Link Pages, State Pages Dead?

There has been much discussion lately on the relevance of state pages and/or link pages as "relocation" resources for consumers looking for real estate.  In the latest Marketing Tips newsletter put out by Advanced Access, here is an excerpt from an interview with Greg Boser:

Advanced Access: Many real estate agents are still linking to other agent sites around the country...continuing the belief that those types of reciprocal links are keeping them high in the search engines; namely Google. We have been encouraging our clients to delete those types of links entirely but could you explain why search engines dislike them?

Greg Boser: To a search engine, a Realtor® in California linking to another Realtor in Maine is not in the interest of the consumer. A consumer searching for real estate in Santa Clarita, CA is looking for real estate in that community and not interested in finding a home in Maine. The debate over these links being for legitimate referral purposes for relocation is dead to the search engines; that battle is lost. The intent of these links was done for the purpose of gaming the search engines with artificial anchor text and a long list of links. If something is done with the intent to game the search engines it is usually against their quality guidelines.

While Yahoo has already taken dramatic action against network links of this type, Google has also made it clear that they are also not happy with this type of linking. I have had many personal conversations with employees at Google, most recently with Matt Cutts, who leads the Search Spam team, at the last London Search Engine Strategies conference in February 2007. We talked about the fact that Google is aware of these types of linking schemes and will be moving to clean it up sooner, rather than later. This will most likely be done with their algorithm so there will be no way for myself or Advanced Access to fight for a network issue with Google; this will be site by site - every person for themselves.

The web has evolved a great deal since the idea of a large, cross-linked, peer-to-peer network was invented. And the attitudes and opinions of those who run the search engines have evolved as well. With the TrustRank and Local Rank concepts, Google is attempting to develop their model on how to figure out what links matter the most. As the years go by, they will continue to refine this process. When Google finally reaches that point, you already want to be there. Now is the time to focus on these concepts because if you don't, when Google makes a change and your rankings fall, it will be much harder to reach the top.

Advanced Access: What is your advice on dealing with these types of links for agents, especially agents who are enjoying high rankings in Google currently?

Greg Boser: These state pages with cross-linking to other Realtors around the country that many real estate websites continue to keep are pretty much worthless now. In my research I have checked many of these types of sites and found that in most cases the link pages are not indexed in Google, or have gone supplemental.

With that in mind, my recommendation would be to delete all your state pages or other pages that host any cross-linking with other real estate agents. Start, or continue focusing your efforts on quality community links that will make your website a trusted domain.

If interested, there is good information in the newsletter about supplement results, as well!  :o)

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Check out our Free Real Estate Articles.  Call Joe or Colleen Lane toll free 1-800-526-3588.

Consider The Lane Real Estate Team for your Tri City Wa Commercial Real Estate needs. Servicing Southeastern Washington State.

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