Conversation with self-links

Originally uploaded by Lilia Efimova

Although there’s no scientific evidence to correlate self-linking to self-pleasuring, you might be forgiven for making a connection.

Self-linking is seen by some people is being a selfish, taboo way of getting your blog noticed or keeping readers from wandering away from your blog.

Or is self-linking actually a smart thing to do and should it be seen as a valid blogging strategy?

What is self-linking?

Self-linking, as the term implies, is when you create a hyperlink to some of your own content. You do this when you want people to go read your content. You’ll place the link in a location where you think readers might want to click on it.

Ideally, the self-link should be relevant to the topic at hand. For example, if someone is looking for information about massage oil and you’re an accomplished masseuse, it could be very helpful to link to your blog post about massage oils.

Linking to your “make money online” blog in the same situation is not so helpful. Making it look like you’re linking to a massage oil post when you’re actually linking to an unrelated ad or website is downright deceptive.

Variations of self-linking

In my opinion, there are different kinds of self-linking:

• Self-linking when you are publishing on a different blog or website (as in a byline on a post)
• Self-linking when commenting on someone else’s blog
• Self-linking to your blog’s content within your blog

Some people do not approve of self-linking. Some blogs have been criticized for linking to their own internal content on companies or organizations instead of directly linking to the site in question (see this O’Reilly Radar post on self-linking for a description). Some would say that self-linking to an internal database, instead of linking directly to the site being talked about, would deprive a website from both direct referral traffic or increased traffic from Google searches.  EDIT: Louis Gray posted on this topic very recently as well.

Links have historically been regarded as a form of acknowledgment, recognition of achievement, and even celebration. Some bloggers compare links to a kind of currency or compensation. Other people don’t care.

Motivations for self-linking

As I see it, there are four main reasons for linking to your own material, using any of the above techniques:

1. To point someone towards helpful information or material
2. To demonstrate authority by showing that you’ve written significant, interesting, or cool content on a subject
3. To market yourself, regardless of whether or not you’re trying to establish authority
4. To boost your post’s results within Google searches or other search engines results (I first heard about this technique when reading a Problogger.net guest post about improving blog traffic)

This first two reasons are generally acceptable to most bloggers as long as everyone involved agrees with the practice. The third reason may be seen as being exploitive and individual bloggers may frown on the practice, particularly if it’s done with automated software for the sole purpose of improving search engine results. The fourth reason is permitted, although some people might question the need or justification of creating internal link clusters.

On the other hand, with regards to the fourth reason, there’s the famous cliche about building a better mousetrap… it’s worthless if no one can find it.

My limited research to date seems to indicate that most people frown upon reason 3, but they are OK with the other ideas. That’s the way I feel about it, too. Most of us who aren’t among the highly trafficked bloggers like to have opportunities for people to find out about us, so we’re sympathetic to other people who feel the same way.

What do you think?

Is self-linking good? Bad? Or does it depend on the situation? Is there a danger of going blind if you self-link too much, just like certain solitary activities are supposed to, um, cause health problems?

Why not share your thoughts? Leave a comment and let’s discuss!