Missing Links in Side Bar and New Page.
Posted: November 19th, 2010 | Author: Don | Filed under: Misc | Tags: blogging, blogs, Google, link count, links, pages, ratings, surfing, Yahoo | 9 Comments »After receiving a message from someone who was concerned with the 1152 links to her site from my blog, and in reading various things on blogs and sidebar links, I have decided to remove the links from my sidebar and create a separate page for my links. This should cut down on the Google clutter those links will receive,and give them a more valid link count for their site so they don’t get hosed somehow.
In doing a lot of research on this this past two weeks, I am finding that having your blog roll in your side bar is not a good way to do things as far as Google and Yahoo ratings, as well as the other rating systems go. Many of them probably consider those links to be bad, as EVERY message (presuming that you are using most of the current blog packages out there with sidebars that are on each page) is a page that has those links, as well as the home page, etc. And each of those messages and “Static” pages show as a link count.
Something to consider to help your friends out, as that link count may look bad for them!
Do you mean the Blog list that is supplied by blogger or the old fashioned Blogroll type things?
I had noticed that I wasn’t getting as many visits via Google on some subjects, it makes sense now.
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Don Reply:
November 20th, 2010 at 11:43 am
Anji, yes, the list at the side of your blog entries that list web sites you like and read/etc. Each page you create that has that list on the side counts as a new link, which each blog entry provides a new link, each page if you have more than one provides a new link. This depreciates the link’s value on Google and other related search engines studies are finding.
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I understand. It explains why our ebay page isn’t quite as famous as it used to be, we have nearly 4000 items in our shop with links to all of our catagories (200+) on each page. Yes, it explains a lot.
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Am I the first to have clicked on the link in the email you sent out?
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Don Reply:
November 23rd, 2010 at 6:00 am
Hello Anji, Technically no, as I did to see if it worked.
But aside from me, yes! And you should have gotten 10 extra credits! 
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Hello
If possible in your template system, having a blogroll on your homepage only makes the best sense. The sidebar should not be the same throughout your entire site, but customised based on context. Internal links on every page are fine, but external links should not be everywhere, you are quite right.
-Simon
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Don Reply:
November 23rd, 2010 at 5:59 am
Simon, unless you (generic you, being the blog owner, not you directly) are web design developer for your particular blog package, 99% of the sidebars travel across all pages, be they individual pages for each message, the home page, or any other pages you add to the system. There are very few templates that remove the sidebar from any page. So, while I agree having the blogroll on the home page, in most cases that means having it on all pages. At least that has been my finding.
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So the best thing to do with my blog roll is to put it on a page? How many people would really click on an extra page just to see the blogs I like/read? Hmm .. I’ll have to experiment with this, and see if I can figure out how to do it.
I have noticed that my Google hits have gone *way* down on both of my blogs, but especially my Children’s Books blog in the last month.
Thanks for the info!
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Don Reply:
November 23rd, 2010 at 9:26 pm
Laura: I’m not sure how many people will click on the page. (I’m testing that out now.) I do know that the old way of having the links on the side, in most of the styles used by WordPress, Blogger, and such, are no longer a good way of having them, as they show up in each message, on each page, etc., which lowers your rating and their rating on Google and other search engines. I did a LOT of research on this, and talked to some coder friends at both Google and Yahoo, and they kinda confirmed it without coming out and saying it. Became too much like a link farm kind of thing.
I’ll let you know what I find out as I monitor my site for a few weeks to see if anyone is clicking on the “My Links” page.
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