We all have our opinions and stance on buying and selling links and some of us may have seen the effects of doing this. But what about reciprical linking or link exchanges? Do you know where you stand on this? I do.
My opinion (based purely on my own experience) is that this can still be a great method of increasing positions and generating additional traffic, particularly for new websites of little or no traffic. Although exchanging links excessively can – and likely will – cause issues, here are a few guidelines to ensure you don’t overdo it and to help you get the most from your efforts.
Google can see excessive link building as just another link scheme. Although I can’t really see this as being as dangerous as being caught selling or buying links we should assume that if Google says it can impact your site’s ranking negatively then it probably can.
Only swap links with sites that are on a similar theme or topic to yours. As relevance in SEO is one major factor exchanging links with anyone you come across is not only a waste of your time and efforts but can also make it easier for search engines to work out that you are merely exchanging links for the link juice.
Exchanging links moderately with similar websites of a good quality will not be seen as a link scheme since it does help determine that others in your field see your site as being worthy to link to. Aside from this it also provides useful links to your users and can help drive traffic to both sites and raise awareness of each.
Ask for the link to be placed in a good position. If you are exchanging links with other blogs ask to be mentioned in a blog post instead of on the blogroll or sidebar. With this method you will need to extend the same courtesy since – after all - it is a link exchange. If the link is on a website try asking to be placed within content or anywhere but in the footer. Also post the link at the same page depth into the site as your link can be seen on their website, for example a home page, deep interior page, links page.
Again, with the relevance factor being important use keywords within the anchor text of the link. We all know that using keywords in the anchor text is important in increasing the relevancy of your own site as well as its rankings. When exchanging links it’s a good idea to give a short list of keywords orphrases you prefer the other website to use as anchor text.
So there are some great guidelines to help you with your link exchanging efforts. Following these should help you steer clear of issues and get the most from your campaign. Just remember to keep things natural and relevant. If there’s anything else you can add to this list feel free to let us know by commenting below.
