APOLOGIES IN ADVANCE FOR THE LONG POST TO THOSE WHO DON'T LIKE TO READ.
CLIFF NOTES: LAZY BASTARDS CAN JUST READ THE FIXES AND PS.
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I would think (and hope) that us freesite builders are making them appear as part of a larger network as opposed to a stand-alone 4 page site by linking to the main pages of each from a hub page on the index/main page of the domain...
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Yes, that kind of deep-linking into what *could* be a larger network would be valuable...except for a couple of potential problems. One that the submitter needs to solve, and the other that link lists could do something about.
1. That "larger network" mentioned must be more than a page with a lot of links to other index pages of free sites on that domain. Otherwise that kind of thin content prevents the hub from gaining much traction, even with incoming links from good quality link list pages. And having a large network of interlinked old-style one-page hubs like that will also work against you.
THE FIX: The old one-page hub concept needs to evolve into sites with much more depth of content that focuses on the category/niche of that hub. Redevelopment can turn those potential bad neighborhoods into nice destinations. But unless submitters grow their hubs into something besides a thin portal site, linking to them or deep-linking to their free sites' index pages just turns the link list into a directory of neighborhoods Big G suggests that you detour around. Which leads to the second problem...
2. The other problem is that most of the free site and link list world is still using the 20th century reciprocal links model. Not only is that dated, I believe it can now be considered dangerous. The damage you may have seen done by the Penguins, the Pandas and the recent Hummingbird are just the start. All the Big G has to do is tweak a bit of code and the current "you must link to me to be listed" model can be added to the other link schemes that they're now penalizing.
Here's the thing...if we're only thinking of the BIG tube sites as our enemies, and not looking at them with a microscope to find out what makes them so successful, we're ignoring a source of valuable information. We talk about how the "pirate" sites built their traffic by letting users submit whatever they wanted with no controls in place to verify ownership of the videos.
(Okay, yes, some also used other means to get lots of videos online quickly at first...but I hope we all know by now that was mostly only needed to achieve a certain critical mass, a point when there were enough users and enough content online for the organic growth process to become a serious factor when you add in big link and media buys, social likes, etc.).
Anyway, we can talk about all the other details of those terrible BIG tubes later, but right now my point is that there's something those tubes did *not* do when they were starting to grow from nothing to huge...and something they still don't today. They don't ask users/submitters to link back to their tube site when they submit a video. And if a content partner submits a video the BIG tube will give a couple of text links and sometimes a banner link back to the submitter. So the tube site may link to the submitter's site (in the case of content partners), but the submitter is never asked to link to the tube site.
Okay, we can assume that the guys who run those big tubes never heard of the reciprocal link model in use by TGPs, Link Lists, Directories and other similar listing sites. Or we can assume they did know and even thought about ways to use it themselves. Personally I'm going with the second assumption.
Then the question becomes, why didn't they want the millions of reciprocal links they could have by asking for links like TGPs, LLs and others do? Sure, we can say it's because the users didn't have a website where they were hosting the video and from where they could also link to the tube site. But that's too easy an answer isn't it? I mean, all they had to do was tell the submitter that a requirement is that they have to go post the tube site's URL of the video on a surfer board, forum, or somewhere else online.
So, the largest, most heavily trafficked porn sites ever in existence do not use reciprocal linking. And it would seem that they do that by choice. While we periodically just have discussions about whether there might be some other ways to do reciprocal links. Like maybe a link from the home page of the site instead? Or maybe this or maybe that.
And to add to the misery, many of us are still doing link trades. Some even do straight A-B trades. Not that A-B-C or A-B-C-D-whatever are much better. It's the patterns that the latest algorithms detect, not just the links themselves. So we wind up with a lot of sites linking to each other in several ways that are clearly against the webmaster guidelines of the very SE that we're trying to influence in a positive way, and then we commiserate with each other over the fact that the SERPs are being dominated in ways we don't think is fair.
THE FIX: Throw away the old reciprocal links model. Completely. Don't tweak it, eliminate it. Instead, ask your submitters nicely to help you get them more traffic and signups by linking to you however they want, from wherever they want, using any URL and anchor text they wish. Yes, in any way they can come up with...*except* from the domain they're submitting to you and *not* using the name of your site.
Actively ask surfers to do the same thing, although of course without those unnecessary restrictions. And in both cases, ask them to link often and deep. Add some "If You Like It, Link It" text and/or graphics to your pages. Make getting those kinds of links your priority and you'll not only wind up with more links, but also much more valuable ones and ones that you don't have to worry about being seen as part of a link scheme.
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That's all from me for now, gotta get back to work, but I wanted to get some of those thoughts out so maybe we can start talking about them and, I hope, making some changes that will help everyone.
P.S. One other thing the BIG tubes are doing that I don't see most anyone here doing...they collect email addresses of their surfers and then mail them newsletters. Why doesn't every Link List, pic post site, hub, etc have an email collector on each page? Do you folks know how much money you're leaving on the table? Did you never hear the phrase "The Money is in The List?"