google is still placing very high value on them.) You should also know that I have never payed for a 1 way link. All is fair and I have 30 fellow sites who are all link like a mini community (we all went up as well - none missed out)

The future? (I believe) reciprocals are here to stay, they promote choice for the consumer, this in turn increases googles advertising revenue, thus people linking naturally are rewarded by increased google rank and search presence.
Bots that crawl links on sites are becoming smarter at spotting non- natural links anyway.

BTW: I don't work for google I just spend a lot of time learning whats new. This new update will take me a few weeks to figure out but I can say with 100% certainty that reciprocals are in

 

[alazo1]

BTW: I don't work for google I just spend a lot of time learning whats new. This new update will take me a few weeks to figure out but I can say with 100% certainty that reciprocals are in

Great info Dave.

Albert

 

[PCC]

Is page rank really that important? Serious question.

I thought SERP's are what matters. Seems like you can show up high on the SERP AND have a low page rank.

Very confusing.

Hi Dirk,
Firstly I'm in no way intending to spam or farm. I approached the admin before posting.


* I can see that you have 14 affiliates (all of you have a GPR of 2)
* you have 94 inbound links
* 7 pages have been indexed by google
* You were last crawled on Feb 21st (you need to get that to everyday)
* You don't have descriptions for your pages only your landing page and it is not taking advantage of your meta to it's full extent.
* your meta data does not actually contain the string "Carpet cleaning" as a search phrase (fix that up mate)
* your traffic flow must be pretty small because I can't register a monthly unique hits count - I'm guessing it's about 100 people or so?

As an affiliate I'm going to help you guys out, because we all want to move up as one community through the ranks, so I will do as much SEO on any affiliates site to help improve their ranks.

As for you SERP's comment, indeed you are correct. Both need to be done hand in hand as I will help all affiliates out by doing it for them. for example;

You have a GPR of 2 and have been live for 13 months on the web.
My mates site (for now) has a GPR of 0 and has been live for 11 days.

17588 people typed the phrase "Carpet cleaning" into google last month.
in two days I had my mates site being found on page 19 of google.
Your site lists in the +100's.

It may seem confusing but it's quite scientific. As I discovered doing 10 minutes of SEO on your site you are missing a KEY piece of meta data


Anyway, my apologies for the double post admin, I had too much to explain for the 1 post

You guys have nothing to lose, nothing to fear, it will cost you no money or time, nor will it impact anyones business in a negative way. In my quest to get my mate to page 2 of google in the world by the end of the year, I hope to take as many of you as i can with him

Thanks gain for reading my rant.

Cheers
-lexx

 

[alazo1]

I got a question regarding google map results. I'd start another thread but I think it fits well here.

Seems that lately google maps results are first with 10 companies. How do you get into this list. If I go to google maps my company is there. I don't think there were this many before. It does not appear to be related to the business address being in the central of the city. There are some in there in nearby cities.

You can google "carpet cleaning in San Jose" and see what I mean.

I've asked in a google forum but have not gotten an answer. Maybe I'm not explaining myself well.

thanks,
Albert

 

[PCC]

I got a question regarding google map results. I'd start another thread but I think it fits well here.

Seems that lately google maps results are first with 10 companies. How do you get into this list. If I go to google maps my company is there. I don't think there were this many before. It does not appear to be related to the business address being in the central of the city. There are some in there in nearby cities.

You can google "carpet cleaning in San Jose" and see what I mean.

I've asked in a google forum but have not gotten an answer. Maybe I'm not explaining myself well.

thanks,
Albert

Hi Mate, i have noticed the same happening here, but to a lesser extend as our mapping service is not as comprehensive. The listings are not related to rank, alphabetised, anything. You come up on page 7 and you have a far better website than the guy who is in number 1. I have been hearing mummers around the net that google will be changing the way the listings appear as currently I don't believe there is a forumla. Joe blogs with just a phone number and name starts with Z and is based in the next city can be above you. Give it time and webmasters will put up a stink and google will sort it out. Sorry i can't be of more help mate. (yet another reason I refuse to give money to google) :roll:

 

[joey895]

I got a question regarding google map results. I'd start another thread but I think it fits well here.

