Website positioning is not a one-time action, it is a process. At that, it is quite complex, as every technique that needs time to bear fruits. Accordingly, it is pivotal to use different methods to provide constant progress. Some of the methods are easier and less time-consuming than others, and are as a consequence used generously, although not without some prejudice. This is how it goes with site-wide links: it is an easy method, but some regard it as controversial.
It has just been stated that site-wide links are easy to be implemented: this is because a term ‘site-wide link’ refers to a set of links that is present on every subpage of a website. The only thing you should do is to add your link (or links) to a footer (on the condition that it is present on every site’s page) or sidebar of a website and enjoy the results. But hey, wait, is it really as simple as that?
Advantages of wide site links and their importance
Wide-site links tend to be ‘self-replicating’, especially on certain websites, e.g. web forums (you get a new link every time someone adds a new topic). But, to profit from wide-site links, you should acquaint yourself with how they are ranked by Google and what to avoid when using them.
Here are useful tips to raise the effectiveness of website links and things to avoid:
Always place your wide-site links on valuable websites with good reputation. Putting wide-site links on trashy spam-pages is a waste of your time.
Make sure that the website where you put your wide-site links shares the subject with a website that you link to. For example, a website with cooking recipes may be used to create some wide-site links to restaurants’ home pages.
When a website you are linking to has been established just recently, you should rather avoid wide-site links placed in footers or sidebars. When a number of links to a ‘young’ website is growing too fast, the website may be punished by Google.
Diversify your anchors, do not place the same anchor at every wide-site link if you get many of them from different portals.
Remember that some links are ‘stronger’ than others. According to Google experts, a wide-site link from a main page (e.g. domain.co.uk) is the most valuable one, whereas all links on subpages (domain.com/my-first-page/) are less powerful in SEO expert in Blackpool.
As you see, there are some things to remember to be able to use site-wide links safely, without risking a search engine ban. But they are worth using, undoubtedly!