New Links: Does Google Use a Dampening Filter? - Evidence for a link value filter
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The question must be considered as to whether or not a fresh link dampening filter has been established as part of the Google algorithm. If such a filter exists, it could have far reaching effects on the SEO efforts of most website owners. In fact, a loss of link value kicks out one of the most important legs from under the optimization stool.
Since many SEO professionals consider links to be the most important factor in the Google algorithm, there is certainly a need to examine the evidence for or against a new link filter. Should such a link dampening filter exist, a radical rethinking of SEO strategy would have to take place. There is definitely much at stake.
Many website owners have added new incoming links to their sites, but have not received a corresponding boost in the search engine rankings as a result. Conventional SEO wisdom holds that additional incoming links will enhance any site’s placement in the search engine results pages (SERPs) for the targeted keyword phrase.
Some webmasters and SEO experts no longer believe that link boost to be the normal course of events. In fact, some experts believe almost the opposite, that the new links are dampened by a filter, and could even cause a temporary drop or hold in the SERPs. Reports also are circulating that Google PageRank is not being fully passed along from new links either.
The question arises as to what would motivate Google to introduce a fresh link filter. It would appear to be a goal similar to the alleged sandbox filter for new websites. If a site adds many new links in a very short period of time, it’s thought that Google might consider those links to be artificial.
The links might be purchased, the result of cross linking several related sites, or perhaps part of a linking scheme such as a link farm. In other words, Google wants to make sure the links are natural, as opposed to existing only for the purposes of boosting PageRank and SERPs placements. In order to prevent any artificial link popularity, the theory proposes that Google dampens the value of all new links until their relevance is determined.
Next: Google’s possible purpose for filtering new links >>
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