Link wheel

Basic link wheel comprising web 2.0 properties. Each web 2.0 property links to the next property forming a link wheel.

Advanced link wheel comprising web 2.0 properties, article submissions and blog posts. Multiple smaller link wheels or "sets" are used in combination with breaks in each smaller wheel to provide randomization.

Link wheel is a widely used internet marketing strategy. The basic idea of link wheels is to create a pattern of links which flow from one website to another which would finally link to a targeted website requiring promotion.

Link wheels fall under the category of search engine optimization, however, when social media sites are used to create the link flow the link wheel strategy becomes social media marketing. According to experts, link wheels have maximum effectiveness when the social media sites are used.

See also: blog network.

Growth and trend change of the link wheels

Link wheels have been widely used since the spark of the search engine optimization concept which is considered to be in 2002. Back then, the content marketing sites and the article directories were widely used to create the link wheels. Content would be written based on the targeted keywords and published at the content sites. Links would be placed within the content, which would flow from one site to the other. Usually, every published content would carry one link to the adjacent site and one link to the parent website that is being promoted.

SEO gained huge popularity by 2005-2006 and the link wheels broke the barrier of using the content sites alone. The link wheels were formed with any type of media, including videos, articles, blogs, images and a lot more.

With the introduction of social media sites and the possibility to post content and gain links in the social media sites, the link wheels were made purely using these social media sites. Due to the viral nature of the social media sites, link wheels framed with them reflected huge effectiveness.

The link wheel pattern

As a matter of fact, there is no specific pattern or rule when it comes to framing a link wheel. The effectiveness of the link wheel depends on how organic the pattern is. SEO experts believe that link wheels should not be framed to trick the search engines but should include a natural flow from one site to another. For example, the link can flow as more information about an article presented at the adjacent site. This would keep the readers interested along with gaining the attention of the search engine bots. As obvious as it is, different internet marketers make use of different patterns. Some of them would be using only social media sites, while some of them would use mixed media such as video sites, image sites, forums, discussion boards etc.

The role of unique content in framing link wheels

It is said that “Content is king” when it comes to search engine optimization. The same rule applies with the link wheels too. As already said, the link wheels should keep the readers interested, which is possible only by publishing well researched unique content. Usually, short informative articles would be written and posted to a handful of web 2.0 sites such as blogger and wordpress. Links would be placed in the anchor texts present in the articles.

Hurdles when framing the link wheels

Time is the only constraint to form a perfect link wheel. Most part of the time taken would be consumed in producing the unique well researched content.

Negative effects of the Black Hat link wheels

The usage of link wheel strategy is a controversial topic. While it is true that black hat methods of creating a link wheel could harm the rankings of the parent website, ethical and organically formed link wheels have proven to have no adverse effect. Most of the organic link wheels would not be identified as a pattern created just for promoting a website. Instead, the flow of links would keep the readers interested.

References

SoualWjoab SEO