Changing sitewide links to single links - recommended?

[MrWonton]

I run a few automotive blogs which interlink, some of which have quite strong PR. I've heard a lot of people saying that sitewide links are devalued, and that an external link from a single page is stronger. Is there any solid documentation/testing supporting this?

My thoughts were that sitewide links may be devalued, but they wouldn't count for less than a single link. Especially when internal pages have their own PR, etc.

I'm wondering, has anyone changed their sitewide links to single links and benefitted? It's something I'm considering, although I feel my interlinked sites may get less linkjuice due to the removal of the links from internal pages with good PR.

Opinions?

Thanks

[dvduval]

I think the main issue is when you take this idea too far, and have say 30 sitewides across 3 sites and there is no real benefit to the click stream (users). Google can detect this pretty well now. Your first goal should always be to design a site with quality and usefulness. Get that right and you will be well on your way. And most likely you will have a click stream that visits other links too, which will make google happy with you.

[NastyBlast]

Originally Posted by MrWonton

Is there any solid documentation/testing supporting this?

I think you'll find there is rarely any documentation of anything that really helps your site. aside from the basic strategies such as focused titles and keywords and back links the remainder is theory. Most things documented are usually out of date. I know you're trying to look for facts before acting on things which is a sensible thing to do. However in the search engine game there is so much bad information out there or information based on a rumor that it misleading most of the time and ultimately a waste of your time to search for.

On the site was linking, I would advise to moving the link to the homepage of your blogs and only cross-link your own sites if they are relevant. Kill the site wide links in favor of one link from your strongest page which is typically your homepage.

[SEOThomas]

Originally Posted by MrWonton

I run a few automotive blogs which interlink, some of which have quite strong PR. I've heard a lot of people saying that sitewide links are devalued, and that an external link from a single page is stronger. Is there any solid documentation/testing supporting this?

My thoughts were that sitewide links may be devalued, but they wouldn't count for less than a single link. Especially when internal pages have their own PR, etc.

I'm wondering, has anyone changed their sitewide links to single links and benefitted? It's something I'm considering, although I feel my interlinked sites may get less linkjuice due to the removal of the links from internal pages with good PR.

Opinions?

Thanks

millions of websites have site wide links in the form of reciprical exchanges.

i interlink my websites using banners if they are in the same niche.

your main goal is passing page rank and sharing traffic yes? so sitewide wont hurt

also pm me....i have some tuner car websites we can do a traffic exchange

[MrWonton]

Originally Posted by NastyBlast

I think you'll find there is rarely any documentation of anything that really helps your site. aside from the basic strategies such as focused titles and keywords and back links the remainder is theory. Most things documented are usually out of date. I know you're trying to look for facts before acting on things which is a sensible thing to do. However in the search engine game there is so much bad information out there or information based on a rumor that it misleading most of the time and ultimately a waste of your time to search for.

On the site was linking, I would advise to moving the link to the homepage of your blogs and only cross-link your own sites if they are relevant. Kill the site wide links in favor of one link from your strongest page which is typically your homepage.

Agreed on the lack of documentation. One thing I've noticed in the world of SEO is that it only takes one or two people to mention a theory, before masses of people read it as fact. This then spreads as wildfire across the two or three major SEM forums. This thread is really just a way for me to assertain whether sidewide link devaluation is a theory, or if anyone has actually experienced any noticeable affects from running/not running sidewide links. I know this is hard to gauge as it would require a test, which is why I'm hoping someone has changed sitewide links to a single link, and has seen benefits!

A long shot I know.

Thomas, thanks, we got your email, but we aren't really partaking in any link exchanges at the moment.