How Valuable is That Link? - Other Link Evaluation Factors
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The remaining factors you should evaluate before you try to acquire a particular link are the cost of acquisition, likelihood of acquisition and non-SEO values. These may not tip the scales one way or the other, but they could hint at whether trying to acquire the link would be too costly or a waste of your time.
Cost of Acquisition
The cost of acquiring a link refers to more than just money. How much work will you have to put into getting the link? This is not necessarily a deciding factor, as acquiring links from .edu sites is often difficult but can really pay off in the SERPs. However, if you're going round and round with someone about whether they'd be willing to link out to your site, it might be best for all involved to just let it go.
Likelihood of Acquisition
If you run a gambling website, it is unlikely in the extreme that you'll be able to acquire a link from any .edu site unless, perhaps, the .edu in question teaches casino dealers. You can probably think of a variety of other factors that will influence the likelihood of your acquiring a link from any particular web site. PhilipSEO offers this list of items to consider:
Your ability to add a link directly.
Your ability to submit the link.
Relationship with someone at that domain.
Your ability to make (or request and see through) a correction or addition to the linking page.
You may be able to think of other points that might affect your likelihood of acquiring a link from any particular site.
Non-SEO Values
There's more to links than getting a high rank in Google. Links can bring you relevant traffic. Remember when I mentioned the positioning and context of a link? If someone reads an article and follows a link within its text that goes to your web site, they became a visitor without resorting to the search engines to find you. If your material is relevant to their interests, they might even convert.
How can you improve the odds that this will happen? Make sure your link is seen in relevant places, but don't spam. PhilipSEO notes that The tactics for improving your referred traffic include link distribution to leading digital media (articles, guest blog posts, quality listings), to online discussions (possibly engaging industry leaders in conversation) and growing expertise-based relations with the media. Show that you know your topic, and your links will help build your brand, attract traffic, and hopefully encourage conversions which is really the bottom line, regardless of where you rank in Google. Good luck!
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