A Guide to Understanding Link Wheels

The Internet and Internet usage has grown exponentially over the last two decades. New content is published daily to the Internet from a variety of individuals and businesses. Many of the websites published to the Internet have similar content making the competition for visitors to the website challenging. Many website publishers use strategies, like link wheels, to increase the likelihood of gaining visitors and in the case of business websites, gaining potential customers.

What are Link Wheels?

With the growing number of websites in competition for visitors, the link wheel took on another look but still resembled a wheel. In this newer model, the target website resembles a hub of a wheel while the other websites form the wheel around it. Each of the outer websites was linked to one another in a circular pattern and each website offered a link to the target website resembling spokes in a wheel. This method increased the number of links leading to the target website and resulted in more exposure in search engines. The basic link wheel pattern is as follows:

Site 1 links to Site 2 and back to the “Targeted Web Site”
Site 2 links to Site 3 and back to the “Targeted Web Site”

Site 3 links to Site 4 and back to the “Targeted Web Site”
…

Site 13 links to Site 14 and back to the “Targeted Web Site”
Site 14 links to Site 15 and back to the “Targeted Web Site”

Site 15 links to Site 1 and back to the “Targeted Web Site”

The “Targeted Web Site” is the website that is trying increase search engine exposure.

Due to abuse of some search engine optimization techniques and people wanting to keep search engine results accurate and relevant, search engines began searching for patterns that were often used in malicious marketing. This led to the link wheel keeping the original concept of linking websites but rather than linking in a basic pattern, the pattern became more advanced. By randomizing the pattern it allowed for link wheels to appear natural and avoid the scrutiny of web crawlers used by search engines.

Basic Vs. Advanced Link Wheel Techniques

Basic Link Wheel Technique

The basic link wheel concept comprises of a simple singular wheel created from web 2.0 properties. As you can see below, each web 2.0 property links to the next web 2.0 property forming a link wheel. Each property then has a link to the "Targeted Web Site." This style of link wheel was originally popular before the creation of the advanced link wheel technique.

Advanced Link Wheel Technique

The advanced link wheel concept is based upon randomization. Firstly there is a mixture of Web 2.0 Properties, Article Submissions and Blog Posts. Secondly there are multiple smaller link wheels or "sets." Thirdly there is a randomized break within every smaller link wheel or set. This advanced technique was developed by LinkWheeler and is used as standard in each of their link wheel packages.

How Do Link Wheels Work?

Search engines in turn recognized that this would not allow them to properly provide search engine users accurate information and could affect how the user viewed the search engine website. Many users were provided a list of search queries with a large number of results that were not truly relevant to the query. To circumvent the abuse of irrelevant keywords to gain higher rankings on search engines, search engine providers now use a mathematical algorithm to calculate how a website will rank on a search engine query.

The mathematical algorithm used to calculate search engine results rankings uses a number of different factors to determine a website’s ranking. Since there are a number of different factors involved, web developers and internet marketers use a method known as search engine optimization to develop and market websites so they rank higher on search engine query lists. Search engine optimization uses a number of different techniques and link wheels are one of those techniques.

One of the factors used to determine rankings is back links or incoming links to a particular website. This is where link wheels play a role in increasing a website’s rankings. When the target website is linked from a large number of other websites, it increases the amount of back links to the target website. The increased number of back links to the target website in turn increases the likelihood of the website ranking higher on a search query result list therefore increasing the websites exposure to the public.

In addition to being one of the techniques used in search engine optimization, link wheels can also provide a way to keep an Internet user’s attention and provide them with a valuable resource. For example, an Internet user may start their search by looking up information on a particular subject. The website where they get basic information on the subject provides a link to a how-to guide that will allow the user to take on a project on their own. The website providing the how-to guide will then have links to where the user can purchase the necessary tools to perform the task.

Are Link Wheels Allowed?

The abuse of some internet marketing techniques as mentioned earlier has forced search engines to revamp the way they create rankings. Additionally, they have had to improve on their web crawlers that search for the various factors used in creating those ranks. Unfortunately, link wheels have had their share of malicious marketing by a few web developers. For this reason, web crawlers were improved and designed to pick up patterns that may indicate there is malicious intent.

Link wheeling itself is not against the rules meaning that a website will not get banned from search engines simply because they use link wheels. If used correctly link wheels are still a leading form of SEO and produce excellent results. However, excessive use of poor quality (using spammy content and poor linking structure) link wheeling, combined with other low quality link building techniques will cause a website to look suspicious and may result in the website not being listed very high in the results lists. Like any internet marketing technique, link wheels should be done in moderation and combined with other techniques to produce the best results.

Who Can Benefit From Using Link Wheels?

For business websites, gaining a large number of visitors plays a much more important role than being a gauge of popularity. Using link wheels can help businesses drive traffic to their website. Each visitor to a business website is a potential customer for the business. Gaining visitors is only half the battle for a business website. Since each potential customer provides potential for a business to make a profit, it is important that a business publishes a well-organized and easy to navigate website to turn visitors into customers.

Ultimately, the goal of a link wheel is to benefit the target website but the target website is not the only website to benefit from the use of link wheels. Each of the websites in a link wheel receives a back link to it from one or more websites in the wheel while each website provides a back link to the target website. This builds value in the other websites in the link wheel along with building value in the target website.

How to Create a Successful Link Wheel

A link to the target website and one of the other websites should be provided within the keyword article or blog. This can be accomplished by providing the link within the article or blog content or at the end of the article or blog. The linked website should be to a website that does not link back to the original website. This aids in keeping the links wheel fluid and as natural as possible.

Obtaining Link Wheel Services

Link wheels can be a great benefit to individuals and businesses who want to promote their website and gain exposure. By linking a target website through a number of other web 2.0, blog, article directory and social media websites, it increases the number of back links to the target website. Back links are one of the major factors used to determine a website’s search ranking position. The higher a website ranks in the search engines, the more likely it is to attract visitors.

Creating a successful link wheel takes a lot of time and patience. Unfortunately, not every individual or business has the time or resources to accomplish creating their own link wheel. If this is the case for you, LinkWheeler can help. With a staff of 25 link wheel specialists, some boasting 8 years experience in Search Engine Optimization you can be assured you are getting the best link wheel service available.