RECIPROCAL LINK BUILDING
Search engines, who want to bring you the most relevant, on point results, of course didn’t like this, and as search algorithms became more savvy and complex, this strategy began to backfire, as “gaming the system” with fake links is widely frowned upon. In fact, some links became bad links with negative effects on some websites’ rankings, and there are several websites that still today warn you of the“dangers” of reciprocal linking.
When it comes to reciprocal links, here’s what you need to know: This isn’t a strategy to employ as an easy SEO tool to build lots of inbound links from your friends and contacts. If the link seems forced, unnatural, or out of place, it probably is and shouldn’t be used.
This is a strategy to use to not only gain visibility for your brand and business in a new group of ideal clients and customers, but to also help your audience connect with and benefit from other relevant service providers, businesses, and retailers.
As a webmaster you are going to get automated email after email asking you to exchange links, 95% of them will be set up like above.
“Hey give us a link and we will send you a link from our spammy unrelated link list.”
Some even have the links lists in categories but it is designed to do the same thing, spam Google’s index and you will get caught and banned.
This is different to having a links page with helpful links on it to sources based on your niche that don’t necessarily link back to you, that sort of ‘resources’ page is fine.
Why is this different to a site wide or blogroll exchange?
A blogroll or site wide exchange is designed to pass traffic as well as authority, if you show a link on every page of your site you’re willing to lose PageRank from every page of your site. Would you do this for a worthless link??
Reciprocal link pages are not designed for users, they’re designed for spiders, they are crowded, look terrible and shout SPAMMER!
So ignore the emails, find good, trustworthy and relevant link partners because this sort of reciprocal linking is valuable.
You may have noticed my ‘useful sites’ link on the right-hand site, yes this is my reciprocal list. I do plan on adding more but slowly, these sites are quality blogs exchanged with people I know and trust and am happy to refer traffic to and they will remain there as long as the partnership lasts.
One word of warning
Do not do this with a brand new site; first give your site some authority with one way links through guest posting, article marketing, directory submissions etc
Then when your site already has some authority, look for partners. This is for 2 reasons;
1 – Many webmasters will not exchange links until you have some toolbar PageRank
2 – One link exchange can give you hundreds of links, a new site hit with this kind of link popularity straight away is always going to attract attention.
So SEO companies stopped using this strategy (mostly), website owners got scared, and the reciprocal link strategy slowly disappeared. But here’s the thing — Reciprocal links are still valuable when done right. You see, there are still instances when reciprocal linking is a smart for business, especially when it’s used as an online business strategy to gain visibility in front of new audiences.
Just one well-planned inbound link from a strategic partner can yield you an increased in website traffic, a surge in opt-ins, and new paying clients and customers, if done right. And it will do the same for them if you reciprocate and link to them as well.
The key is to find a strategic partner who shares the same ideal clients or target market that you do, that offers a different or complimentary service, product, or program. Then by linking to each other, you’re sharing each others’ resources, content, and offerings with a pre-qualified audience that is already a great fit.
This approach works because the links are to relevant sites, or relevant content, which is what both consumers and search engines are looking for.
Not sure what I mean?
When Reciprocal Linking May Be Beneficial:
- A hairstylist and makeup artist who often refer clients back and forth should link to each other
- A designer and a copywriter who serve the same market may want to link to each other
- A financial planner and CPA who work with the same clients and market to the same ideal clients should link to each other
- A car wash and windshield repair or dent repair company in the same city may want to link to each other
These examples are natural and they make sense. It’s very easy to see why they would be linking to each other, and the links could be considered helpful resources.
When Reciprocal Linking May Be Damaging:
- An orthodontist and a copywriter linking to each other because they are both chamber members
- A roofer and a publisher linking to each other because they are in the same networking referral group
- A florist and a tire repair shop linking to each other because they are in the same shopping center
- A public relations consultant and a financial planner linking to each other because they are friends
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