Find Authoritative Web Sites With Hub Finder
by Paul Flyer
In the process of building links to a website, it might be helpful to find “Hub” web sites which might be willing to provide a link.
What is a Hub web site?
Hub Finder defines them as:
sites which have co occuring links to related authoritative websites on a particular topic
It might be a little more clear to say:
“A resource site which links to numerous authoritative websites. These websites are based on a particular topic or keyword.”
Again from Hub Finder:
Pages which link to similar resources may be authorities on that topic. That means that some of these pages may be more inclined to be receptive to link requests and their links may have a greater implied value
Hub web sites are like authoritative resource websites. A link from such a site might prove invaluable in many ways. First, a link from such a site will most likely group a site with other authoritative websites giving the new link much more credibility. Second, such hub sites typically carry a fair amount of traffic. Thirdly, as authoritative sites themselves, a link from them carries a fair amount of weight.
It might be better to explain this giving two examples. I will use my paisley sock company example. I search on Google for paisley socks and I find the top ten sites for that term. Is there a site that points to 2 or more of those sites? If such a site existed wouldn’t it be great if I could get my paisley sock site listed there too?
Second example. Say I am already aware of the competition in the paisley sock field. I have a list of my top 5-10 competitors. Is there a site that links to 2 or more of my competitors? If there is such a site, would it be nice if I could get my site on that list too?
This is where Hub Finder comes in. It can find those sites!
How to use Hub Finder:
On the Hub Finder page there are numerous fields and buttons. I am not going to discuss all of them, only the ones that will provide a basic understanding of the tool.
Method #1:
- Subject: Enter the keyword phrase/subject you are interested in finding an authority hub site for.
- Results: Choose the number of top sites you want the tool to use. Typically just choose 10. These are not the sites you are looking for. The sites you are looking for are the ones that have links to THESE SITES.
- API: Choose both.
- Min Match: The hub you are looking for should have at least how many of these sites linked? 2 is the minimum. Start with 2, if there are lots of hub sites that are returned then up it to 3, and so on. If you can find a Hub Site that has 3 or more of the key sites linked, then that is definitely a site you want to try to get to link to you to. Not all keyword phrases/subjects/groups of site will have a 3+ hub site. There may not truly be a hub site for the particular topic you have entered.
- Depth: leave at 50. I haven’t found clear indications on the site how this setting influences results.
- Link Type: Choose either Domain or Page. Both should be run separately.
- Click the Query button
Understanding the results:
The first list of sites are the sites that Hub Finder found to be relevant to the topic/keyword phrase entered. Call these top sites or key sites. You will find more than 10 here usually. Why? Though 10 was the number selected from the Results setting, the API setting was set to both. Hub Finder found the top 10 results from BOTH Yahoo and Google. Though you would expect to find the total number to be 20, sometimes it is less. It sites overlap from both engines, they typically are not listed twice.
The results that appear below in the light blue box are the results you are interested in. On the far right it lists the name of the website. These sites are the “hub” sites. The columns to the left indicated which of the top sites/key sites are linked by this hub. There are some sites which always turn up here: DMOZ, Angelfire, Geocities, etc. Those are not the ones you should be interested in.
Method #2 is similar to #1 with one exception. Instead of entering a subject or keyword phrase, enter a list of known sites into the box at the bottom.
Results can be saved by clicking the Download CSV button.
The instructions on Hub Finder are sparse. So if I am mistaken in any of my directions please correct me. That aside, it is an extremely useful tool. More useful than some tools that I have paid money for!
Be sure to review our list of recommended web tools.
Thanks Paul! You’re absolutely right about the instructions on hubfinder being sparse. While the trial-and-error methodology is definitely useful at times, the query time is so lengthy that trial-by-fire can be tiresome & difficult.
That said, in industry verticals as competitive as mine, I’ve found Hubfinder to be a tremendous resource not only to generate leads for linking partners, but also for finding possible relationships that go far beyond the standard “link”…
November 22nd, 2005 at 12:32 pmThanks again!