When inbound links occur naturally, you don’t look to see if the site linking to you is a good linking partner. They just link in, and eventually, you look if you need to.
Most websites don’t “just” accrue links on their own if they are focused on ranking; they use some sort of link-building tactic to attract them. Link-building companies like mine offer these services and start all projects with a look and evaluation of the sites we’ll be contacting for links. Good link partners are key to a good linking campaign.
In this article, I’ll home in on how we initially determine if a site will make a good linking partner.
Checklist of questions
Here are the questions and criteria we use to rate a website as we prospect for link-building partners. Use them as a checklist as you begin your linking campaign.
1. Is the site indexed in Google?
To me, the ultimate sign of something wrong with a web page is the lack of its appearance in Google. If the web page you’re looking for doesn’t show up in Google? Not a good sign, and I’d probably avoid the site overall. If you’re using any other search engine, following links or coming to a site from a social network, it is critical you go back to Google and check for the web page. If it’s not indexed, there’s no need to go any further.
2. Is there contact information on the site?
I don’t need to see where a blogger lives, of course, but if there’s no way to contact the webmaster on the site? I wouldn’t consider them as a link partner. They obviously don’t want to be contacted. Even having just a form on the site raises a flag for me. Look for an email address, telephone number and social media accounts that show the site has an active webmaster behind it.
3. Is the writing any good?
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