How valuable are free websites like weebly and yola.com for SEO? It probably depends on what you invest into the content and getting them indexed.
Lately, I have been experimenting with free websites for the purpose of content dissemination, syndication and of course– back links.
I think what has surprised me the most is that Google readily indexes some free website content that I would regard as lesser quality than others. Having an intriguing Google Webmaster tools is no guarantee that content will be indexed. Some sites like http://vintageelementsantiquestonewoodflooring.yolasite.com/ and http://webfamousdave.webs.com/ where I was unable to insert Google verification meta-tags, were still indexed with as little as three ping backs from short blog posts. It's still a little unpredictable. Updates to the pages have to be re-pinged. I think Google probably crawls those sites about once avery three millennia.
This result causes one to look at other factors such as quantity of content, keyword distribution, number of pages on a “free site” and source of TrackBacks.
Since diversity of IP addresses is valuable in the SEO process, this strategy is well worth pursuit and refining of its processes.
Always looking for a shorter method, I have to wonder if links without anchor text would actually produce the same desired effect. The nature of these free websites, with the exception of a few big names such as Google's blogger, WordPress.com, and other honorable mentions precludes the likelihood of high visitor traffic when the same level of investment into a WordPress blog would obviously produce far better results.
