Cross-linking between related content

Selected answers from the Dumb SEO Questions Facebook & G+ community.

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  Alan Peter: Not being in any way funny...but what does your consultant think?If you are paying someone for a job then I would run all SEO stuff through them really
  
  
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  Mari Sa: Alan Peter I`m seeking a second opinion. He told me to do what I noted.
  
  
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  Alan Peter: Mari Sa again just my honest opinion. But if I were seeking second opinion on others work such as SEO, I would consider if I fully trust who I was hiring. I only say this as with SEO there has to be often more trust than with other services that are clear what work is done and why. If you doubt or question what your SEO suggests then possibly question if you should be working with them. Using your example or question here...if you think that their linkbuilding approach is not the best approach or they might have missed something ....maybe the trust isn`t there fully yet?I hope this doesn`t sound too harsh. Just my 2 cents.
  
  In response to your actual question. I`m gonna give the biggest SEO answer and say it depends but I`m happy to give you any suggestions if you have any more details about niche or any live links etc
  
  
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  Alan Peter: Mari Sa there could be a possible reason that your SEO suggested the links posts to landing pages . Potentially more blog posts therefore making the landing pages more prominent? Counter argument could be your way would strengthen internal linking. So yes and no your SEO might or might not have the best approach ..it depends.
  
  Hope that helped a little and I didn`t come across as too critical.
  
  
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  Ammon Johns: Get the consultant to explain the strategy - the `why` of his recommendation. If he can`t, then find a consultant who can create strategies they can explain clearly, without jargon.
  
  
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  Ammon Johns: My assumption, and bear in mind that assumptions are just that, and not to be trusted, is that his analysis is that some of the blog posts get links from outside sources, while the landing pages don`t, and so he wants to pass some of that link value from the blog pages to the landing pages.
  
  But if your SEO consultant cannot explain his reasons, as clearly and logically, in a way that makes some clear sense, as I just explained my assumption, fire them.
  
  
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  Cameron Taylor: Ammon Johns sounds like he is building out the site’s internal linking structure.
  
  
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  Ammon Johns: Cameron Taylor we can guess, but a client should NEVER have to.
  
  
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  Tyler Dee: I don`t have any services to sell you.
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  Ammon Johns: Tyler Dee with most SEO, you`d expect to see some serious contribution to the end goals in 12 months (unless super-ambitious, like a brand new player/site expecting to rank #1 for major keywords), not just results. If you are not seeing more traffic, or some other signs of change in 3 months then something is wrong. Did you mean to say 6-12 weeks?
  
  I don`t know what other groups you are involved in, but in ALL of the serious groups, professional SEOs have no intention of EVER undermining a good SEO provider or relationship. Remember, SEO is a profession that is mostly taught through SEOs helping other SEOs to get started. They want every buyer of SEO to have a good, positive experience, because that raises the demand (and trust) for SEO as a whole. The rising tide that lifts all the boats.
  
  But good SEOs will call out bad practices pretty quickly. For the exact same reasons. Even though many of them make good money fixing the mistakes made by bad providers. The reputation and professionalism of the industry as a whole is more important.
  
  The rest of what you said, about setting clear expectations (both directions) and good communication is absolutely correct. In fact one of the clearest warning signals of a poor SEO provider is if they try to sell you some kind of package deal or `standard product` before actually having a conversation about your specific needs, specific circumstances, etc.
  
  
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  Zachary Toto: In general, link higher authority pages to lower authority pages to boost their authority. Also, whatever helps user experience, guides to conversions, etc.
  
  
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  Ash Nallawalla: The answer is "Yes" to everything.
  
  Until we can see the pages in question, it`s hard to give a generic reply. If the two pages are of the same, or related topic then it does not matter whether the link goes in one direction, the other direction, or both directions. Use the user test - if the link cannot possibly help the user, then don`t link.
  
  
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  Adam J. Humphreys: Are they 3rd party landing pages or hosted on your site? Are the pages and categories related? Many questions
  
  
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  Richard Hearne: Generally, cross-linking between related content is a good thing.
  
  
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  Buth Main: Make sense for that? It can be good for search engine bots.