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View Full Version : Direct links vs tracked links



Shockt
11-25-2006, 02:14 AM
This thread is mainly a question for Chris but I would like other opinions as well.

There are many scripts out there that allow you to add and track clicks on your links. Many people use these scripts for their links/affiliates section of their website.

Example link from yourdomain.com:
http://www.yourdomain.com/track.php?id=49835
Which forwards to my domain instead of a direct link like:
http://www.mydomain.com

Is it correct that I will not gain any PR/backlink benefit from this type of link? This will only add to my traffic, not search engine status like a direct link would, right?

Chris
11-25-2006, 10:10 AM
Yes and no. It is possible, depending on how the link is coded, that you can gain from it still, but generally speaking it isn't common. So you'll see some links such as those correctly labelled in search engines, but most of them aren't.

If you're considering your own affiliate program, read this:

http://www.websitepublisher.net/blog/2006/07/04/the-pagerank-possibilities-of-an-in-house-affiliate-program/

Shockt
11-25-2006, 03:31 PM
Interesting article.. but perhaps "affiliate" was the wrong word.

I am talking about link exchanges. One site of the same topic exchanging links with another. Or maybe just a one way link from one to the other. Some webmasters feel the need to track how many clicks their site gives their link exchanges. Most go with quick and easy scripts that record the click in their database then redirect to the page they wanted to go to (refer to example above).

Are there certain types of redirect that will also give the page some of your PR? I was thinking of doing some sort of Ajax-type script that would still allow for sites to directly link their link exchanges while also tracking clicks with Ajax and the onmouseup event.

Chris
11-25-2006, 03:35 PM
The ajax solution is the best if you can code it, it was what I was going to recommend before I got to your 2nd paragraph and saw you had already thought of it.

Shockt
11-25-2006, 05:14 PM
I've actually already got something like that working. Just need to check it using as many browsers as I can. The only down side is the inability to track Javascript disabled browsers. But I personally don't need to worry much since my sites are mostly web development related anyway, 99.9% of my visitors are going to have Javascript enabled.

AmbulanceBlues
11-25-2006, 06:35 PM
On another topic: The private islands crowd is not a demographic that I had thought to target. Do you get value traffic with that? Your site looks well developed.

Shockt
11-26-2006, 12:58 AM
Honestly, I haven't really tried. I should though because the CPC isn't bad. That site was actually an essay I wrote for an English class and wanted to make a quick buck from it :P

ramprage
12-11-2006, 08:44 PM
I just built a sytem your speaking of, a link exchange system for my sites where the links aren't mysite?id=4414

What happens is this:
- I add an include for the tracker on the php page index of the site
- The tracker reads the referal that send you there
- It searches my DB of link partners to see if the referring site exists
- If the site exists it logs a hit and counts it, otherwise ignore it and keep going

It has some neat features like ignoring traffic from the same IP for than 3 times(so if you click the link 10000 times it only logs it 3) and ignores the rest.

I then went a step futher and sorted the incoming traffic by rank and outputted the exchanging sites in a list ordered by most traffic to least traffic.

So far so good!

examples:
http://www.myprofilesupport.com/ - left side related links
http://www.myspaceplanet.com/ - right side resources


I have some more ideas to add to it but I can use it to track anything, paid listings, paid exchanegs, free exchanges, whatever. Add 2 includes to your .php pages and you're done :D

Where is my easy button for that?

ceetee
12-12-2006, 04:36 AM
You might also be interested in affedit (http://www.affedit.com/reftrack.php). Among other things it logs labelled links mysite.com?ad=myad