Back links on your blog post is seriously advocated by many bloggers. Google seems to like it too. It helps in page rank (PR), reducing bounce rate and page indexing.
But there is a question many bloggers have not asked about back links.
The question is:
Do bloggers or readers like it?
We seem to be only concerned about Google and its invisible spider.
We forget that people also read blog posts.
So am asking you:
How do you feel when you get to a blog that has 10-20 back links on a single post?
I don’t know about you but when I get to a blog post with too many back links, I rarely click any of the links on the post.
Why?
Well, when I get to blog post like that, I immediately know that only a few back links are important or relevant to the blog post and since I don’t know for sure which back link is relevant, I may ignore them all (including the ones relevant to the post).
In another scenario
When I visit a blog post with 1, 2 or 3 links only, I will most likely click to see what’s on the other side because, since the links are few, they must be important and relevant to the post.
This Is What too much Back Links does to a Blog
In the first scenario, the back links increase or helped in increasing the bounce rate (that is if I don’t click to read blog posts on the side bars)
In the second case, the back links reduced the bounce rate.
Why Some Blog Have Very Many Back Links?
Most bloggers use seo smart links plug-in to automate the creation of back links. This plug-in has saved time that would have been wasted in manually creating back links.
But now it seems to have a drawback because it could create too many back links to posts and pages on your blog. (Sometimes irrelevant to the blog post and readers)
What Is The Best Way To Use Seo Smart Links Plug-In?
I use the plug-in too but I add a few things to make sure only few and relevant back links appear on my post.
1. I set the number of back links to only 5
This will ensure that the only 5 back links will appear on a blog post at any time .This number maybe still much but also depends on the length of the blog post.
2. I remove back links to pages
If a readers need to read a page, he or she will just click it because it is in front of him. No need to litter my post with links to them.
You may allow back links to only important pages only.
3. Naturally woven into the post
Even with this plug-in active I still manually add links to posts. I weave try to weave these links naturally into the post.
Seo smart plug-in does not really have the power to do this.
4. Link to long phrases or short sentences not just words
The plug-in works by linking posts url to words or phrases selected by you.
Linking to just words may not be the best way to go about it. I suggest you Link also to phrases and short sentences.
This helps in achieving naturally woven in back links.
Let’s talk.
Do you have any problem with too many back links on a blog post?
Do you use seo smart links?
How many back links do you think is okay to have on a blog post?
Thank you for your comments and opinions.
Honestly, they don’t bother me – I don’t really notice them. I see lots of them on big sites like Mashable and still don’t really pay attention.
.-= Keller Hawthorne´s last blog ..Name Swapping: Why Displaying a Different Name in Your Header than Your Domain Can Hurt Your Website =-.
well,that is the thing..you don’t pay attention because the may be too many..you would more likely click if it has just one or two…or may be not
Yeah! this is absolutely right, if a see one or two backlinks in one post on a particular site, I am more likely going to click it than that with so many backlinks.
Thanks a lot for the great post.
.-= Onibalusi Bamidele´s last blog ..Interview with Anthony Adams =-.
Great article! I am always looking for new techniques and methods to increase search engine position and to gain quality backlinks. I myself have a blog dedicated to sharing these techniques with other webmasters. Please let me know if you would like to exchange backlinks. I look forward to reading more from you, thanks!
Agreed. Too many links (backlinks or other) give the article too much of a self-promotional tone.
Like all things, if it’s worth doing it’s worth doing well. You know your content, so make them manually, don’t fall back on a plugin.
good point David…but doing it manually may mean too much work.i believe using this plug-in moderately and linking to important words and longer phrases will work better.thanks for commenting.
i dont know that too much backlinks have a bad effects since i read your articles.thanks for sharing
Lisa,
You are welcome…thanks for commenting
I tried one of those automated backlink creator plug-ins once and made up my mind never to use one again. I kinda found it tedious and annoying to the say the least. Maybe I’m just not skillfull in it’s use
One tip is making sure that all backlinks on your site open in a new tab or window that way your blog stays open in the browser but then I wonder if Analytics considers that when compiling Bounce rate.
.-= Udegbunam Chukwudi´s last blog ..StrictlyOnlineBiz’s Top Blog Posts Of The Week 10 =-.
automated back links creators can really be helpful if it is used properly…i do use them but i limit many things and try to have few links as possible per post.
Nice piece Mr Akan.
For me, lots of backlink don’t bother me. If the content is valuable why bother about backlinks?
Hi clement,
i noticed that i don’t click on back links linked to only one word but would likely click those linked to phrases and sentences…if you have many back links with single anchor text ,people will most likely not click it…
I agree on many backlinks but it don’t bothered me. Backlinks used keywords to get a hich rank……
Thanks Akan for that insightful tip.
Ill try to implement it and give u the feedback
.-= clement sadjere´s last blog ..The Postcard Essentials For Marketing Success =-.
Thanks for the helpful information! Trying it now!
I probably would not have contemplated this was beneficial two or three months back, yet it’s fascinating how age evolves the manner you respond to stuff, thank you for the weblog post it really is great to discover something sensible here and there as opposed to the typical rubbish disguised as blogs and forums over the internet. Regards
Lets start with the basics shall we. Backlinks, and internal links are two different things. Google likes backlinks and internal links. Readers, on the whole, don’t care how many links are in a post, as long as its is relevant to the content. They also don’t care if you have 3000 backlinks, as those aren’t visible to them (generally). They are a natural part of the web, and if anything are to be expected.
If you are using SEO smart links instead of linking manually, you are likely to lose credibility pretty quickly. For one, the links are often out of context.
Thanks Paul for the correction…i actually meant to write internal links and not back links…backlinks are links from other sources while internal links are links to other posts or resources on a blog post9like you said) …about readers not caring about the number of links ,i would say that is your opinion because i personally do not love to see too many links on a post (especially if ther are not relevant to the post).
thanks for thr correction.