Seems that lately google maps results are first with 10 companies. How do you get into this list. If I go to google maps my company is there. I don't think there were this many before. It does not appear to be related to the business address being in the central of the city. There are some in there in nearby cities.

You can google "carpet cleaning in San Jose" and see what I mean.

I've asked in a google forum but have not gotten an answer. Maybe I'm not explaining myself well.

thanks,
Albert

My understanding is google changes the order randomly. I don't keep daily track of it but I have noticed that at times I'm in that top ten for my city and at times I have been as far back as page 4 in no particular order that I have noticed.

 

[Blue Monarch]

Carpet Cleaning Lincoln
Page One
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&rlz= ... tnG=Search

Carpet Cleaning Lincoln NE
Page Two
http://www.google.com/search?q=carpet+c ... US213US214

Try tile & grout cleaning.

Now, no comments on the crappiness of the site!

 

[alazo1]

By PCC

Hey Dirk, nice work on your search results mate. I can't acres this section of the forum any more, so I will catch you out in the public sections

Your site is cool and you have done well with it. I will pm you if I find anything else I reckon will improve your site. All the best.

- Dave

 

[Royal Man]

If anyone is interested in a link exchange Email me: royalcarpetlincoln@yahoo.com

 

[orbitalclean]

Hey Albert and Dave I sent you an email. Lets trade some links!

Anyone else interested, hit me up: info@santaclaritacarpetcleaning.net

 

[Scott]

I don't get why you'd all want to exchange links unless the page backlinked from is a PR4 or better.

Scott

 

[orbitalclean]

I don't get why you'd all want to exchange links unless the page backlinked from is a PR4 or better.

Scott

You have to build to get the high PR, you're not just born into it :roll:

Luckily people like to help each other.

 

[Blue Monarch]

The whole PR thing doesn't seem that important from what I've seen. My PR sucks and I still show up pretty high. First if you search for tile and grout.

It remains a mystery just like they want.

Scott, what am I missing as I'm sure it's something.

 

[orbitalclean]

My PR sucks as well but I am #1 for "carpet cleaning" in my area.

From what I understand; If you dont build links now, the sites that get higher pagerank will most likely take your spot...

 

[Bruce Humphrey]

David, what are your search words. I'm not seeing your company on google when I search "Carpet Cleaning Santa Clarita"

 

[Royal Man]

I can't find it either. Also I can't figure it out Google. All of a sudden I'm ahead of Dirk for most searches. I wonder why Cleaning Connection is almost always #1 or 2.

I was # 2 in google maps now I,m not even listed on the first 5 pages.

 

[Scott]

Page Rank is irrelevant if the prospect types in the keywords you optimized and your website is one of the only ones with those same keywords. Google takes into consideration localization as well when discovering results.

I.E. - if your prospect types in Carpet Cleaning Lincoln NE and nobody else has optimized those keywords except you, you'll show up high in the rankings.

But if others catch on and optimize those same keywords, the higher PR page gets listed higher.

Backlinking to less than a 4PR page really serves no purpose unless you own those pages and are building them up for your own purpose. Simple keyword optimization and having relevant & fresh content makes a world of difference. Creating a sitemap to teach search engines how often to come back and what to look for also helps way more than linking to PR4 or less sites.

Also, consider this. Page Rank is like a pie. If a high PR page has 2 backlinks, the sites that it's backlinked to will gain more of a boost than if a high PR site has dozens, hundreds, or thousands of backlinks. The less backlinking, the better for the backlinker.

