Why Link to Us?

** UPDATE ** Linking policy change - please click here

We all need links from other web sites to improve Google (and MSN, Yahoo) backward link popularity, get some free page rank, and consequently get boosted in the search engine results pages.

Why must you link to us in return? Well, sorry, that's "netiquette." Getting free links is done by trading, or swapping. Otherwise a one-way link is acquired by either paying for it, or already have a famous web site like Wikipedia that cannot help but attract free links. If so, what are you doing here?

Finally, what is this odd link-seeking web site, SheepOverboard.com, on about? Well, our editorial staff pound away at the plastic alphabet on a mission to help the world. Our reward is personal gratification, and the satisfaction of being creative. No matter how pathetic the result, it's the best we can do, and that's that, I'm afraid. (Help the world??)

This lofty diversity makes SheepOverboard slightly tricky to exchange links with. But none of us can live without links - except SEO shysters - so here we go.

Now, about those links

SheepOverboard is difficult to categorize. It parodies nearly anything to make a point, broadly preferring science, politics, and social paraphernalia, like movie reviews, etc. Our satire is mild and good-natured but our rants are deadly serious (cf Blue Planet and War departments, and Dextre puts the occasional boot in).

Ideally you link to web sites of similar topic, but when every little bit counts there's no penalty for having a general directory of unrelated links. You wouldn't criticize Yahoo or DMOZ directories for being 'off topic' would you? We further discuss supposed benefits and disadvantages of 'non-topical' linking in this article.

These instructions offer several methods of linking. Novice webmasters will always find HTML rather puzzling, especially when some forum guru goes on about PHP for an answer, but you are here to learn. Mucking this up is not life-threatening, so have a go.

We don't just make everything up when we write - we steal it from various places. In particular, these resources.

All about linking (working on it!)

There's lots to know, and it broadens the picture on how the Internet, and those much-berated - yet worshipped - search engines, work The search engines at first seem the be-all and end-all, but something else is far more important is going on.

Submit articles that link back to you (won't be long!)

A variation on linking is where you send me an article that looks cleverer than anything I can write so I keenly add it to SheepOverboard. The trick is, I get free content and you get free on-topic link/s back to yourself. Win-win. Articles may, or not, be 'themed' with SheepOverboard. Whichever, they are grouped or placed in relevant sections.

Guys who do linking (and SEO) for a living have some standard rules about who links to who, when, how and why. They have honed this experience to the least time-wasting and best 'bang per buck' way of linking. Here's a quick summary:

"Netiquette" - or linking "best practice"

This requires that webmasters seeking links must first create a link to the desired web site - as we at SheepOverboard do before approaching other webmasters.

You then email the other webmaster [see sample email] saying "Hello, I linked to you. View it at (URL of page showing link) and let me know if you want anything changed. I would appreciate a link back using this information [your HTML code supplied].

Firstly, why link to us?

And what is SheepOverboard about, anyway?

UPDATE Linking policy change - please click here

Now, about those links