Speedlinking: Two Conflicting Definitions
Quick Links
A growing tendency has spread among bloggers. Many use the shortest, simplest anchor text possible when creating outbound links. In fact, some go so far as to label their links with such nondescript words or phrases as "here," "Click here," "his site," "they," and other similar non-specific anchor text. If you're one of these bloggers, you're not alone. With the incredibly fast pace of modern life, both online and off, who could blame a blogger for wanting to create and post links as quickly and painlessly as possible? Yet, there are some real drawbacks to this type of speedlinking (which we'll discuss later in this series).
Link Posts
Many bloggers also frequently prepare entire link collections, placing them all within a single blog post and effectively making them the whole reason for the post's existence. (This is, of course, in contrast to the practice of writing stand-alone posts, which make their own points and use a few well-chosen links to reinforce those points.) Such link collections (the best of which generally contain some commentary by the blogger in addition to the links) are often referred to as resource posts.
Link posts can be a very rich source of knowledge to a blog's readers, since they point to more comprehensive information than the blogger may have sufficient time, space, or expertise to otherwise provide. There does, however, seem to be a bit of confusion about this particular type of post, since creating it has also been labeled by many respected bloggers as speedlinking.
A Few Speedlinking Questions This Series Will Address
Given the contradictory nature of the above definitions, let's ask ourselves a few questions, as we prepare to develop some helpful guidelines for optimizing our outbound link strategy:
1. What exactly is speedlinking?
2. How important is outbound anchor text to our SEO strategy?
3. Does speedlinking help or hinder search engine optimization?
These are fascinating questions, which we will explore in our next few posts. I'll give you my take on the first question in the current post and answer the other two in the remainder of the series on Speedlinking and SEO.
My Speedlinking Definition for This Series
Since Question 1 implies that a definition of the term "speedlinking" is necessary before we can progress further into our discussion, let me share my own chosen definition and my reasons for preferring it over its counterpart.
What I Believe Speedlinking Is Not
Whenever I personally refer to speedlinking, I am not talking about the practice of writing link posts, which are posts that are built around a list of links to other blog posts, articles, and websites. This practice has been called speedlinking by none other than ProBlogger Darren Rowse. In fact, Darren has been credited by Webmaster-Source with coining the term as a description for this type of resource post. (See, What is Speedlinking?) Other well-respected bloggers agree with Darren on his definition of speedlinking, including David Airey. (See How speed linking can help you.)
Speedlinking vs. Speedposting
While I highly respect both of the above bloggers, I beg to differ. I submit that "speedlinking" is a misnomer for the post type described above. A more accurate name for this linking practice would be "speedposting," since that designation better fits its function of creating a faster, simpler blog post.
One reason I distinguish between speedlinking and speedposting is that the phenomenon I refer to here as speedposting isn't necessarily any faster in terms of creating the actual links than any other type of linking would be, since it has nothing at all to do with the design of the links themselves. Whereas the practice I refer to as speedlinking actually creates links more quickly, the only thing speedposting accomplishes - and this is a lot - is that it eliminates the need for creating an original post entirely from scratch by replacing it with a plethora of link-based referrals to credible outside sources of previously written content.
What I Believe Speedlinking Is
What I call speedlinking is the first-mentioned practice described at the beginning of this post: the practice of using just one or two words to anchor a link, rather than the lengthier - and consequently slower - method of describing a link's content more precisely, such as by using the exact title of an article or blog post or the full name of a website or individual.
To recap, the definition we will use in this series on Speedlinking and SEO, is the following:
Speedlinking is the practice of using just one or two sometimes-insignificant words to anchor a link. The words in question are used either as a substitute for exact titles and/or full names (which are generally longer and more time-consuming to reproduce accurately) or to highlight specific keywords and short key phrases. Sometimes, the words chosen to anchor the link are ambiguous, universal, and nondescript, giving the reader little incentive to follow them. Speedlinking may be used in either a link post or a conventional one, though it's more likely to be used in the latter, since it lends itself well to easily achieving an unbroken narrative flow.
Tune In Next Time for Part 2
Next time, we'll provide some further support for our perspective on speedlinking and discuss the importance of outbound link text to SEO strategy.
So, stay tuned for Part 2 of our Speedlinking and SEO series: How Important Is Outbound Link Text to SEO?
