Reciprocal links are, for some search engine optimization experts, still in the too hard basket when it comes to their effect on your rankings. Some believe it helps, if only a little while others believe they hurt and are at best, ignored and at worst, penalized by search engines. So what about three way links?

Three way links are not new, in fact they have been around for almost as long search engine optimization strategies. Whichever way you look at them, three way links are still reciprocal links and if search engines such as Google look down on them, then you can bet they know when you are using them.

A thread on Webmasterworld recently discussed the use of three way links and the responses were quite varied. One particular response appealed to me and is probably closer to my thoughts than many of the others:

Google most probably considers a certain percentage of straightforward reciprocals in your linking profile as part of a natural pattern… and good quality reciprocals, if they’re appropriate for the user and not excessive, will probably help you.

But Google is also big on “intent,” and is less tolerant about obvious attempts to game the algo. That’s what triangular links are. It would be hard to look at them any other way.

Intent is the real key when it comes to links, linking and search engine optimization. There are going to be times when it is mutually beneficial for two sites to exchange links. Certain websites will naturally complement each other, for example, a paint supply website and a paint brush website. It would be natural for these two sites to link to each other.

Triangular links would not necessarily complement each other. I am sure if I thought hard enough I could find an example, but they would be few and far between. Using triangular links as part of your search engine optimization strategy will generally be seen as an attempt to game the system.

If the search engines cannot currently detect them, it wont be long and they will. Rather than trying to work the system, you are far better off building links where they naturally occur and putting all your search engine optimization efforts into gaining one way links.

I guess if you are an SEO consultant there is such a thing as Search Engine Optimization overload. What about your website, can that have Search Engine Optimization overload?

It is a little like asking, “can you over optimize your website?”, and the reality is - no - you cannot. In SEO, the O stands for ‘optimize’ and according to Princeton:

# S: (v) optimize, optimise (make optimal; get the most out of; use best) “optimize your resources”

By that definition, you are trying to get the best out of your website, in this case, for search engines - hence the search engine ranking. If you over optimize you are no longer getting the best out of your site.

The question then becomes, where do you draw the line? There are several schools of thought but generally speaking, search engines like Google will react when your activities and the sites content becomes unnatural. In Search Engine Optimization terms, this could be acquiring too many links too quickly or filling your pages with keywords.

If you keep your activities to what could be considered natural then you will not have any problems with SEO overload. If you’re an Search Engine Optimization consultant and you’re suffering from overload, join the club.

Search Engine Optimization is dying, at least according to Greg Howlett, writing on Andy Beal’s Marketing Pilgrim site. I can agree with much of what he has written and some of his points are quite valid. Take the following:

Search engines are too smart and they have a different agenda. They do not want to reward crummy companies that play SEO games–they want to give the top listings to the best companies.

It is hard to argue with that point particularly if you are a web user who gets a little tired of the useless results when doing a search. The last part of that statement worries me a little, but I will return to that a little later. If you are an SEO consultant then naturally you want to see any site you work on get to that front page of SERP’s.

What I or Greg think is a crummy site, I am sure there others including the site owners who think otherwise. If I am hired as an Search Engine Optimization consultant, do I say ’sorry, your site is too crummy’. Perhaps trying to get the site owner to de-crumify the site may be in order.

Putting that issue aside, the following statement is the one that really concerns me.

If you are not in the top ten of your industry, you had better find a way to get there in a hurry if you want to be on the first page of Google.

Greg also added:

Yes, this means that the rich will get richer and the poor will starve for SEO traffic. If you are not in the first category, you had better find a way to get there quick. The middle class is about to disappear.

The reason this concerns me, and the reason for my title is very simple. Big companies that are in the top ten do not rely on search engines for their traffic. In fact if your lazy like me, I type my search phrase in to the URL bar. If my search is for something simple like Coke or Pepsi - it will take me straight to their site, do not pass Google, do not collect Yahoo!. This is true for most large companies that are well recognized. I don’t know how much effort Coke or Pepsi put into Search Engine Optimization? Very little I would suggest.

If the search engines are going ignore popular little sites and list the “top ten of your industry“, search engines will become redundant. I don’t need Google or Yahoo! or any of the others search engines to find these companies. Their URL’s are generally either known, or easy to find. To them, SEO can die, they don’t need it.

The ramifications will spread further. If my Search Engine Optimization efforts have little hope of making it to the front pages of Google, then I doubt I will be advertising there. Social media sites will become more popular as advertising venues. This will strike a mortal wound at the very heart of Google - their advertising revenue.

Search engines and Search Engine Optimization live in a symbiotic relationship - if one goes then the other will be severely affected. The future will see the role of an SEO consultant change, but then, over the last 10 years that role has gone through many changes. I can see the value of keywords disappearing as search engines rely more on being able to ‘read’ content and context.

If search engines do put an end to Search Engine Optimization by concentrating on the top ten in any business sector, they will have taken the first step in their own demise. Search engines do, and will, need to produce better search results, until they do, SEO will be a requirement for every web site owner looking for that prime spot in the SERP’s.

Can you undertake a search engine optimization program and a branding campaign at the same time? The answer is yes, of course you can. The follow up question: “Should You?”, is probably more important.

It is an important question as it can determine the direction of your search engine optimization program and your social marketing efforts. To answer the question, you need to ask yourself the following questions:

1. Can you afford to wait until you have developed your brand?
2. Can you realistically develop a brand?
3. Is there strong brand competition?
4. Do you need to develop a brand?

The last question is probably the most important. If you are re-selling products then perhaps the main focus should be on the products themselves along with any existing brands. Likewise, if there are already a lot of branded products on the market, there may not be room for another one. Undertaking a search engine optimization program in such a crowded field could be difficult.

Brands can be developed on line and the rewards can be excellent. Research is now showing that most internet users are now using a brand name with the dot come before trying a search term. If you have that brand name then you will be getting a lot of direct traffic. However, that being the case, do you need to run a search engine optimization strategy on your brand name?

Whilst search engine optimization and branding do go together, the reality is that often there is no need. Branding is perhaps better left to social marketing campaigns whilst your search engine optimization program left to target products to attract organic searches. People will find brands quickly, finding products takes a little more work - that is what your Search Engine Optimization efforts should be targeting - helping the user to find your pages.