Pros and Cons of Links in Articles
-
My question pertains to articles that I'll be submitting to certain article directory sites.
What are the pros and cons (If any exists) of adding links to the body of an article for certain keywords vs. just adding a link to the website at the bottom (i.e. visit us at www.somewebsite.com) ?
-
There are no pros of using article directories. Short term gains might look like a pro, but they aren't.
Value in these sources of links has gone down over the years, and they'll continue to slide. A better use of your time might be with publishing a few selective guest posts on related sites. With regards to your question, use links wherever it feels natural. If the link is forced or looks out of place, you probably shouldn't be doing it.
...and remember the links you use, don't all have to be pointing to your site alone.
I did a guest post recently which was later re-published on Forbes. In addition to my own, I linked to two other sites which I was not affiliated with. One of them emailed me to say thanks and I took the opportunity to ask for a link from his PR6 site which I got. I emailed the other one, and after several exchanges it was clear that the only thing that moves him to link out is money. So there ya go.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Does link have any value?
I recently received a link, but upon inspecting the page source on the site I did not see the link in the coding. Is this a link with any SEO value? Is google able to see this link? Note: Upon inspecting the actual link on the page, I do see coding with a followed link, but on the page source, only the actual table in which it is listed shows in the coding, with none of the content - including our link, showing.
Link Building | | whiteonlySEO0 -
When buying used domains, how do i see the links pointing to that domain? OSE not showing links
when buying used domains, how do i see the links pointing to that domain? Sometimes the open site explorer doesn't show any links to the domain, especially if the domain is parked. Obviously a domain for sale with 1000 domains linking to it has lots of SEO Value right? Thanks mozzers!
Link Building | | Ron100 -
If you discount a subscription when the client links to you, does that classify as a paid link?
For example, we all subscribe to MOZ, but if we received a 25% discount on our subscription if we linked back, would that be considered by Google as a paid link, or would it be seen as a sales tool / promotion?
Link Building | | JonathanSmith0 -
Ecomerce: Would 4 link sections leak too much link juice?
Hello, In my content management for our ecomerce site, I've found that there are sometimes links to sites in our industry that have "helpful links" sections. Several strong sites link directly to these resource sections. There are 4 different topics that fit this trend in our industry. Would it leak too much link juice to make 4 comprehensive link sections and place a link to them on our "Useful Articles" page? Or should I stick to one comprehensive link section? Or perhaps a small link section? Or none at all? Thanks.
Link Building | | BobGW0 -
Inbound links vs. internal links
Which scenario does more to help SEO - A) An inbound link from a low traffic/low page rank site to my site B) An internal link where one page of my site links to another page on my site
Link Building | | DVanSchepen0 -
Do links from a Tumblr blog count as inbound links?
That's it. I'm thinking of making a Tumblre blog (s) for inbound links. Is it worthwhile?
Link Building | | Spreader73760