Link flow for multiple links to same URL
-
Hi there,
my question is as follows:How does Google handle link flow if two links in a given page point to the same URL? (do they flow link individually or not?)
This seems to be a newbie question, but actually it seems that there is little evidence and even also little consensus in the SEO community about this detail.
- Answers should include source
- Information about the current state of art at Google is preferable
- The question is not about anchor text, general best practises for linking, "PageRank is dead" etc.
We do know that the "historical" PageRank was implemented (a long time ago) without special handling for multiple links, as e.g. last stated by Matt Cutts in this video: http://searchengineland.com/googles-matt-cutts-one-page-two-links-page-counted-first-link-192718
On the other hand, many people from the SEO community say that only the first link counts. But so far I could not find any data to back this up, which is quite surprising.
-
I totally agree on the focus thing in general - it's not helpful to act with PageRank in mind when it comes to layout decisions etc.
But: For large websites (e.g. 100,000 pages and up) crawl rate, indexing and rankings of deeper parts of the site depend heavily on the internal link graph. Taking a deeper look at the internal link graph gives us a lot of useful information in these cases, does it?
Now: Think of links sitting in a template that gets used on 50,000 pages. A little change here is likely to cause quite a difference in the internal link graph.
For example I've run PageRank simulations with both models on a smaller website with only 1,500 pages / 100,000 links. For many pages, the little difference ends up with 20-30% more or less internal PageRank - for these individual pages, this could be crucial for crawling, indexation and rankings. Still not useful?
Since moz runs it's own iterative PR like algorithms: How do you guys handle this with mozRank / mozTrust? Which model leads to better correlations with rankings?
-
- The links both get PageRank flow...
- The link value gets divided, though, so it wouldn't exactly double the value.
- The link extraction process might choose to only select one link from the page based on certain factors (perhaps ignoring some links not because they are duplicative but based on location, or other qualifiers)
Here is Matt Cutts talking about this very issue. And here again. It is the closest thing we have to an answer.
I think the reason for the "first link counts" is really an extension of an understanding of PageRank. Let's say a page has 1 outbound link. It gets 100% of the value passable by that page. Now, let's say the page adds another link, but it is the exact same link. Now, each link gets 50%. The sum total is 100%. It is as if the 2nd link were never added. But, this calculation changes depending on the other links on the page. Let's say a page has 2 links on it. One to you, one to someone else. 50/50. If you get another, you jump to 67/33. Slightly better. As the page increases in number of links, your additional link approaches a doubling of the first link's value. So on one end of the spectrum it is valueless. On the other end of the spectrum it doubles.
The other question is whether anchor text is counted for all links. Some experimentation indicates that only the 1st anchor text matters. This might also indicate the selection / extraction process mentioned in #2.
That all being said, I think I agree with Matt Cutts on this one. This is such a small issue that you really should focus on bigger picture stuff. It is interesting, yes, but not particularly useful.
I hope that helps!
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Long URL's
So I'm super new at SEO and learning a lot. I'm a small business owner and enjoy doing it myself. Are long URL's good or bad? Like this: http://www.farnorthkennel.com/german-shepherd-puppies-the-girls/long-haired-german-shepherd-puppies-lava Is that too long? The german-shepherd-puppies-the-girls is an actual page with actual content. Do those hurt me?
On-Page Optimization | | Joshlaska0 -
Replacing website, same URL, lose ranking
We had to do a rush job for a client and get a website up very quickly. We had to just replace the existing files on the server, but URL stayed the same. Now "teeth whitening glasgow" which they were number #1 for isn't coming up. Know there is still some on page work to be done - but the link profile should still remain the same? Just looking for some advice to get back to where they were - should we do a website change of address or just verify the site in Webmaster and get all the on page done? Thanks, Laura
On-Page Optimization | | lauratagdigital0 -
Too many links on home page
SEOmoz crawl states I have 3 pages with too many links. My sites are hosted on Yahoo small business. One page they state is too long is the home page/ind. with 600 links to each page on the web site ( I think). Is this really a problem and how do I fix it? The other two pages are product categories that link to the products under the main product type. What I do not understand is that we have many larger product categories that SEOmoz crawl is not stating too many.
On-Page Optimization | | Wales0 -
Slash at the end of a url
I keep reading contradicting information, so I figured I'll ask here. What's the best practice for slash '/' at the end of a URL? Should it be idealchooser.com/search/laptop/ or idealchooser.com/search/laptop (no trailing slash)? The options: 1. Accept both equally 2. Accept 1 and redirect the other with 301 3. Accept 1 and treat the other as a wrong URL returning 404 Which would be the best for SEO? Thank you.
On-Page Optimization | | corwin0 -
Page authority 1 for new URLs
Hi There Quite a beginner question. I have changed url structure last week and is already avaliable on google.What i find strange is that the PA reported by SEOMOZ is 1 and there's no google cache. If the page has to crawled yet, why it's avaliable on google index already? Dario
On-Page Optimization | | Mrlocicero0 -
Multi-language on multiple domain
Hi, One of my clients has a big duplicate content issue on his site. He has two domain, on for each language (FR and EN) but each domain propose the two languages! Meaning you can reach every page with two URL. Example: http://www.brand-realestate.com/en/luxury/index.html (home page of the default site in english)
On-Page Optimization | | Pherogab
http://www.immobilier-brand.com/en/luxury/index.html (home page of the default site in french after clicking on the english link) Each of the two site has a default language and a link to the other one. When you click the link the page you are on just refresh and the URL stay the same with an added language parameter (ie:http://www.immobilier-brand.com/luxe/index.html?lang=english), then all the link in the navigation switch to the other language. So my question is, is it better to: Keep the two domain and instead of having the two languages on each send the traffic to the domain which has the targeted language by default (on the right page of course) Have both language on one domain and redirect all the pages from the other domain to this one (each page to the corresponding one) Just add a canonical URL on each alternative version of each domain Let me know if I'm clear. Thanks for the help. GaB0 -
Internal Followed Links:
Ran Open site explorer on my site: www.psbsperakers.com It is saying that I only have "1" Internal followed link could somebody tell me what that means... and maybe take a look at my site and see it this is a quick fix?
On-Page Optimization | | kevin48030 -
Internal link to the home page
When building menus and other internal links, should the link to the home page be http://www.domain.com/ or http://www.domain.com/index.html or does it matter? Best,
On-Page Optimization | | ChristopherGlaeser
Christopher0