LinksManager.com publishes this Code of Ethics page to inform and educate prospective customers, current LinksManager users, webmasters, and search engines about the LinksManager service.  Because LinksManager automates the time consuming task of managing an active links page, web professionals and the people who run the search engines have reasonable questions about how LinksManager works.  This page responds to these concerns.  If you have a question that is not answered here, please read our Privacy Policy or Contact Us so we can respond to your inquiry.

Sections:
LinksManager Concept
What LinksManager is NOT
Search Engine Friendly
No Free-For-All Links Pages
No SPAM (no unsolicited email)
LinksManager Abides Robots.txt
First Class Service

LinksManager Concept
The LinksManager concept is simple: Provide an application service that automates the mundane and time-consuming tasks of managing link resources.  Both small websites and large portals use the LinksManager service.  The role of LinksManager is to manage link resources, not to locate link partners or force linking.  LinksManager is editor based meaning that the end user approves or denies all link requests.  

LinksManager was designed to automate the following tasks:  

• Manage link categories, including add, modify, and delete

• Manage link publishing by means of a human editor, including add, modify, and delete 

• Publish links in virtually any format with Linklets^SM

• Rotate links pages alphabetically

• Check for and report dead links

• Check for and report link reciprocation on other websites

• Send courtesy emails between webmasters who have initiated a link exchange

• Search for specific links and link detail in an account

• Import links site name, URL, and description only (LinksManager does not import email addresses)

• Upload links pages automatically via FTP to the LinksManager user's server or via CNAME (subdomain)

• Perform visual cosmetic changes to the LinksManager user's links pages

• Create Top Links Lists to display the most popular links

What LinksManager is NOT
LinksManager promotes editor based ethical link exchange by the design of our service.   The primary function of LinksManager is to manage links.

• LinksManager does NOT support full duplex linking or automatically swap links between websites

• LinksManager does NOT solicit links from other websites

• LinksManager does NOT "find links" or spider email addresses

• LinksManager is NOT a link exchange "program", "club", or "scheme"

LinksManager requires human interaction in that link requests are approved one at a time by a human in order to facilitate ethical and thoughtful linking.  LinksManager is simply an empty database with management functions built-in.  It is up to you to populate that database with links.  LinksManager is strictly editor-based link management software and this design encourages relevant linking for the end user.

LinksManager.com works with it's sister site, LinkPartners.com to help users locate link partners.  LinkPartners is a free categorized directory of quality sites that swap links with other quality sites.  LinkPartners and LinksManager do not automatically swap links or support full duplex linking.  LinkPartners is merely a resource and each webmaster must ultimately decide whom they will, and will not link to.  

We believe that link swaps should be editor based - manually approved by a human, not a software algorithm.  This manual process by a human user insures that published links are thoughtful, and desired by the webmaster who published it.   

Search Engine Friendly
LinksManager does NOT generate dynamic pages with the exception of search results.  LinksManager provides an automated process that allows webmasters to have their links pages hosted on their own web servers, if desired.  LinksManager does NOT employ the use of doorway pages.  LinksManager does NOT employ cloaking or the generating of text that can only be seen by search engines but not by site visitors.   

LinksManager was inherently designed to be search engine friendly by both design and ethical standards.  We invite search engine managers to contact us if you have questions or concerns not answered here.

No Free-For-All Links Pages
LinksManager was intentionally designed so that each new link submitted to a user's links pages MUST be approved by that LinksManager user manually.  All new links must be viewed by a human and be either approved or deleted manually.  By making the LinksManager user have to approve each newly submitted link one-by-one, it is technically impossible for LinksManager to be used for free-for-all links pages.

No Spam
Using LinksManager, it is IMPOSSIBLE for the LinksManager user to send unsolicited email.  The only messages that are sent automatically by LinksManager are emails that go to webmasters who have voluntarily submitted their link to a LinksManager user's site.  That includes the following emails:

• Link Added Email (sent only once) - An email telling a webmaster who submitted a link that their new link submission has been received by the links page owner.

• Link Added Email (sent only once) - An email telling a webmaster who submitted a link that their new link submission has been approved, and is now visible on the user's links pages.

• Link Deleted Email (sent only once) - An email telling a webmaster who submitted a link that their link was deleted by the links page owner.

• Reciprocal Link Reminder Email (can be sent by the links page owner once every 5 days) - An email telling a webmaster who submitted a link but is not reciprocating the links page owner's link to please reciprocate.

• Lost Password (can be sent by the links page owner once every 24 hours) - An email telling a webmaster who requested their password what that password is.

LinksManager is NOT able to assist webmasters in the process of "scavenging" for email addresses off of other websites.

LinksManager Abides Robots.txt
LinksManager runs two automated processes that act like search engine spiders or verifiers.  They are:

• Reciprocal Link Checker - Scans websites who have a link on a LinksManager user's links pages, searching for a reciprocal link back to that account owner's website.

• Dead Link Checker - Scans websites who have a link on a LinksManager user's links pages, to determine if that website is active and visible.

Both of these automated processes abide by any relevant instructions in a website's robots.txt file.  Both of the LinksManager automated processes only browse text, and do not download graphics, movies, or other high bandwidth files.  The checkers are intentionally programmed NOT to put excessive load onto any site they are scanning.  There is at least a 10 second pause between page requests and the checkers do not request more than 250 pages.  Most checks verify the reciprocal link, or whether the page is active, and exit the website immediately.

LinksManager's Link Checkers were designed to be sensitive to webmasters concerns about robots.  The robots save LinksManager users huge amounts of time by automating the task of verifying reciprocal link swaps, and checking for 404/dead link status.

For more information about how to create a robots.txt file for your website, see the Robot Exclusion Standard.

First Class Service
The LinksManager support staff strives to provide fast, reliable, and friendly service to customers and non-customers who have questions about LinksManager.  Our support staff is at your service 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, and 365 days a year.  Our users continually rave about the quality of service we provide.  We have published some of these comments from actual LinksManager users on our Raves page.

Please feel free to review our Privacy Policy.  If you have questions not addressed in this document, please Contact Us.