Link farms are web pages that are designed just to exchange links. An example when link builders develop a one page website with minimal content and use it just to give outbound links.  This is a form of link farm. Once again spammers were able to trick the Google algorithm into validating one-way links through these networking sites. In a reaction to the link farm techniques in the market place Google engineers had to come up with the next twist in their notorious algorithm. In order to validate links even further they looked at the quality of the information and depth of the web pages in which links were coming from. Once reviewing the structure and information they determined a page rank system. Websites would now have a value placed, based on them based on uniqueness of content and the quality of inbound links. Websites could have a page rank of 0-10 with Google. In order to determine your sites page rank download the google tool bar and when you pull up a website it will give you that sites PR rating.  Once Google established its page rank system the engineers decided to validate PR 4 or higher inbound links. Link farms instantly became useless and not only did it ruin a lot of spammers’ rankings, but some were black listed (banned from Google).

Google’s twist on outbound links:

Things were beginning to clean up with the Google results, high quality sites were starting to get major rankings with just a few good links and unique content. In an ongoing effort to refine their results Google added a few new twists to their algorithm by validating outbound links. The value of an outbound link is important to Google, however it can be harmful if your not careful. When linking to another website you are sending a search engine spider to a site that you see value in, in relationship to your site. At least this is how a spider thinks. For example you could have a link to a local cafe website because you love the food, however be careful because the quality of the website in which you link to reflects on your rankings. When linking to a site you are essentially vouching for its quality, and in the spiders eyes if the site does not meet quality standards then you could be guilty by association, which could be harmful to your rankings. Authority sites are a good way to get quality outbound links. For instance if you link to wikipedia it’s rating is a pr 7 or higher, in Google’s eyes this site is considered an authority site and by referencing them you are recommending quality. With that being said if you can get an inbound link from an authority site than you are winning the battle. Authority inbound links are the holy grail of links. When linking you should always be sure to keep track of your inbound and outbound links. Make sure you don’t have 20 links going out and only 3 coming in. A website is like your personal generator and when your site is new you only have limited power. A newer website with a pr 4 is like a small engine compared to a site like wiki which could be a nuclear power plant. The basic concept of inbound and outbound links is quality not quantity.