When placing your link in a web directory, or requesting a link from a website, it is wise to consider whether the backlink will be a valid link that can be followed by the search engine robots and that the link will pass PR to your page. Perform the following tests to determine the validity of a backlink:
- View source of the page where your link will reside. Look at the code used for external links. Are the links hard-coded, raw href links directly to the sites? Or are they javascript links, or even worse, redirected links? Search engine robots most often will not follow javascript links, although some are beginning to be able to do so. A redirected link (one that first passes through another page or a script, before being redirected to the destination page) will most likely not pass PR to the destination page.
- Does the page where your link will be placed have PR?
- Does the page where your link will be placed show up in Google's search engine? Type info:www.websitedomainname.com/pagename.html into Google, substituting the appropriate domain name and page name, to see if Google lists this page in its search engine.
- Do other external links on the page show this page as a backlink? Type link:www.somedomainname.com into Google, substituting the domain name for one of the external links on the page. If this page shows up as a backlink, that is a good sign. If it does not show, try the same test with other links on the page. If none show up, it could be an indication that the page is not passing PR via its links.
It does take time for PR and backlinks to show up in Google, so the last three tests in the list above may fail due to bad timing. A month or two later, those same tests may be favorable. Performing the above tests however, are a good indication of whether or not a backlink to your page will be counted and will pass PR.