There's a formula out there in googleland that will display the anticipated backlinked PR when backlinked from PR0 through 10 sites, which also takes into account the number of backlinks. The mathematical routine does not use simple division, however, so we can't just count the backlinks from an xPR site and expect to have an accurate number.

It's confusing for a reason.

Scott

 

[orbitalclean]

David, what are your search words. I'm not seeing your company on google when I search "Carpet Cleaning Santa Clarita"

My sites have been through alot the last month. The server went down without a backup and had to be moved.

I am still #1 in Yahoo: http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=santa+ ... s&ei=UTF-8

and I was just recently indexed by google, so it it will take a while to see where I stand with them.

 

[orbitalclean]

Page Rank is irrelevant if the prospect types in the keywords you optimized and your website is one of the only ones with those same keywords. Google takes into consideration localization as well when discovering results.

I.E. - if your prospect types in Carpet Cleaning Lincoln NE and nobody else has optimized those keywords except you, you'll show up high in the rankings.

But if others catch on and optimize those same keywords, the higher PR page gets listed higher.

Backlinking to less than a 4PR page really serves no purpose unless you own those pages and are building them up for your own purpose. Simple keyword optimization and having relevant & fresh content makes a world of difference. Creating a sitemap to teach search engines how often to come back and what to look for also helps way more than linking to PR4 or less sites.

Also, consider this. Page Rank is like a pie. If a high PR page has 2 backlinks, the sites that it's backlinked to will gain more of a boost than if a high PR site has dozens, hundreds, or thousands of backlinks. The less backlinking, the better for the backlinker.

There's a formula out there in googleland that will display the anticipated backlinked PR when backlinked from PR0 through 10 sites, which also takes into account the number of backlinks. The mathematical routine does not use simple division, however, so we can't just count the backlinks from an xPR site and expect to have an accurate number.

It's confusing for a reason.

Scott

Scott thats a lot of info for a guy with an 06' domain and a PR2.
I guess those that can't do, teach?

 

[XTREME1]

david are you dwights brother?

 

[orbitalclean]

david are you dwights brother?

no I cant say that I am. I have family in Minnesota, Arizona and California.

Ps. You have a good strong brand there with Xtreme, I like your business sense..

 

[Scott]

Scott thats a lot of info for a guy with an 06' domain and a PR2.
I guess those that can't do, teach?

Touche' Orbital -

I never said that I had a great page rank. Don't need it anyway with my keywords. If you read what I stated instead of attacked, you'd see my question was concerning the need to trade links with a PR4 or less. It's not needed unless you have competition over optimized keywords.

Get it or do I have to 'splain it to ya again?

Scott
PS - I do know exactly how to get a page rank to 7. It takes a LOT of work, effort, and some money. But who cares about PR anyway if you already "own" the keywords you're trying to optimize? There, I 'splained it to ya anyhow!

 

[orbitalclean]

Scott thats a lot of info for a guy with an 06' domain and a PR2.
I guess those that can't do, teach?

Touche' Orbital -

I never said that I had a great page rank. Don't need it anyway with my keywords. If you read what I stated instead of attacked, you'd see my question was concerning the need to trade links with a PR4 or less. It's not needed unless you have competition over optimized keywords.

Get it or do I have to 'splain it to ya again?

Scott
PS - I do know exactly how to get a page rank to 7. It takes a LOT of work, effort, and some money. But who cares about PR anyway if you already "own" the keywords you're trying to optimize? There, I 'splained it to ya anyhow!

Its not that hard to follow...

Yes it takes hard work and money UNLESS you trade links, which is what you are discouraging.
Who's to say that a site you trade with hasn't worked diligently (as we all are) and their PR goes
from 0 to 2 on the next update or even a 2 to 4?

No one starts out at PR 4 everyone starts at a PR0.

YOU HAVE TO TRADE.

OR

You can buy links on high PR sites.

I choose to trade. Who knows what PR I will be on the next update. Who knows what PR my
trading partners will be on the next update.