Step 4 - Create Valued Links

What is a valued link?

We use the term valued link to describe a hyperlink that meets the Endo SEO standard and serves to increase your organic search positioning.  We'll focus on the following two types of valued links as they pertain to developing your content:

(1)  internal - when you link to other pages within your site

(2)  external - when you link to pages on other sites

Below are tips for creating valued internal links within your all-important landing pages and sending valued external links to other places on the Web.

A valued link...

• is structurally and functionally sound

• is created with purpose and strategy

• is highly relevant and sensible to the user

• is in the proper format where spiders can easily index it

• contains your target keyword(s)

• points to the same URL version

• More...

About Valued External Links

So much emphasis is placed on the SEO value of inbound links (also known as inlinks or backlinks) these days that it's often easy to neglect the importance of external links coming from your site. 

Since your external links (also called outbound links) direct traffic away from your site, you should make sure that these links are keyword optimized, relevant links that your visitors will find useful.  More...

  Beware of where you send links 

Linking to black hat SEO sites, link farms (sites that buy, sell, or trade links), will cause your rankings to precipitously drop.   Remember, your site should maintain a level transparency and adhere to white hat SEO practices.  More...

Be sure that your links are up-to-date and functional

• You may have linked to sites a long time ago and now the domains are expired

• Check your external links once a month - how?  Use W3C Link Checker to pinpoint which links are broken within a given page.

• Visit MSN.com and type in linkfromdomain:yourdomainhere.com
  

Here's what it looks like when we check all of Starbucks' external links.

Proofread your landing pages

Now that you've verified that all of your internal and external valued links are functional, it's time to carefully review your landing pages. Have others proof your work, ask for their overall impression of the site, and then delve into the specifics for certain pages. 

Later, we'll talk about a scientific, more objective way of evaluating your landing pages.  More...

Unlock the full version of Step 4:  Create Valued Links.