Link Values

To assist you in determining the value of a link, there are a variety of tools that you can use.

Using the Page Rank Toolbar

Page Rank (PR) is Google’s proprietary algorithm. According to Google, “PageRank works by counting the number and quality of links to a page to determine a rough estimate of how important the website is. The underlying assumption is that more important websites are likely to receive more links from other websites.”

Page Rank is measured on a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the highest and almost unattainable. For example, Facebook is a 9, SLR Lounge is a 4, and Lin and Jirsa Blog is a 3.

General Rule – If all else is equal, a link from a high Page Rank site is more valuable than a link from a low Page Rank site.

Common Misconception – Many website owners see PR as the only important factor for determining the value of a link. But in reality, it’s just one of the many indicators, as we mentioned in the previous section. So be sure to not obsess over increasing PR and getting links from high PR sites.

There are many more factors to consider when it comes to link quality, which we’ll review later in the chapter. For now, simply install a toolbar in your browser that shows you the page rank of a website. You can simply search “Page Rank [insert your browser name]” and you should see plenty of options.

google-page-rank-1

Using the Alexa Toolbar

A website’s Alexa ranking is one of the best ways to determine the amount of traffic for a website. According to Alexa, “Alexa’s Traffic Ranks are based on the traffi c data provided by users in Alexa’s global data panel over a rolling 3 month period. Traffic Ranks are updated daily. A site’s ranking is based on a combined measure of Unique Visitors and Pageviews.”

Websites with more traffic have lower Alexa Rankings (Google is 1 and Facebook is 2), while websites with higher Alexa Rankings receive less traffi c (Lin and Jirsa hovers around 600,000).

alexa-ranking

General Rule – All else equal, links from low Alexa number sites are better than links from high Alexa number sites.

Using the Moz Authority Toolbar

Moz.com is one of the thought-leaders on SEO. I highly recommend browsing their site if you’re looking for more SEO information. They have come up with their own algorithm to rank “Page Authority” based on the factors mentioned along with many more. You can download and use their Toolbar at no cost; and it gives you another, reliable 3rd party way to gauge a website’s authority.

moz-toolbar

General Rule – All else equal, links from high Page Authority (PA) pages are better than links from low Page Authority pages.

Using these Tools

These three tools that we mentioned, Page Rank, Alexa Rank, and the Moz Toolbar, will help you make objective, informed decisions.

For example, if you are deciding between listing your site on Photography Directory A or Photography Directory B, you would choose the directory with a higher PR if all of the other factors are pretty similar. If you’re deciding to guest write for either Photography Blog A or Photography Blog B, prioritize the one with a higher Alexa Ranking if all other factors are similar. If you’re deciding to submit your work to Magazine A or Magazine B, submit to the one with a higher page authority if all other factors are similar.

We’ll get into each of these link building strategies, and others, in detail later in this book; but we wanted to mention some of them here to give you an idea of how we are going to use these tools to guide our decisions.

CHAPTER 1.01 – INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER 2: 1.02 – SEO BASICS & KEYWORD STRATEGY

CHAPTER 3 1.03 – CREATING CONTENT

CHAPTER 4: 1.04 – SITE STRUCTURE

Chapter 5: 1.05 – ACCESSIBILITY, SPEED, AND DUPLICATE CONTENT

Chapter 6: 2.01 – LINK BASICS

Chapter 7: 2.02 – LINK VALUE FACTORS

Chapter 8: 2.03 – NOFOLLOW, RELATED LINKS, & ANCHOR TEXT

Chapter 9: 2.04 – LINK BUILDING STRATEGIES

Chapter 10: 3.01 – THE IMPORTANCE OF SOCIAL MEDIA

Chapter 11: 3.02 – MAXIMIZING SPECIFIC SOCIAL MEDIA NETWORKS

Chapter 12: 3.03 – MASTER LOCAL SEARCH

Chapter 13: 4.01 – Initial Decisions

Chapter 14: 4.02 – WORDPRESS AND Squarespace

Chapter 15: 4.03 – GOOGLE ANALYTICS

Chapter 16: PAID DIRECTORIES

ACCESS TO INDUSTRY-LEADING EDUCATION

Let SLR Lounge guide you in your photography journey with the best photography education and resources. Browse our complete, comprehensive solutions and take the next step in your photography.
BROWSE WORKSHOPS