Real Estate Forums

Missouri Real Estate Pro · 09-25-2006, 07:18 AM

I'm hoping someone out there can help me out with this, I spend a lot of time blogging so that I have keywords and backlinks on websites, I know that it used to be a big part of getting rankings, does it still play a big part or is something else causing top rankings now?

SEOWolf · 10-03-2006, 06:16 AM

Brandon,

I know there is much speculation about links and back links. It does appear that black links from blogs and forums have been devaluated to a degree recently. That being said, Search Engines constantly change their algorithms and periodically revive portions of an old algorithm.

I suggest you continue in your efforts to build back links as they will most certainly come into play. And aged links are always a plus.

~VegasMack

HHI Golf Guy · 10-04-2006, 01:21 PM

Yes. Definitely. Absolutely. Without a doubt.

However..............

It appears the search engines are now placing less value on links from certain types of pages, especially obvious link pages. For example, Google recently dumped millions of link pages from their index. In some cases I have seen a discount in value of pure text links (links on their own and with no surrounding content). It also appears that Yahoo has been examining the link patterns between multiple sites and declaring some of these as affiliate networks.

I think that outbound links within content (i.e. articles) are considered more credible than traditional anchor text/description links.

Another area that we are working on is utilizing and exchanging RSS feeds to build links. I like this idea because by changine one XML file I can change my anchor text on thousands of sites.

I'm making a concerted effort to build quality outbound link pages and content based links (i.e. links within articles or paragraphs of information). The goal is to build content based, real estate and locale information centers on sub domains of our clients.

Of course, I can build all the quality resource center pages I want. The key is convincing other webmasters to take the time to do the same - a nearly impossible task.

For examples of some of the resource centers we are building you can visit http://articles.hiltonheadarealuxuryhomes.com/ and http://directory.felicelamarca.com/. For more information on building links and to echange links/articles/rss feeds with some of our sites you can visit http://www.realestatelinkhq.com.

DomainDrivers · 10-28-2006, 09:40 AM

Not only do backlinks help, they are critical. No one really has the definitive answer to what's best and what's not in regards to the method(s) used in obtaining the backlink...except for one major factor. Obtain the backlink from a RELEVANT site and don't play games with the search engines because you'll get dumped. If you reciprocal link, link to a site with your site visitor in mind, not the SE!

hbnathan · 10-28-2006, 11:07 AM

Just check the number of links of top rated sites.
Not always, but in most cases, on relevant and specific keywords searches, the top ones will have the most back links. I often see Google include links from non-relevant websites. (i.e. an organic food store linking to a real estate agent. I would try, though, to keep focused on related sites.

Specializing in Aventura Condos , Surfside Condos , Hallandale Condos , Hollywood Condos

Bob Crain · 11-09-2006, 08:18 PM

Absolutely backlinks help. I would like to see any site in any major market rank with no backlinks. Check any of your competition using yahoo's new site explorier or go to msn and type in linkdomain:http://thewebsiteurl (where thewebsiteurl is the actual url of the site you want to check).

I agree with much of what has been said above. Backlinks are important but unfortunately most of the pages agents will be trading links with are not well written.

I believe that if people spent any effort on optimizing EVERY page of their websites we would not be having this discussion. Most of the "Links" pages out there are so poorly written they don't deserve to be indexed. Most sites have poorly written title tags, if they have a meta discription it is usually the same on eveyone of their pages, and they rarely have keywords that match the page.

Once again why would the serps index these pages? The bad part is that most people don't know what to look for when they are looking at the page their backlink will be resting on. Most agents just look to see if their link is actually on the site and if it is there they are happy.

DomainDrivers · 11-10-2006, 03:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bob Crain

The bad part is that most people don't know what to look for when they are looking at the page their backlink will be resting on. Most agents just look to see if their link is actually on the site and if it is there they are happy.

Bob, this gets to the heart of editorial review. We tell all our clients to link with other relevant sites as if the search engines didn't exist.

Remember, when you post a link to another site, you are recommending that site as a place of value to your site visitor.

Would you recommend a restaurant to a friend where the menus were ineligible and the food lousy just because they put your picture on the wall?

elizabeth · 05-14-2008, 03:01 AM

Yeah they really helps you a lot especially the links that are you getting is from other related sites from yours. Also when it comes through keywords Yahoo is still focused on how many backlinks that you have in order to rank less on on page optimization.

Homebuilder · 06-03-2008, 04:42 PM

I think the answer to your question is YES!...

One thing you should take into consideration (on top of all the other suggestions in this thread) is that 1,000 backlinks from the same website is nowhere near as valuable as 1,000 backlinks from 1,000 different websites. I would strongly recommend continuing to build backlinks from as many different sites as you can! Good luck!

NealRM · 06-04-2008, 04:29 AM

Backlinks do help and they can help a lot. But they must be done right. Link pages and directory are a wast of time, don't bother with them. Instead find forums and blogs and post there. There are not many good real estate forums but blogs are a dime a dozen. The goal is to have a broad link base. It even helps to go and post on non-real estate sites.

This does not mean to SPAM the forums and blogs. Make you comments on topic and relevant.