Did you know that the links on your website play an important part in its success. If you did not know that before, now you do! And the good news is that by knowing this, you can use it to your advantage!
If your website has have links that are invisible (i.e., you cannot see them – for example, hidden links where the text is the same color as the background), Google and other Search Engines will think that something suspicious is going on. When that happens, it can end up with a penalty. When that happens, your SEO ranking drops.
Having hidden links makes no sense! Many people are not actively doing this (well, most ‘good people’ are not), however, if you are using a free ‘roague’ WordPress theme, you have have these hidden links on your website. Check out the plugin, Theme Authenticity Checker (TAC). TAC searches the source files of every installed theme for signs of malicious code. If such code is found, TAC displays the path to the theme file, the line number, and a small snippet of the suspect code. As of v1.3 TAC also searches for and displays static links.
Broken links (as well as links that lead off of your website that are broken) that consistently bring people to non-existnat pages or error messages will make the search engines (Google, Bing, yahoo, etc.) think that the site is not being maintained, or that you do not care for your people enough. They think, “If this site is falling apart with bad links, how good can it be?”
To help find any broken links, check out the plugin, Broken Link Checker. A few of the features include:
- Monitors links in your posts, pages, comments, the blogroll, and custom fields (optional).
- Detects links that don’t work, missing images and redirects.
- Notifies you either via the Dashboard or by email.
- Makes broken links display differently in posts (optional).
- Prevents search engines from following broken links (optional).
- Highly configurable.
Of course, links to “bad” websites (suspicious websites, including porn, hacking, or malware-ridden sites) can also cause trepidation on the search engines’ part. Link to them, and who knows what will happen to your ranking (probably NOT want you want…) The best way to monitor that is to NOT link to those sites.
What else do you do to help with your SEO? Leave a comment and let me know.
Hi I am glad to read bout it and don’t actually know how the hidden links work. Thanks for the insightful post.
http://vishal-newkidontheblock.blogspot.com/2014/07/an-orkut-love-story-chapter-24.html
They are just like regular links, but since the color of the text is the same as the background, you cannot see them.
Paul,an interesting and thought-provoking post. My biggest question on SEO is, “how am I doing?” Will you remind me where I go to check keywords and keyword phrases that people are searching for? My areas are stress and energy, as you probably remember. All the best!
Kebba – The best way to answer the question, “How am I doing?” is to search for your keywords. Are you showing up in the Search Engines on page 1 or 2? How is your Alexa ranking? Google Analytics can help with some of the things you are asking about as well.
SpyFu.com is great place to look for keywords of your competition!
I have always thought hidden links make no sense as nobody can really see them – and they appear to be sneaky. We have also learned to avoid sites that are sure to be setup for quick sales then go down – this leads to a loss of credibility and those dreaded broken links. Great reminders.
Yup – they can be sneaky! Make sure any comments you have on your site don’t have broken links as well, Anne! Thanks for stopping by!
Finding broken links can also be a good way to get a few decent backlinks. Most website owners and managers want to know when their backlinks don’t work. Even if you don’t get a link, it helps to build a positive rapport with other people in the industry – always a good thing.