It seems the gurus have a new catch phrase and are pounding away at the concept of "authority sites" as if this is the only way to get top rankings.What the gurus have either forgotten, ignored or just pain don't know about is another type of site that Google likes...And these sites are called "hub" sites.
Google generally prefers both of these types of sites, authority AND hub, and you'll often see these types of sites at the type of the SERPs.
Authority sites can be hubs and hub sites can be authority sites. So what's the definition of each?
An authority site is a site with a lot of content pages that has a lot of links from other relevant sites in the niche.
Like authority sites, hubs also need a lot of incoming links. But hub sites have a lot of HIGH QUALITY links POINTING OUT. One big mistake many SEOers/marketers make is thinking that linking to other sites is a mistake and they drain traffic and PR.
However, to have traffic you need to have high rank FIRST. By linking to other high quality sites, Google considers your site to be of quality, also. And it's been theorized that you inherit some of the relevancy and reputation of the pages you link to.
You've probably heard that you shouldn't link to "bad neighborhoods". If we assume this is true, doesn't the opposite make sense, and shouldn't there be benefit to linking to "good neighborhoods"?
Linking to good neighborhoods is the basic concept behind hub sites.
Even "content" pages could benefit by linking to other related pages. The concept of hogging PR and links from an SEO/Google point of view is flawed.
You still need a good, high quality content to attract links pointing TO your site, but don't be afraid to add bunches of good links to your pages to create hubs.
Think a little about how Wikipedia works...They have a high quality article, then links to more resources at the bottom of the page. And Wikipedia ranks highly.
The "blogosphere" has long linked out to other sites, even competitors, and they have prospered for it.
IMO, the best way to find high quality links is using Fat Search, as it will rank pages across various search engines.
Another benefit of linking is that Google links anchor text, always has. And they don't just link anchor text for the page where the link is pointing, they also like it on the page itself.
Get those keyword in anchor text on YOUR pages, pointing to good, relevant high quality pages.
Take into consideration that all the gurus are preaching about authority sites, which means the herd will follow their "lead".
IMO, this creates an opportunity for folks that create hubs to benefit.
-Boom boom boom boom.
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