This table lists all known links, or "about-to-be" links, to your site (incoming links, or "Link-In") and also lists links from your site (outgoing links or "Link-Out").
There is only one way for an outgoing link to make this list -- you created the link as part of a Value Exchange with another Webmaster.
However, there are three ways for an incoming link to get onto this list...
1) You sent an e-mail to this site via the Value Exchange Matching Sites table. The word Exchange appears under the How? column (or in other words, "How the heck did this link get here?").
2) SBI! found the link in your log files. Yes, while you sleep, our pet robot (we call him GoGetIt) roots through your SBI! site's log files on a daily basis. When it notes that one of your visitors arrived via a Web page that is not already in our records, it adds that URL to the Value Exchange Status list. It's easy to tell -- you'll see the phrase Referrer Logs in the How? column.
| And GoGetIt also submits that page to the Search Engines, so that they know about this link to your site! It only does it once, so as not to bother the engines. But it sure will help your link popularity, something that the SEs factor in when they are ranking your site. Click here for more information about how link popularity fits into the big picture of traffic-building. |
And the third and final way to get onto the Value Exchange Status list is...
3) GoGetIt found the link to you by fetching some info from the four major Search Engines. It does this once per month, which is more than enough since link building is a steady process, not a fast one. When the Search Engines tell GoGetIt about links to your site that we do not already know about, it adds those URLs to the Value Exchange Status list. This time, you'll see the phrase SE Query in the How? column.
And again, GoGetIt does you another big favor -- at the time it fetches info from the engines, it also submits to each SE whatever links it finds that are not in its database. Of course, it only ever submits a URL once and it does it slowly so as not to bother the engines. One thing is for sure... GoGetIt gets the job done, growing your link popularity steadily.
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Special Note:
Any time you wish to arrange a formal exchange with a Web site found via a SE Query or a crawl of your Referral Logs, and not from the Value Exchange Matching Sites table, use your "Notes" (found in the table below), to keep track of the specifics of this exchange. Since there's only one way for an outpointing link to make this list (as a result of a formal exchange set up in the Value Exchange Matching Sites table), the Status Link-Out message will not change for any "value exchange" set up with sites originally discovered via a SE Query or the Referral Logs. Instead, you'll see N/A displayed for these exchanges. More on this below... |
So what do you do with the Value Exchange Status list? Simple...
For those incoming links that are listed as having arrived "via" Referrer Logs or SE Query, the listings are just for your information. You have nothing to do, as these people are not part of the Value Exchange program, so they are not expecting to hear from you. Neither do they expect a link back -- it's likely they are linking to your site simply because it is a quality resource for their visitors. These are the best type of links to have.
Other incoming links, of course, will be tracked slightly differently if they are formal "value exchanges" set up through the Value Exchange Matching Sites table.
Normally, you'll see the following Status messages for in-coming links...
No link yet means that the incoming link has not been set up yet by your link exchange partner. This message is only applicable to exchanges set up formally through the Value Exchange Matching Sites table.Link GOOD means that the incoming link has been set up, and it's been done properly.
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For a formal "value exchange," this Status change happens the day after you test an incoming link from the exchange site -- just visit the page, and click on it. This accomplishes two things...
1) You are sure the link goes where it is supposed to go. 2) Our little robot will notice it in the log files, will submit it to the engines -- and it will keep checking this Link-in on a weekly basis. |
"Link POOR" means that the incoming link is now on a page that has more than 5 other links on it that lead to domains other than to its own. This seriously dilutes the value of the link to you.
"Link GONE" means that the incoming link has disappeared! You'll get a Link GONE Status if the page is still there, but the link has disappeared.
The VE Status table also reports Link GONE Status for certain situations
that basically render the link to you as being useless, since the SE and/or the human visitor will not see it. So Value Exchange considers it to be "GONE." Here are those situations...
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Page GONE (as opposed to "Link Gone") means that the whole page has disappeared. And then there's the trickiest change of all...
Link ORPHAN means that the link is still there, but that the page is more than two levels away from the home page. There is virtually no way from the home page to it, which renders the page useless. Search Engines do not like orphan pages because a lot of tricksters use them to fool the engines.
Value Exchange treats two high-traffic type of sites that may link to you in a special way...
Directory means that a high-traffic directory (ex., dmoz.org, directory.google.com, abrexa.co.uk, dir.yahoo.com, associateprograms.com, wikipedia.org, etc.) is linking to you.
Low Value means that some other kind of high-traffic site is linking to you, but the nature of that site reduces the "link value" to you substantially. Examples of this include myspace.com and livejournal.com -- it's just too easy for folks to create a space and link to themselves.
Here's the special treatment...
Due to the thousands (tens of thousands) of inbound links to SBI! sites, and due to the likelihood that these links are more than 2 clicks away from the home page in any event, we do not list these links as "Link ORPHAN."
If that link disappears, of course, it will change to GONE as outlined above.
What happens if a Link-In disappears or "goes bad"?...
When a Link-In that is Link GOOD becomes "Link POOR" or "LINK GONE" or "PAGE GONE" or "LINK ORPHAN," and this is a link from a Value Exchange, e-mail the person involved and ask about it. Proceed accordingly (see Delete Link Button below). If this link is from a Web site that you do not have a formal arrangement with, there may be little point in contacting the Webmaster, as they don't owe you anything.By the way...
Once GoGetIt has its teeth into a Link-In, no matter how it arrived at the Value Exchange Status list, it tracks it. GoGetIt will check the actual URL weekly to be sure that your Link-In is still there.
