What is your linking policy?
Compared to other online writers, bloggers are definately the most generous when it comes to linking. Most bloggers actively link to websites they love but many times, the favour is not returned.
The reasons for linking
I’m curious as to what websites readers link to. I personally believe that most bloggers subconsciously have a linking policy when it comes to writing their posts, whether they realise it or not.
There are many reasons why bloggers link to another website in their posts however in general they link because :
- The page they link to is important or relevant to the article they are writing
- The page is on a friends blog, a blog they like or a related blog
After a few months of blogging you may notice that you are linking to certain blogs in your niche quite frequently. This is to be expected. Authority blogs in your niche are usually the ones which break news and they stimulate a lot of fresh discussion so they get linked to more often. Bloggers also find inspiration for posts from blogs they subscribe to and read on a daily basis so you’re probably linking to those blogs semi-frequently too.
It’s important to link to articles which are relevant to the point you are trying to make though it’s good to show some link love too, even if the article is perhaps not as relevant. Many bloggers do this by including links to posts from other blogs in their articles (particularly smaller/newer blogs). There are a few reasons for doing this :
- To link back to a blog which has linked to you
- To get the attention of a blogger (usually more popular blogger/blog)
- To get a trackback link on another blog
The reasons for not linking
As I mentioned before, the blogs you link to frequently are usually the blogs you visit regularly. However you may find that these blogs rarely, if ever, link back. It’s understandable why authority blogs don’t link back as they get hundreds if not thousands of links to their posts so unless you have a newsbreaking story, it’s unlikely they will link to you. It’s a different story with blogs of a similar or smaller size to yours. If you are linking to these blogs regularly and they are not linking back then you might want to reconsider your linking policy.
Subconsciously I think we all have some sort of linking policy when it comes to our blogs, particularly after you have been updating your blog for a few months.
My link policy is not set in stone however in general I always link to a page when it is relevant to the post I am writing and if I come across a news story via a particularly website I will acknowledge it in the post. There are times when a link is not necessary but I may include a link anyways and in these situations I always think will they link back?.
Some bloggers are very generous with links, some are very stingy whereas some hardly link at all. I’d like to think that I lie somewhere around the middle. I do always link to posts when they are relevant and I always give credit to those who pointed me in the right direction however I don’t spend time inserting links to other blogs in my posts just to get trackbacks.
What’s your linking policy? I’d love to hear what readers think about all of this 
Rarst | August 18th, 2008 at 3:57 pm #
Obviously there are a lot of reasons for link to huge blogs in your niche.
I link directly if I am following some post but if it’s just side mention I either don’t link at all or post my review of that site and link internally to that review.
rob | August 18th, 2008 at 4:12 pm #
polcy? it seems most bloggers don’t have a policy! i think it’s good to link both in & out of your niche with big & small blogs both.
Deepak | August 19th, 2008 at 1:08 am #
What you are telling is right, I have personally linked to many blogs from mine!!
home business tutorial | August 19th, 2008 at 5:23 am #
Generally people think that linking back is ignored by Goggle as reciprocal linking. In my opinion, if links come from relevant pages and point relevant pages, they are OK.
Valerian Duncan
Instructor Training | August 19th, 2008 at 7:01 am #
For me one of the most important reasons for linking is the relevancy of the resource as you have mentioned too. And of course I hope the backlink appears soon
And most of all it happens so.
goofblogger makes money online | August 19th, 2008 at 3:18 pm #
If the links add to the content of a post, I add them. If I like a particular site and I am rehashing one of their posts in my own words or one their posts was the inspiration, they deserve credit via a link.
isabella mori | August 19th, 2008 at 5:36 pm #
i’m a very generous linker - mostly because i love how everything on the internet is interconnected, i want to give my readers deep content, and i like to build community.
i have, however, become very aware of how little some people link back. i run three carnivals. i understand that when i link once or maybe twice, people won’t either have the time or inclination to link back. but some people i link to in these carnivals quite often and they don’t even leave a comment. i think i’m going to alert them that i don’t find that very neighbourly and if there continues to be no reaction, i might start a bit of a black list.
i’ve also heard quite a few comments from regular readers that they spend a lot of time checking out my links, and i’m thinking of linking a little less, to have them spend a bit more time on my site.
Scoopcelebrity | August 21st, 2008 at 4:44 am #
I write about celebrities and at least twice a week I write small post and put links to other sites in it. It’s sort of “what I read about celebrities recently”.
But I saw that popular bloggers don’t link back and they don’t show trackbacks on their blogs. It all looks helpless! I will change my linking policy and link only to smaller or relatively new blogs!
Amber | August 24th, 2008 at 11:41 pm #
I think I’m a little on the stingy side because I always hate clicking on a link to find out the site has gone offline or rearranged its directory structure.
I keep my blogroll to a minimum but I have found myself linking more and more in my blog posts to articles or other blogs.
Kolia Shlapak | August 30th, 2008 at 8:25 am #
I am quite a link generous blogger)