By Wim Hoogenraad
This is the question I ask myself when some Webmaster invites my to exchange links. First of all I don't want my web site to be associated with gambling of porn because it is bad for my reputation. Secondly I need to know more about the suggested linkpage because I take the linking business seriously. Will this linkpage help me to gain the traffic to my site? Does this linkpage help me to get a higher pagerank? The first question about the right content can be answered by visiting the linkpage. The other questions are more difficult to be answered. Since I get more than one exchange proposal in a day I made a tool to analyse a linkpage. In this article I want to share this tool with you.
How does it work?
You put in the url of the linkpage you want to analyse, then we run a number of tests. When a test checks ok, the page will collect a number of points. When not ok, the page gets no points or go back to zero, or points are subtracted. The way this is done depends on the importance of the test. The number of points a linkpage collects during this process determines the number of stars.
No stars? Don't exchange links with this page. 5 stars? Link right away if you can!
The performed checks during the analysing process are:
1. Test existence of the linkpage: Why would you exchange links when your site does not get a link on an existing page?
2. Search engine index webpage directions: Does the linkpage instruct search engine to index that page? Don't link this page when this check fails. There is not a real problem then this check returns a 'Not found' status.
3. Search engine follow hyperlink directions: Does the linkpage instruct search engine to follow the hyperlinks (like your link) on that page? Don't link this page when this check fails. There is not a real problem then this check returns a 'Not found' status.
4. Test host site existence: When the host site is different form the linkpage you are probably invited by a link farm. Be careful to exchange links with this page.
5. Linkpage indexed by Google. This test checks if Google knows the linkpage. When it does Google will probably find your site via this linkpage, extra points for this linkpage.
6. Linkpage indexed by Yahoo. This test checks if Yahoo knows the linkpage. When it does Yahoo will probably find your site via this linkpage, extra points for this linkpage.
7. Linkpage indexed by MSN. This test checks if MSN knows the linkpage. When it does MSN will probably find your site via this linkpage, extra points for this linkpage.
8. PageRank of the linkpage. When the linkpage has a high PageRank it will boost you site when linked.
9. PageRank of the host of the linkpage. Same remark as 8, but less important.
The stars show the results as a linking advice.
When the Linkpage Analyzer can find the keywords of the linkpage he will show them. It is important for you to check these keywords and check if they comply with the goal of your web site. If there is a fit you must surely exchange links with this site.
Would you like Linkpage Analyzer running in a box on you site?
Try this:
It looks like this:
If you want to have a WebmasterLookup Linkpage Analyzer box on your site you can copy the script and put it somewhere on your site. The results will show a link exchange advice in the window or frame you placed the link in. Experiment to find out the best fitting implementation.