If its Status changes (to Link POOR, Link GONE, Page GONE, Link ORPHAN -- more on this below), you'll see this reported in the Value Exchange Status list. If this was not a formally agreed-to Value Exchange, you can decide how you want to handle this situation...
You could ask the owner of the site about it (look this up at betterwhois.com) or just accept your fate and click upon the DELETE LINK button for that link, to make it disappear from the Value Exchange Status list -- but it may be better to keep it listed for a while (especially if it's Link POOR or Link ORPHAN -- the engines do not hold you responsible for a few low quality incoming links since that's beyond your control). After all, as long as you keep it listed, GoGetIt! will keep it on its "check list." It may find that the link comes back -- if it does, it will change the status back to Link GOOD.
For those incoming links that "arrived" via matches through the Value Exchange, your goal is to advance the Status of that link from No link yet to Link GOOD for both Link-In and Link-Out -- but especially for Link-In. (Links-Out distract your visitor, but it's good to have a few to establish you as a good Netizen who links out, and who serves as a mini-hub.)
For a Link-Out, the No link/Orphan message means one of two things...
1) You have not created a link to the Value Exchange partner's domain yet.
2) You have created a link to the partner's domain, but this page is located more than 2-TIERs from your home page. Value Exchange only reports on links located within 2-TIERs from your home page -- links located more than 2-TIERs from the home page are considered Orphans, and offer very little of value to your link partner. If you have created an outpointing link on a TIER-3 page, you will not see the Link Out status message change for this link.
The Link GOOD Status happens when you create a link out from the home page, or any TIER-1 or TIER 2 page on your site to any domain listed in the Value Exchange Status table as the result of an exchange with that site, and the URL of the link to the domain is alive.
Additional Tips
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Link POOR means that this link appears on a page of yours that has more than 5 other links on it that lead to domains other than yours. This seriously dilutes the value of the link to your partner.
If you later eliminate that Link-Out from the page or if you delete the entire page, the Status for that Link-Out will change, from Link GOOD to Link GONE or Page GONE, respectively. If this is an accident, fix the link to re-establish Link GOOD. If it's not an accident, then you may want to click the DELETE LINK button, too, and drop that link from the Value Exchange Status list (if you don't need to keep a record).
On the other hand, if a Link-Out is broken at the "receiving end"... if the page (URL) that you are linking to does not exist, or stops existing, the Status of your Link-Out will change to Link BROKEN. E-mail the person involved and ask about it -- remember, a broken link makes your site look bad, not his! Proceed accordingly (see Delete Button below).
N/A means the site you are linking to was identified as coming from your Referral Logs or an SE Query. Value Exchange only reports on exchanges facilitated through the Value Exchange Matching Sites table, so you will not see the Status Link-Out message change for this exchange. To keep track of these exchanges, use the "Notes" option offered in the table below.
OK, now let's look at your end-goal...
If the Value Exchange Status shows an exchange link as being Link GOOD for both Link-In and Link-Out... Congratulations! This is the goal of Value Exchange.
| Not all of your Link-Ins need be reciprocated. It is important to have a few good links out, but they are less important than Link-Ins. So if you can get a Link-In without reciprocating for all, great! |
Every "value exchange" starts at No link yet, for both a Link-In and a Link-Out. Let's see how to move you up the ladder of success...
Communicate with the person who runs the site. The Value Exchange Matching Sites list has already started that ball rolling by sending your e-mail to each of the sites that you chose, then moved those sites into the Value Exchange Status list.
Settle on a fair trade. Establish that you both have links set up. (Create the appropriate link to your exchange site in the Text Link Block and/or in the Graphic Link Block -- it will appear in your Link Library after that.)
Very important... Once the Link-in has been set up, visit that URL. Make sure you are getting what you discussed. Click on the URL to test it. This will also make the link show up in your log files, so GoGetIt will find it in the log files, report its Status in the Value Exchange Status list above, and submit it to the Search Engines (but only if the link is good).
(Note that GoGetIt will not change the How? column since the original reason for being here is the "value exchange," and not the Referrer found in the log files later.)
When a Link-In that was Link GOOD becomes LINK POOR or LINK GONE or PAGE GONE or LINK ORPHAN and you decide that it cannot be saved, it's time for the DELETE LINK button. But don't be too fast with that trigger finger...
First... For those Link-ins that arrived "via" Referrer Logs or SE Query, it could be a temporary glitch. Wait two weeks. If it does not come back, ask the site about it, perhaps even to exchange links...
If you can arrange a "value exchange" with the site, the whole process and the Status levels for Link-In and Link-Out will work exactly the same as if this was a formal Value Exchange site. So that may be worth a try. But if you can't get the link back, accept your fate and click upon the DELETE LINK button to make it disappear from the Value Exchange Status list.
Second... For those Link-Ins that "arrived" via the Value Exchange Matching Sites list, and that are now Link GONE or Page GONE or Link ORPHAN, if you cannot get the contact person for the site to restore the link properly, and the situation appears irreversible, you'll want to delete the reciprocal outpointing link from your own site.
If you've used SiteBuilder to build your site, click on the Edit button (you'd probably keep Link POOR but delete your links to that site), to pop up the entire SiteBuilder page, all ready for you to edit your Link-Out, out of your page. (If you want to leave it there for some reason, do not click on the Edit button.)
When you have deleted the link from the SiteBuilder editing page, simply click Build It! to re-build that page, as usual. Once done, close that page and return to this one. Next time Value Exchange updates, you'll see your Link-Out has become Link GONE or Page GONE (depending on how radical your surgery was!).
Then, click on the DELETE LINK button. If the link has been eliminated completely (GoGetIt will check to be sure), the offending URL will be removed from your Link Library and this entire line will be dropped from the Value Exchange Status table.