Mass linking to other realtors - overrated?

[kciprize]

I hate to challenge authority and everyone's common wisdom on this but here goes....

It seems like most folks on this board go out of their way to get as many links to their site from other realtors, including realtors in BFE that they don't even know. If I look at a lot of the folks that are heavy users of this board, I will often see 1k+ links to their site, with about 99% of them coming from other realtor link-addicts all over the globe. Often the result of all this mass linking effort is a google PR of 2-4 and OK or fairly good positionining with the SEs.

Now on the other hand, i've also seen many sites that aren't realtor link whores (pardon the term), but instead have maybe 30-100 links TOTAL to their site, with many of the links coming from links pages of non-realtor sites. Instead the links are often coming from 'related' sites.

For instance, if i'm a realtor that specializes in golf course properties, i've got links to my site from 30 golf courses in the area. If i'm a realtor specializing in waterfront properties, i've got every local boat and water resource pointing at my site (from their basic links page and not from their homepage). I'm sure you get the picture....

So I guess my question is: does all of this blind realtor link building effort really represent the best use of time IF the same result can be achieved by taking a more targeted approach?

I'll be interested in everyone's candid thoughts and feedback on this one. My intent isn't to piss folks off but just to ask the question how folks can achieve the same SE & PR results (or even better) without mega-linking to other realtors.

[sonjay]

That's a good question, and one that I've wondered about. I have one realtor client who is doing the link exchange thing with other realtors around the country, and another client that I've been working with to get them to contact local businesses (such as the golf courses that you mentioned) to try to get links. It sees like the local businesses would be more on target and relevant.

If the client follows through and makes the contacts to get the local links, I'll have some basis for comparison. But it would be helpful to hear from other folks who have experience in both types of linking.

[judyo]

Many of us are in areas that really don't have a lot of local resources that have an Internet presence or that even care to reciprocate links. I link to a lot of local resources but none of these sites have any kind of recip link campaign. It would be much more time consuming trying to get these places to understand the idea of trading links than to trade with agents that know what it's all about.

What I do is see what my competition in the serps have & try to outdo them by enough to get me a better position. Of course, I'm also up against site age. I usually beat most of the local sites with content.

[kciprize]

Here is another thing to think about.....

If we assume search engines are getting smarter, one would assume that they would actually detect and give less weight (or even penalize) sites that link in the 'mega-realtor links' manner that I previously described.

I don't know how realistic it would be for something like this to happen but it would be interesting to see how it would play out. While SEOs can always adjust, it seems like this blind/mass real estate linking strategy is really overdone and could potentially backfire.

[kyle422]

When two sites link with each other the search engines already devalue the links. They don't hurt but they don't give as much weight as they used to.
My best advice is to create great content on your site so that other people/sites link to your site because of the information you provide, giving you a one way link. Those are the best.

[tom]

i'll agree (though i myself may not show much) Content is King

i have no method of exchanging links as of yet. but when i figure out the best way to approach this (time usually dictates my decisions) i will likely do a little better.

but linking to 'relevant' sites such as you mentioned i dont think could be a bad thing. but linking to other real estate sites would have as much weight (depending) i would assume. but you all know what assume means....

[skipfactor]

Agents linking to other agents is about as unnatural as it gets. It just doesn't make good business-sense to me. I wouldn't put another agent's URL on my car, business card, or billboard even if it were reciprocal; why would I do it on my websites?

[HouseboyMike]

Agents linking to other agents is about as unnatural as it gets. It just doesn't make good business-sense to me. I wouldn't put another agent's URL on my car, business card, or billboard even if it were reciprocal; why would I do it on my websites?

True, but you wouldn't link to a nearby competitor, rather swapping links with realtors in other areas. And yes, I suspect reciprocal links will carry less and less weight. I look forward to the SE's neutralizing internal links. That's the day homegain kisses my a$$ goodbye!! They have thousands of internal links, and they're always at or near the top (they're not the only ones).

[VRI]

There is nothing unnatural with an agent in Jacksonville linking to an agent Islamorada... in fact it's wholly natural and would occur regardless of search engines as business relationships develop... or so it seems.

I'm guessing that there would be alot of things that would be on your site... and not on your card/billboard. If not, time for a new site.

[skipfactor]

>>There is nothing unnatural with an agent in Jacksonville linking to an agent Islamorada..

The unnatural part is linking to everyone except your local competition.