Websites offering free links? Sounds too good to be true, right? After all, nothing in this world is really FREE! Well, that's true and there is always a caveat to a website offering Free Links. The important question though is, "are they worth joining?". The answer... "sometimes". It all depends on the linking scheme and the quality of the directory. Let's take a look at a few examples of typical linking schemes offered by link service websites.
Instant Links
Link services offering hundreds, even thousands, of instant links sure do sound tempting! After all, one-way links are the MOST important element in a high PageRank and resulting placement in the search engine results. Before you run and sign-up for one of these services, you might want to re-consider. Instant link services are built on the concept of numbers and numbers only. They flash big BOLD numbers that shout their link counts to visitors in an attempt to blind them from the directory. The very same directory that will be linking to the website and the directory that website MUST link back to is the one thing they try to hide. Upon close examination, you'll find that most instant link directories are laden with low quality websites, porn, scams, dead links, banned websites, warez and gambling. Now, do you REALLY want a few hundred or thousand of THOSE kinds of links pointing to your website? Better yet, do you really want to tarnish your websites reputation by linking BACK to those websites? Who links to you makes a difference, but who YOU link to makes more of a difference.
Another "gotcha" on a link service offering hundreds or thousands of instant links is that they can red-flag a website using their services. Assume website A has been established for 60 days and has 50 links to it. Now, within the next 60 days the website gains 500 links. The following 60 days results in 50 links. That spike in the overall link count is a red-flag to search engines and can actually HURT a website's placement. Be careful of high number instant link sites.
Article Links
One of the only link services to do "instant links" the right way is
Quality Links Direct. With a focus on a very strong and clean directory, their service is more about quality than quantity. The best part is each link is surrounded by an original and custom-written article that is optimized for the target page. They limit their directory so there are no more than 25 outbound links per category and they keep the overall number of instant links down. If there is one "instant links" service to sign-up for, Quality Links Direct is it.
One-way Links (Free Links Direct)
Well, if
Free Links Direct didn't work and we didn't believe in this system, then we wouldn’t be where we are today! With a top 5 ranking under the keywords "free links" in Google (out of 2.2 BILLION results) and a #1 ranking for "free back links" and several other competitive keywords, we feel that we have the SEO game down pretty good. Give our service a try and make sure to read our
FAQs and
how it works pages for all the details!
Since were on the subject of links... let it be known that there is no such thing as an "instant link". When your website is added to a link directory or partner network it can take weeks, even months before that link is counted. It's the nature of search engines and crawlers. So, if you do happen to sign up for any network you need to be patient before links show up.
