A Website is Only as Strong as its Weakest Link

Watch who and what you link to! When you decide to link into or out of your site, don’t just think about the short term gratification but the long term effects. Do your research, and see what the site you are linking to is connected with. Take the time to follow some of the links from their site, especially the innocuous looking ones embedded in their text. If you end up at a gambling site or something else that could be construed as unsavory, you might want to take a pass.

You see, it’s kind of like the old saying; you are known by the company you keep. There is no room for any hint of rule breaking – not only on your website, but on the sites of those you associate yourself with.

Moreover, the weakest link on your site could be the one that counts the most – and not I a positive way. You can have a terrific network of links and have one bad apple spoil the bunch. If Google finds one weak link that leads to a forbidden zone, or breaks webmaster guidelines, it won’t matter to them how many good links you have,. They’ll break your chain right there at the weakest link.

Don’t have weak links! All it takes is a little vigilance and double-checking to avoid being associated with something shady. Investigate before hand, and do updates and rechecks at various intervals – some webmasters change their rules later in the game, while in other situations a whole website could change hands and you be blindsided by a sudden penalty from Google when your previously good link goes bad. You don’t want to be inadvertently associated with a inking scheme!

Budget either the time to do it yourself, or the money to hire a link checker – and if you choose the latter make sure they understand you are not only looking for link workability but for a review of the page and site from whence it hails. Once you have protected yourself, you can rest easy knowing that a weak link won’t cause your chain to snap!