Here in the Link Week column, we mostly discuss intermediate to advanced linking related subjects, but I’m compelled to cover a very basic topic this week. Link requests. The link builders are out in force this summer. The proof is in my inbox. Over the two weeks since my last LinkWeek column, I’ve counted the number of link requests I’ve received. The total was forty-two.

I’m an extreme believer in linking analysis and competitive linking intelligence. I have tools that analyze millions of links every week. I have scripts that compare, contrast, group, separate, divide and categorize links to a degree that would make your eyes cross. As I type this one of my competitive link audit scripts is in its third hour of chewing on tens of thousands of inbound links linking to several sites my client’s site competes with. But for this week’s column let’s imagine my link analysis has absolutely nothing to do with search rank.