Friday, November 16, 2007
Inbound Links Part 4: Link Prices
So how much should you pay for a text link? Most links are sold on a monthly rate, although you might occasionally see weekly. Many webmasters offer package deals, like a discount if you buy more than one month at a time.
It's important to remember that the length your link is on the page makes a difference in how much value it brings to your site in terms of assisting your search engine ranking. The minimum you want to keep a link in place is 3 months; I recommend 6 months or even more to get the maximum search engine benefit.
But how do you know you're getting a good price? Links aren't like going to the store and buying something off the shelf, where you already have a good understanding of its value. How do you value a link?
There are a number of factors to consider when trying determining how much you should pay for a link:
Traffic
How much traffic does the site get? The more traffic, the higher the price the site can get. One place you can check is Alexa. Although Alexa traffic numbers are skewed toward the types of site webmasters and Internet marketers visit, it can still give you a general idea of the traffic the site is getting. Another place to check is TrafficEstimate. Simply enter the URL of the site you want to check and it will return an easy to read graph charting that site's traffic.
What Page is the Link on?
Home page links are almost always more expensive than interior page links. Is the link only on one page or on every page in the site? Run of site (ROS) links are usually more expensive than single page links. Keep in mind a lesion from my Part 3 article though: ROS links probably won't be much help when it comes to enhancing your search engine positions. However, if your goal is pure advertising (getting people to click the link vice a link to enhance your search engine positioning), ROS can offer an economic solution, especially if they're on a site very closely related to what you are advertising.
Location of the Link
Where the link is located on the page can affect the price. The most visible spots (header, left or right column above the fold) cost more than the less visible (footer and below the fold). Above the fold means visible when the page loads, below the fold means visitors would have to scroll to see that part of the page.
What is the Site About?
If the site is a very competitive niche (poker, travel, electronics for example), the links might be more expensive to a site with similar stats, but a different topic.
PageRank
Although you should always consider relevancy first when purchasing a link, the PageRank of the site and/or page will definitely affect the price. The higher the PageRank, the higher the cost. Are higher PageRank sites worth the higher price? Some say yes, some say no, which leads me to think that sometimes they are, and sometimes they aren't. You'll have to experiment for yourself. My personal technique is to go for lower PageRank (3 - 5) at lower prices.
The Number of Outbound Links Already on the Page
The more outbound links there are on the page, the less the link should cost. Too many outbound links can dilute the referral power of the page and result in search engines not valuing the links. I'd recommend not putting your link on a page that already has 10 or more outbound links. There's also the risk that too many outbound links, especially links aggregated in one place on the page, are easily identified as paid links, and you want your link to appear as natural as possible.
All of these factors contribute to the pricing of a link. Just as with any purchase, you should shop around. You'll probably find a wide discrepancy between link prices even though site might have similar statistics.
If you are purchasing links for their advertising effect, you can quickly determine if they work or not. Purchase the link and then see if anyone is clicking it. If not, no need to renew it.
Links purchased to help with search engine positioning are harder to evaluate. First off, you'll have to keep the link in place for a more extended period of time (at least 90 days). Then you'll need some way to see if your site is climbing the rankings for the search terms you're targeting. Even if it is, you probably won't be able to assign a specific benefit to any one link.
As I mentioned in Part 3, a hand tool is DigitalPoint's keyword tracker.
Once you register, this tool lets you enter your keyword phrases and monitor their position in the top three search engines (Google, Yahoo, MSN). Add your site and then add your top keyword phrases. Run a report BEFORE you start your link building campaign. As you execute your campaign, run the report on a regular basis to see if it's having any effect on your positioning.
Here's another tool you can use use to get a rough idea of link price. Although I wouldn't take the prices it suggests as gospel, it provides a way to compare prices among different sites and can give you some idea of link cost to start with.
Do your research, consider the factors I wrote about above, use the tools I recommend, and you're sure to locate some good linking deals that will benefit both your marketing and search engine positioning efforts.
It's important to remember that the length your link is on the page makes a difference in how much value it brings to your site in terms of assisting your search engine ranking. The minimum you want to keep a link in place is 3 months; I recommend 6 months or even more to get the maximum search engine benefit.
But how do you know you're getting a good price? Links aren't like going to the store and buying something off the shelf, where you already have a good understanding of its value. How do you value a link?
There are a number of factors to consider when trying determining how much you should pay for a link:
Traffic
How much traffic does the site get? The more traffic, the higher the price the site can get. One place you can check is Alexa. Although Alexa traffic numbers are skewed toward the types of site webmasters and Internet marketers visit, it can still give you a general idea of the traffic the site is getting. Another place to check is TrafficEstimate. Simply enter the URL of the site you want to check and it will return an easy to read graph charting that site's traffic.
What Page is the Link on?
Home page links are almost always more expensive than interior page links. Is the link only on one page or on every page in the site? Run of site (ROS) links are usually more expensive than single page links. Keep in mind a lesion from my Part 3 article though: ROS links probably won't be much help when it comes to enhancing your search engine positions. However, if your goal is pure advertising (getting people to click the link vice a link to enhance your search engine positioning), ROS can offer an economic solution, especially if they're on a site very closely related to what you are advertising.
Location of the Link
Where the link is located on the page can affect the price. The most visible spots (header, left or right column above the fold) cost more than the less visible (footer and below the fold). Above the fold means visible when the page loads, below the fold means visitors would have to scroll to see that part of the page.
What is the Site About?
If the site is a very competitive niche (poker, travel, electronics for example), the links might be more expensive to a site with similar stats, but a different topic.
PageRank
Although you should always consider relevancy first when purchasing a link, the PageRank of the site and/or page will definitely affect the price. The higher the PageRank, the higher the cost. Are higher PageRank sites worth the higher price? Some say yes, some say no, which leads me to think that sometimes they are, and sometimes they aren't. You'll have to experiment for yourself. My personal technique is to go for lower PageRank (3 - 5) at lower prices.
The Number of Outbound Links Already on the Page
The more outbound links there are on the page, the less the link should cost. Too many outbound links can dilute the referral power of the page and result in search engines not valuing the links. I'd recommend not putting your link on a page that already has 10 or more outbound links. There's also the risk that too many outbound links, especially links aggregated in one place on the page, are easily identified as paid links, and you want your link to appear as natural as possible.
All of these factors contribute to the pricing of a link. Just as with any purchase, you should shop around. You'll probably find a wide discrepancy between link prices even though site might have similar statistics.
If you are purchasing links for their advertising effect, you can quickly determine if they work or not. Purchase the link and then see if anyone is clicking it. If not, no need to renew it.
Links purchased to help with search engine positioning are harder to evaluate. First off, you'll have to keep the link in place for a more extended period of time (at least 90 days). Then you'll need some way to see if your site is climbing the rankings for the search terms you're targeting. Even if it is, you probably won't be able to assign a specific benefit to any one link.
As I mentioned in Part 3, a hand tool is DigitalPoint's keyword tracker.
Once you register, this tool lets you enter your keyword phrases and monitor their position in the top three search engines (Google, Yahoo, MSN). Add your site and then add your top keyword phrases. Run a report BEFORE you start your link building campaign. As you execute your campaign, run the report on a regular basis to see if it's having any effect on your positioning.
Here's another tool you can use use to get a rough idea of link price. Although I wouldn't take the prices it suggests as gospel, it provides a way to compare prices among different sites and can give you some idea of link cost to start with.
Do your research, consider the factors I wrote about above, use the tools I recommend, and you're sure to locate some good linking deals that will benefit both your marketing and search engine positioning efforts.
Labels: Link Building
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