When you post on your blog there are some do’s and don’ts to linking to other sites that every blogger should be aware of. Here is a quick primer on how to link properly on your blog.
First of all…please link on your blog. If you make a project inspired by a pin on Pinterest, take the time to click through to the original source of the pin and link to that source and site their inspiration. Don’t try to pass off ideas you have copied as your own-your readers are on Pinterest too! Far better to share your inspiration and show your take on the project.
Use the proper anchor text. Anchor text refers to the section of text that you highlight when you create your link. This is my anchor text for Linky Party Tips. When creating your anchor text you may be tempted to use “via” or “source” to place your link as many blogs do. I’m asking you not to do that…in the world of SEO (Search Engine Optimization) this is very bad form. It does not give the site you are linking to the proper “Google Juice” it deserves.
The best way to format your anchor text is to describe the link within the anchor text. Here is an example: In this article Melissa of So You Wanna Be A Blogger describes how to make your blog user friendly. Now that is the ideal/best way to do it-I sited the author and site name as well as the title of the article all within the hyperlinked text. If it looks bad to you you can choose to only highlight the link title as an alternative that is still acceptable.
So what if you want to do a a paid or sponsored post? Did you know your links have to have a “no follow” tag per Google’s rules if they were paid? For this you will have to delve into the html of your blog post bot it is very simple. You just add the tag rel+”no follow” after your link. See this tutorial from Google on adding a no follow tag for more information.
So those are the basics of linking properly. Do you have any more linking guidelines to add? Have you been linking properly on your blog?
Hi, I think I have been linking properly. But the follow, no follow tag has me confused. I have read several articles about it and it just isn’t registering for me.
Great blog by the way.
Darlene
Darlene Nemeth recently posted…Gratitude Journaling with Your Child
Basically Darlene Google says you can’t pay for links on other sites. So if you receive payment on a post when you link back to them you need to make sure Google doesn’t “count” it. To do this in the html immediately after the link you add the rel=”no follow” tag and this tells Google not to count it as an outgoing link on your blog…in effect you don’t send your site’s “Google juice” to that other site. Clear as mud right?
I’m so glad that you shared this. I link properly on my blog (at least I do my best to), and it’s one of my pet peeves when people don’t! Don’t get me wrong, I don’t go around judging bloggers by their linking, but when a picture of mine is used and it just says “Source” underneath it with a hyperlink, it’s frustrating. I believe in giving credit where credit is due (not just for me, but for everyone.)
I also try to make sure that I get through the layers of credits/posts when I’m using something that I found on another site. Often times people (myself included) will do roundups, or have examples of an idea that is found on another site–instead of linking to that example, I try to click back until I find the original-original source and I link to that.
But I’m not perfect. Great post, though!
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