Warning - this is long!

I have run into an interesting situation...

I am my own webmaster, so I did my own link exchanges and spent a lot of time seeking and adding "relocation" partners.

This weekend I went through all my links to make sure my site was still on their site. If I couldn't find my link, I sent the following email about the "missing link" along with linking information:

~~~
Sometime ago we did a link exchange. It now appears that my link has been removed from your site. If you would like for your link to remain on my site, please add my link back to your site and notify me as to its placement.I realize I may have just missed the link – if that is the case, please send me the link and accept my apology for the inconvenience.
~~~

Today, I got a response from one site saying "All taken care of." No link to where it is placed, so I searched and searched. I finally found a teeny, tiny, almost white-on-white link to the referral partner page at the bottom of the main page. A couple clicks later, I found my link. Interesting thing is, the link was there all along and I just couldn't find it. (I actually found some other almost invisible links, too.)

Now to my questions...

Is it true that "almost invisible" links are a no-no?

Does this type of link help me or hurt me as far as SEO and page rank goes?

I have had a couple of requests for links that I have turned down because I couldn't find the link page. They (webmasters) have told me it doesn't matter if people can find the links anyway, because their only purpose is for the search engines. Is this true?

Do you think I should keep this link or get rid of it along with all the others that no longer link back to me?

Any insight will be appreciated!

Betty

Hi Betty,

You should start using a link checking program to ensure your links are kept on their websites. Most website owners will place your link and will remove it a few days later as you don't have time to re-check all of your links all the time.

There is software that will automatically check these links for you.

You should also join the http://www.AgentsExchangeLinks.com it's a fresh new site that we've started last week but it has been started for exactly this reason. All members who join our free service must not cheat and if they are even cought cheating they will be removed from our network and will be placed into our list of cheaters.

Hi Betty.

Yes, hiding links is a no-no. Actually, hiding anything is a no-no. Some websites hide all kinds of things, including entire pages of content that they only show to search engines but not people (cloaking).

It will not hurt you if this website links to you. Search engine designers are smart enough to know that we cannot control who links to us, so there is no harm / no foul there.

However, you do need to be selective in the sites you link to. You can certainly harm your website's reputation by linking to sites that are banned from Google, sites that hide links, etc.

If the website in question engages in that kind of trickery, I would not link to them. It's not worth it, in my humble opinion.

Hope that helps.

-Brandon

Agent and Brandon -

Thanks for your replies! Have a couple more questions/comments, though:

I actually have ARELIS and have used it, but...
When I check sites they indicate are not linked back to me, most of them actually are. Last weekend, I used the "checker" and rechecked each site they said was not linked. Then out of curiosity, I decided to go through some links on my site to see if they were actually still active. (I don't have hundreds of links, so it wasn't a huge undertaking - but not something I want to do very often.) Anyway, I found some sites actually no longer exist and others that appear to have removed my link.

Now, I know some of the disparity between what I found and what ARELIS found could be my "operator" error. So, can you recommend an easier or more accurate program?

When I first got my website, I basically linked with any real estate website I could get to reciprocate. My basic requirements were that it could not be a local competitor or a FSBO site, it had to appeal to me as a "surfer", and they had to have link exchange information on the site.

As time passed and my time became more limited, I stopped actively looking for link partners. I do get link exchange requests and I still use the above criteria; but I added a couple of other criteria, too. They must have an easily accessible partner page and they must link to me prior to my adding them to my site. I do not require they have a certain page rank or a certain type of site - I found that particularly offensive when I started out! It seems some webmasters forget they started out at "0"!

Now, to my question -
How do I determine whether a site has been "banned" by Google or one of the other major search engines?

Again, thanks to both of you for your responses.

Have a great day,

Betty

You should try www.linkmetro.com to generate links to your site. This service offers many automated features that will really help you. You can accept or reject links offered to you based on a site review or page rank etc. and only relevant links can be accepted and reciprocated in an automated fashion. Last time I checked it was a free service.

Hope this helps.

Thanks for the suggestion, Richard.

Have a good day,

Betty

Link Checkers

Some of you guys are too trusting when it comes to links. Here is some info that you have to know:

There are ways a programmer can make you think your link is there even though search engines DO NOT see them. This means when you go and visit your link partners website it seems as if the link is there and that everything is fine. But when Google, MSN or Yahoo come by with their bots the programmer can easily hide those links.

So now that you know that, there are also a tone of other ways someone could hide their links from you even though they seem like they are there.

What you need is a good link checking application that has been programmed by someone who understands how these link cheaters work

And I'm happy to say that you can find that link checker here: http://www.realbacklinks.com/link-checker/

Best of all, it's free.

STAY FAR AWAY from ANY automated link swapping services...

"STAY FAR AWAY from ANY automated link swapping services..."

I agree.

I agree, stay away from any auto link programs. Get in the habit of checking your reciprocals fairly often. One of the services ran into some problems last year and many of their clients deleted all their links. That leaves you giving a one-way link to their site. Might not be something you want to do. You also need to check who they are linking with. Their site may be a bad neighborhood, and may do you harm if you are linking to them. There are enough things in linking to keep you up at night.

Thanks for all the advice!

I was warned early on about not using linking services or automated services. I'm not sure I know what a "bad neighborhood" is - I just hope I haven't "bought" into one!

Thanks everyone!

Betty

one that the search engines don't like, if you link to sites that are spammy, and keep doing it, you eventually will become a bad neighborhood as well.

One thing you can use is to look at some of the sites links. Are they the type links you would want representing you to your clients or their kids. If as a realtor, you link with other realtors or real estate directories, you should be in good shape. Remember when linking, you are providing a service to your clients. Keep it related to your business. You need quality links not quantity.

That is my approach! So I should be okay.

I don't link to sites that lack content and I won't link to sites with a conglomeration of unrelated links. Some of my other requirements - easy to find, organized link pages. Also, no FSBO sites, no geographic competitors, etc.

Again, thanks everyone for your help!

Betty

If your link checker is looking at specific urls, and not spidering the whole site, then you will likely get a lot of false negatives.

That is becasue with a lot of link management systems, the links move to other pages.

link checker that look at specific urls are more trouble than they are worth, for that reason.

Use something like LinkSurvey.com

Also, in my experience, people are not placing links then removing them in large numbers. Some people do. Get over it. Forget about it.

Ths work is about gettting more links, not playing link cop over the ones you have. It's a waste of time. Time is precious. Get more links. Look forward, not back.

Unless youwant to spend all your time fretting over links removed. There is virtually NO return on investment in that, since sites that have removed your link will not put it back anyhow. You are wasting time. Precious time.

I do link work for hundreds of sites. This work is all about getting more links. If you are spending any time on link management, it should be focused entirely on that.

Fretting about links removed is almst always complete waste of time.