Deleting links that do not link back - does this improve search rankings ?

[scanreg]

1. If a remote site does not want to reciprocate links and you delete their link from your public directory, does this hurt your Google ranking ?

What if you have hundreds of links in your public directory that do not link back? Does Google de-value your search rankings?

I'm trying to strike a balance between inviting remote sites to exchange links and keeping old listings

2. Also, what if a number of links are deleted from the public pages? Will the remaining links remain on the same page, or do the remaining links get all shifted around to other pages? The major problem with the latter is that now your recip link partners would spider your site but no longer find their recip links on the page that you originally told them their link would be on. Maybe then those remote link partners would suspend your link. In other words, if you delete lots of non-recip links, could this mess up your entire link directory and put your search rankings in jeopardy? If, however, the recip link partner links could stay on the originally assigned page in your directory (whether you add or subtract other links), then presumably you could delete the non-recip links without endangering your link-partner links.

Does this all make sense?

I'd like to clean up the directory but not jeopardize my link partners or my search engine rankings. Keeping all links on their originally assigned page AT ALL TIMES seems to be the safest way to go whether cleaning non-recip links or adding new links.

What do you think?

Thanks

[pgolovko]

I usually spend 90% of time on making sure that directory is a valuable and useful resource to the community, the recip links will eventually popup from the crowd. Remember, people come back to what they need, to a useful resource. Yet no good recips will ever come along if the directory is mostly visited by its owner. Although I do reward recip links by giving them higher directory listing.

[scanreg]

Thanks, Pavel :)

Do you have any insights about whether my Goog rankings would be hurt if I delete the non-recip links from my directory?

Basically, in one or two directories, I'd like to clean out the sites that do not exchange links, but I'm not sure if this will hurt my search rankings

Many thanks :)

[pgolovko]

I can not advise should you or should not remove non-recips, though I can for sure advise you not watch out for old links that stay PR0 (zero) for long time, as they most likely are banned from Google. It might hurt your Google status if you have those "banned" links in your directory. Simply to protect myself, I've set the minimum PR1 for any site to be suggested to my directory.
Also, I rank my directory listings by:
1. Recip
2. Google PR.

Search results:
1. Keyword relevancy
2. Google PR

Simple, yet rewarding to both sides, directory and the web sites it links to.

Keep in mind though, directory is not a "link farm" and should never be treated as one. Directory is a collection of references to useful internet resources, nothing else. Keep it useful to the public, and then you will never have to worry about any recips.

[Sai_dallas]

I can not advise should you or should not remove non-recips, though I can for sure advise you not watch out for old links that stay PR0 (zero) for long time, as they most likely are banned from Google. It might hurt your Google status if you have those "banned" links in your directory. Simply to protect myself, I've set the minimum PR1 for any site to be suggested to my directory.
Also, I rank my directory listings by:
1. Recip
2. Google PR.

Search results:
1. Keyword relevancy
2. Google PR

Simple, yet rewarding to both sides, directory and the web sites it links to.

Keep in mind though, directory is not a "link farm" and should never be treated as one. Directory is a collection of references to useful internet resources, nothing else. Keep it useful to the public, and then you will never have to worry about any recips.


It is interesting that I just got this thought yesterday and pgolovko said the same thing.

To Approve a site that is PR0 I want to be little more careful and I would like to go back and check my links for PR0 and verify them again.

My problem as of now is too many directories. As soon as the new PR update is done, I want to sell few and keep one or may be two and implement pgolovko suggestion.

This is something every directory owner should probably do.

Thanks

[scanreg]

Thank you, both :)