Welcome to the Q&A Forum

Thank you for your responses.

It seems it's not quite as clear cut as I was hoping!

I think using your definition Tom, they would appear to be far from natural then.  Afraid I can't fathom out how the links are being labelled ameliavargo.... I'm still trying to understand how to decipher the data that moz is providing me.

It's interesting because if this is in fact a valid "loophole" to gain links then it seems pretty effective!  Looking at my example, this method is generating thousands of links for the individual businesses listed within the internal directory which I'm imagining must do wonders for SERP's.

So is it fair to assume that the reason this does not get picked up by Google is because all of the links are of businesses in the same field of work?  I guess what I'm asking in effect is, how does Google go about assessing the integrity of the links?

Hi everyone,

I'm trying to better understand what is meant by a natural link and would appreciate any assistance.

Doing some competitor link analysis I've noticed a web developer who has created a directory for all its customers.  This is not a directory in the traditional sense of being of use to an end user, but to my untrained eyes, it looks like an internal directory used solely for the purpose of link building.  For all I know this might be perfectly good practice in the industry, but as a beginner, I'm attempting to get an understanding of things.

My question is, what precisely is meant by a natural link?  If the above scenario is all ok, whereby there are businesses in the same field of work, but ultimately could be in any given location, on a directory, are they natural links?  Do these kind of directories that don't service an end user, exist if the common feature between them is say location only, or an seo agency only?

Appreciate I could be completely out of kilter on this, but it seems the benefit on SERPs is pretty significant for something that seems pretty "unnatural" to me?

Any guidance would be appreciated...tom

Thanks William.

Hi all,

I run a blog from my WP site, and also a seperate one on blogger.com which has authorship linked to it.

I'm noticing that if I put up a  WP blog (from my site) on my G+, this will pop up on listings presented the same as the authorship (image shown).

My question is, although I make sure that I do not duplicate content between the two blogs, will this kind of mixing up of things (incorporating G+) actually be counter-productive?

Thanks in advance.... tom

Can I ask what method you use to come up with those stats on a daily basis, and how confident you are that they are accurate? .... tom

Hi

Just got a question looking at the general timing of events and wanting to know what is the norm.

I've seen on here recently talk of eBay losing ranking in the last few days, and here in the UK news, we have had info today of security issues at the company stemming from being hacked late Feb - early March.

Are those two events linked?  If so, what is the mechanism by which google would affect the ranking of an established company like this, for an issue like that?

And more generally, what are the typical timings of cause and effect with regards to google responding with demoting rank for more general issues?

Thanks in advance...... tom

Yes I am.  Thanks for your assistance Andy.... tom

Hi

My first q on here (hoorah!), and it's about links (boo!).

I've got what appears to be a handful (but worryingly, increasing in number) of links pointing to my site like this:

http://condos.mrgulffront.com/florida-condos-for-sale/320-scenic-gulf-drive-miramar-beach-fl-32550-mls-567591/

I've made contact with the sites concerned, and had only one positive response who flatly denied all knowledge of it.

The issue (as far as I can see) is that as in the above example the links (on the bottom right in the grey box) are forever changing so not always visible.

Can anyone offer any guidance as to these kinds of nasty links.... I'm right at the v beginning on this "path of seo understanding" so please don't assume prior knowledge!

Thanks in advance.... tom