SEO Tycoon

**Learnin' n00b** · 06-24-2011, 12:22 PM

Does allowing people to link to images on my site (from forums, blogs, etc..) help my position in search engines?

Thanks

**chrishirst** · 06-24-2011, 12:58 PM

Nope, it just uses your data transfer for someone else's traffic.

**Learnin' n00b** · 06-24-2011, 01:06 PM

So images don't count as backlinks? I thought I read that somewhere..

**chrishirst** · 06-24-2011, 01:24 PM

If they are wrapped in an anchor element as a link to your pages with the alt attribute set possibly.

But as a "hotlinked" image? Definitely not!

**Learnin' n00b** · 06-26-2011, 02:46 PM

So is the only advantage to hosting images on one's server, as opposed to putting them on imageshack or photobucket, that they might show up in an image search?

**chrishirst** · 06-26-2011, 03:10 PM

Sure usually by people looking to steal them.

**Learnin' n00b** · 06-26-2011, 03:16 PM

Wow, somebody sure is pessimistic

**chrishirst** · 06-26-2011, 03:27 PM

Nope! Just realistic.

**PaulW** · 06-27-2011, 03:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Learnin' n00b

Wow, somebody sure is pessimistic

If you get a bill from your hosting provider for exceeding quota (or worse, with some you get the site cut off!) after a load of hotlinking, then you'll wish you'd listened to Uncle Chris

**TWD** · 06-27-2011, 04:10 AM

You can prevent hot linking by configuring your .htaccess file appropriately.

And no. There is absolutely no SEO benefit.
Just another nonsense myth by snake oil merchants.

**tessa_86** · 06-27-2011, 06:04 AM

The hot linking have many risks. Phishing attacks may be included in the hotlinks.

**Learnin' n00b** · 06-27-2011, 09:54 AM

So do you all host your images no your own server, disabling hotlinking, or do you use a photo hosting service like imageshack or photobucket to reduce the bandwidth usage of your sites?

**PaulW** · 06-27-2011, 07:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Learnin' n00b

So do you all host your images no your own server, disabling hotlinking, or do you use a photo hosting service like imageshack or photobucket to reduce the bandwidth usage of your sites?

Social media sites I'll use photo hosts, my own sites I use "the site" itself - looks naff otherwise and I prefer to control my own files where possible.