Links were where we left off last week. Therefore, it is where we will start this week. Links or linking was the topic. I wanted to discuss in depth the different types of links. Generally, there are about five different types, with several sub-categories. We will jump right in, and learn more about links and their appropriate uses.

Anchor Links

An anchor tag link looks like this in the code of the site. <a> sometimes call the href stands for Hypertext REFerence. It is the reference for the page or URL you are linking too. These by far the most common and used very frequently. It is a standard in both measurement and quality of standard SEO practices.

Image LinksLinking

This is the practice of using an image as the clickable like to re-direct the user to another page, article or website.  It looks like <img> but it must be incorporated into the <a> tag. ie. <aherf=https://www.example.com><img src=”logo.jpg? alt=logo” /> </a>

JavaScript Linking

Using javascript for your linking is possible. But I would not recommend it. Java is not always crawlable by search engines. Thereby decreasing the likely hood that the desired link or connection will be made. But if you choose to use Java, it should look like <script> var a = doc var link Text= my doc; a.herf = “my title text”; a.herf = “https://exam;e.com”; document.body.appendChild(a); </script>
Again I would not recommend this type of link. Any function that is dependent on another action to execute the command is likely to fail or become disrupted by normal bot functions.

Rel Links

Rel links are sometimes called Canonical Links. These are important to any SEO, or linking strategy. However, sometimes there may be issues. We all know that duplicate content is a killer when considering SEO as a goal. Well, canonical links can be considered duplicate pages if not handled properly. In short, you need to tell the search engine what the parameters are, for example, is it a www. or a non-www. page, is it an Index.php, or duplicate? You must also consider Http vs. Http(s) pages. Think this thoroughly through when using these links.

No Follow’s

no followI appreciate no-follows, and I know Google does too. In short, you are telling the search engines “do not follow this page” or better yet, do not index this page! Think about it this way, does Google really needs to index another “contact us” form? They look like <meta name=”robots” content=”nofollow” />  Other types of no-follows you should consider including are “paid links,” “user-generated,”  “Comments CMS,” and sites that you are unwilling or unable to verify or guarantee for their content.

Further pages include “Sign in pages,” “Registration pages,” “Forms,” and “Terms and Conditions,” pages.

In Conclusion

Linking is important; they are the basis of the most powerful search engines in the world, Google. So don’t mess them up. They are your best friend or your worst enemy. Do not ever try to deploy them nefariously; always use only white hat techniques.

And I haven’t even started on Social Media Follows. However, if you are unclear on their proper use, you have a friend called e2-Total Solutions that can clarify there use and proper deployment for you. Call them today.

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