In this article on whether search engine optimisation is worth the effort one of the given ranking factors is “Link Diversity”.
Looking in more detail at what defines as link diversity, there are a number of factors that are considered when looking at what this is
At Vertical Leap we use link diversity to mean the split of different types of backlinks that a site has; the relative percentages of reciprocal, articles, blogs, PR and directories etc. It would also encompass paid links (if you are doing them).
Making sure that there is a spread across different link sources is part of what we do in our SEO process, and something that we look at when we are doing a site review for a prospective client. We’ll also look and see if the links are on individual pages, or are “run of site” (this is a common footprint for paid links).
However, there are other aspects of SEO that are also covered by the link diversity term. The main one is that there should be a variety of home page and deep links to the site. Having all inbound links coming in to the home page can happen naturally, but is fairly unusual on a site with decent content.
Fortunately, having a good site with quality content, and particularly blogging attracts inbound links to pages other than your home page. This is one of the reasons for the “content is king” argument, because although the on page factors don’t make a page rank for competitive terms alone, good content also attracts links.
Additionally, sometimes people may use link diversity as a term when what they actually mean is “anchor text variation”. A variety of anchor texts is desirable, although they are not all created equal. A plethora of “click here” links doesn’t make good reading, although it is still preferable to no link at all.
So although link diversity is used as a term often in SEO, it doesn’t always have quite the same meaning depending on who is using it.
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