Proxy servers are a computer system or an application that intermediates between the client and the server. It accepts the requests from the client and directs it to the required server that can cater the information or webpage requested.

Utility of proxy servers

A proxy server offers various operational advantages. An ideal proxy server can:

• Maintain anonymity of the client
• ‘Cache’ frequently needed information
• ‘Police’ the traffic
• Speed up access to servers
• Scan for malware
• Maintain the log of activities

It also offers some features that can be disadvantageous, like, it can:

• Bypass security controls
• Circumvent regional restrictions
• Hide identity of culprits

Types of proxy servers

Proxy servers are classified as under into various types depending on the way they function:

Gateway proxy – Its function is to direct the requests to particular server and send the reply to the client without ant interference or modifications.

Reverse proxy – This works mainly for web servers. It protects the main server by features like load balancing, authentication and decryption.

Transparent and non-transparent proxy – Transparent proxy acts like a gateway but does check for identification and authentication. Whereas, non-transparent proxy modifies the request or response in order to provide some added service to the user.

Forced proxy – It can be intercepting or non-intercepting forced proxy, mainly to monitor adherence to various transfer protocols.

Suffix proxy – It allows modifying the name of the proxy server to the URL of the requested content. They are easier to use than regular proxies.

Because of the diversity of functions and utility of proxy servers, they are turning out to be a useful tool in networking. By ‘caching’ the required information and providing it whenever needed, they have helped in reducing traffic to and load on the main servers.

What are paid links?

On a web page, link that links your click to buying or selling a product or service is a paid link. These links take you to altogether different site or page. So the paid links are like advertisements that we often come across in a publication. It is up to you to follow or ignore them.

Then, what’s the problem?

Paid links on web pages has always been the bone of contention between website owners and search engine optimizers. More links to your page or site was looked upon as a mark of reputation and believability.

However, recently, paid links pertaining to buying and selling are making their entry through some search engine operators. It is believed that search engines are unable to differentiate between general links and paid links; thereby raising serious questions about link based ranking of sites. Surprisingly, these links are passing PageRank by Google. They confirm that all paid links do not violate guidelines set by webmaster. These links generally do not have malicious intentions and help only to spread the business.

What’s the solution?

Solution is still nowhere in sight. Search engines fail to differentiate between general and paid links. Google, the best of them is studying the link architecture and trying to device software that automatically detects paid links. Presently, Google is actively asking its users to report paid links.

Reporting paid links on Google

Google has guidelines for reporting Paid Links. It says:

• Sign in to Goggle’s webmaster console and use the authenticated spam report form
• Then include the word “paid link” (all one word) in the text area of the spam report.
  • If you use the authenticated form, you’ll need to sign in with a Google Account, but your report will      carry more weight.
  • Use the unauthenticated spam report form and make sure to include the word “paid link” (all one word) in the text area of the spam report.

Are paid links worth?  Thousands of dollars are being pumped in to put one paid link at the site or page where it matters. It is expected to generate enormous traffic for the destination site. All it comes down to is link’s conversion rate that could give return on investment. Search engine optimizers are looking for methods to track pages and build links from the websites or pages that don’t cost you heavens.

Users must understand that buying/selling links is a high risk activity. There are ways to reduce it but the risk cannot vanish altogether. Most of the standard and reputed websites no longer display paid links to their clients. Other than ethical or moral grounds, the risk involved discourages them to do so. The reputation of the site is at stake in doing so and it will rank lower in search result pages.

Cross Linking or Internal Link Architecture

This refers to how we are managing to interlink various pages within our own web-site. Wikipedia is a good live example of how Cross Linking or Internal Link Architecture can be effectively and efficiently utilized.

• This is the key to enable the visitor to quickly and easily navigate to the desired content & topics on the web-site. This is easy to create when we are starting a new web-site, provided we have a map charted at the start.
• If it is an existing web-site, it would only require some old-fashioned patch-work, editing a couple of words on different pages for including these links.
• The idea is to inter-connect various contents of our site making relative sense. The search engines also appreciate this kind of an architecture where you show a commitment to the user’s experience. Another way for increasing page views from users.
• Contain this cross linking to relative pages, and do not use these for promotion. Also use them moderately, and do not over link pages, from one to almost every other; since you’d only be destroying the very purpose you desired. Your purpose is to help the user, and not build an internal link – spam.
• There will be links between a page, to another within any given web-site. The Internal Link Architecture of any site enables cross linking take up a required size. Navigational links take up the other half – however, both are equally important for the success of any web-site. Navigation helps organize content into logical groups, enabling our users find out all the content on our web-site.
• Although many forms of navigational links are available, and can be utilized. But the best bet for SEO purposes remains the conservative & old plain text links.
• Linked Images are selectively used by many web-sites. You click on an image or a button, to go to another page or section. These images better be nice, perfectly blending with the design, and when optimized for size – be fast to load. Image links wont pass the same value to a page as the text link, but out-weighs by the look and feel images are able to give to any web-site. However when using these, make sure to enter the fight info for the attribute tags.
• These would not be of any help with the SEO point of view, as crawlers still don’t have the ability to follow linked images, it is best left for the larger sites that have plenty of content groups, They make it simpler for the user to find out what he wants, although some tweaking may be necessary to make sure that they work as expected on browsing platforms. Considering the Crawler’s limitations, it is very important to have well laid out, and easy to access site-map.