Spreading Link Juice across the Domain
Search Engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing are constantly updating their algorithms or ‘rulebook’ so to speak and as we all know these dynamic algorithms are a tightly kept secret. Search engine optimisation professionals and website administrators are constantly trying to play by the rules and implement SEO techniques that search engines reward or more importantly don’t punish. This is particularly relevant with the Link Building element of SEO. For example the highly publicised Google Penguin update, which identified black hat link building techniques such as participating in link schemes, purchasing unnatural links, linking to irrelevant websites etc, was a direct move to try and punish those attempting to manipulate Google and the Google user by receiving ‘cheap’ link juice.
Since the Penguin update of 2012 SEO professionals and anyone immersed in the online world have been developing new white hat linking strategies that are Google friendly and so boost rankings. One very relevant and strong tactic we have been researching ourselves here at Enhance web design is the theory of spreading your link juice throughout your domain. Most external links (back links) to most websites will generally link to the home page of that website. So if 90% of the back link profile is feeding into the home page of that website the rest of the domain will be neglected resulting in a lower overall domain authority. Online marketers and Link tacticians need to strategically identify pages that are relevant to the proposed external or back link. Furthermore attaching authentic, personable and original meta data to the link will diversify the back link profile of the website and make it stand out from the crowd so to speak. Ultimately it will make the link profile much more natural. Tip: Allow the admin of the linking website to create the meta data.
So let’s put this theory or link building strategy into context. Here at Enhance we are primarily a web design and development agency. We have designed and developed significant amount of websites for a diverse range of clients. For the most part we will embed a link to our homepage in the footer of the given client’s website. For example check out the footer on Apache Pizza. The meta data attached to the majority of our external client links is usually the same, something along the lines of “Web Design by enhance.ie”. We have recognised that this generic linking to the home page is seen as lazy and more importantly irrelevant to an extent. We are currently in the process of formulating a strategy to spread our link juice across the domain and make our back link profile more authentic, relevant and diverse. We are creating ‘industry’ portfolios where we will categorise or group our clients by their industry or type of business. For example we have developed the web presence for a number of non-profit (or charity) organisations. We will be grouping those specific clients in a ‘Non-Profit’ category portfolio on our website. The external link from the non-profit websites will be directed to this portfolio page and each link will have a tailored and unique piece of meta data attached. This is a relevant opportunity to spread our link juice throughout the enhance.ie domain. It will also benefit us from a search query point of view. For example, if a Google user enters the search term ‘web design for charities’, our portfolio page will be in a strong position to feature due to the specific nature of the portfolio page and diverse and relevant back links established.
The SEO experts here a Enhance web design have recognised that the spreading of link juice across the domain will require a major body of work and effort in terms of content generation and web design implementation. However it is something we are prepared to undertake to solidify and improve the overall search engine optimisation of the enhance.ie domain. We would recommend employing a similar strategy for any link building initiative especially for websites with healthy back link profiles. To find out some more about this strategy check out Matt Morgan’s article ‘Using Footer Links to Diversify Your Backlink Profile’.