Has anyone every researched how long before a link took effect.....

[RankStealer]

What I mean is lets assume you were to get a link from BBC or CNN how long does it take for that link to have a positive impact on your rankings?

I ask because I am experiment with getting links from different sources and I want to try and nail down their real worth.....

Also if you do get a link is it normal that google would crawl your site and if so do you see this reflected in googles cache immediately?

Thanks

[RyanKent]

Hi Nicola,

I work with Jamie and she is out for a 3-day weekend so if you don't mind I'll jump in.

You originally asked "lets assume you were to get a link from BBC or CNN how long does it take for that link to have a positive impact on your rankings?" I believe those are the benefits Jamie was referring to, positive rankings. Whether you actually see any ranking benefit depends on numerous factors. Referral traffic is another potential benefit.

When you say the link would be the company name, once again there are numerous factors involved. If your company name is "SEOmoz" then your company name also includes your primary keyword focus. Google can also relate your relevance based on other factors such as the surrounding text or page title.

[RankStealer]

Hi Jamie

Yes I was refering to google I'm only really concerned with rankings the other things (PR/DA/PA) all confuse things imo.

When you say I would notice the benefits in minutes what kind of benefit are you referring to? Referral Traffic?

Can I also clarify that the link Im talking about would be the company name and not a targeted keyword......so I assume it would be unlikely that you would rank better for specific keywords would it?

Thanks

[jenmcardle]

What I mean is lets assume you were to get a link from BBC or CNN how long does it take for that link to have a positive impact on your rankings?

The question is a bit vague so I need to make some assumptions. Feel free to correct me if I make any errors.

First, I am presuming you are referring to Google. Each search engine handles links differently. Next, I presume by "take effect" you mean the link will offer a positive benefit to the site's rankings. You could be referring to PR or even SEOmoz PA.

When Google discovers a link the target page will immediately benefit from the link. If you receive a link from the home page of CNN you will likely notice the benefits within minutes of the link being published. If your link is deeper in the site it may take longer to be discovered but most likely within a couple hours. If you receive a link from other sites the link may never be discovered or it may be deemed spammy and offered no value.

** if you do get a link is it normal that google would crawl your site and if so do you see this reflected in googles cache immediately?**

Once again, there are numerous factors involved. If you receive a link from a web page with 1000 other links, then Google may not follow the link at all. If you receive a link from the home page of CNN it is highly likely Google will follow it, but they may not do so on the initial visit. Whenever the link is followed, you can expect for Google to update their data.

[Gyi]

I suggest that it becomes "effective" when the link is crawled and index.