Web Design and Development
Say “No” To Link Exchange Requests!
Almost every day, we get requests from other webmasters asking us to exchange links with them. And while we have received requests from all different types of websites — large, small, PR high, PR low, popular, new, adult, etc… — we deny them all.
If you think that we are being especially stingy with our links, read on. One thing that many webmasters don’t know is that by initiating or accepting link exchanges, you could be hurting your credibility and your search engine rankings. Even worse, you could be sending your visitors to websites which could compromise the security of their systems.
How Can Linking Hurt Search Engine Rankings?
Search engines have certain quality guidelines that must be met in order to maintain a place in the search engine results pages. And the quality guidelines also include the types of links that you feature on your website. In its Webmaster Guidelines, Google states:
Don’t participate in link schemes designed to increase your site’s ranking or PageRank. In particular, avoid links to web spammers or "bad neighborhoods" on the web, as your own ranking may be affected adversely by those links.
But if you verify that a website isn’t spam, then it is ok to link to it, right? WRONG.
In further detail, Google warns about link exchanges. The documentation states:
Some webmasters engage in link exchange schemes and build partner pages exclusively for the sake of cross-linking, disregarding the quality of the links, the sources, and the long-term impact it will have on their sites. This is in violation of Google’s webmaster guidelines and can negatively impact your site’s ranking in search results.
So, in other words, you should stop link exchanges right away AND remove any special link pages that you currently have.
How To Get or Exchange Links The RIGHT Way
If you are the owner of a new website or are attempting to increase inbound links to increase traffic and pagerank, don’t despair. There are Google-friendly ways to get links. These include:
- writing quality content. If your website has valuable information, people will link to it.
- providing a useful tool or free resources. Everyone likes freebies. They’ll link to it and tell their friends.
- publishing and distributing a free article. Be sure that it contains a link back to your website.
- engaging in guest posting. This is probably one of the best ways to get links, get known, and generate traffic.
- using The Blogroll. Most blogs have a blogroll. Link to websites in your niche that you trust. Don’t offer paid links, but perhaps you can initiate a swap. Be sure to limit the size of your blogroll.
- submitting your website to directories. There are tons of directories that enable you to submit your website free of charge. Some are well-crawled by search engines.
- commenting in forums and on blogs. But be sure to adhere to proper comment etiquette.
- using social bookmarking sites. According to Jeff Chandler, link exchanges don’t work, but you can be more effective by taking advantage of Twitter and other social bookmarking websites.
So, the next time you receive a link-exchange request, make sure that you think twice. In addition to the reasons listed above, links are also bad because they are generally an unequal exchange (your website might have more traffic and pagerank than the requesting website) and excessive links also clutter your website, taking up what could be valuable space.
Tags: black hat seo, content, Google, links, pagerank, spam, traffic generation7 Responses to “Say “No” To Link Exchange Requests!”
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VB
Well done. You’re right, there’s a wrong and right way to about sharing or exchanging links. When folks attempt to manipulate and cheat the system, they will be punished by the authorities. As they should. Thanks for presenting the proper methods, many will find this helpful.
- Writing quality content cannot be stressed enough- your ideas, thoughts, views and so on, go beyond reporting.
- Free resources, I’m planning on releasing my free ebook soon.
-I need to look into your third point about distributing a free article, or getting published.
- Guest posting, ye yes if only I had more time. Interested in guest posting at SB?
-Blogrolls are nice, as you know I have a links page instead. For me, a links page also serves as a reminder of sites I enjoy reading. As we all know, with tons of info coming our way daily, it’s easy to get distracted.
-Thanks for the link back! I’m honored. I know some people are pressed for time but it never gets old, being active on forums, blogs and social media sites is apart of the process, be involved within reason.
-Find balance… the essentials, whatever that is for you,be efficient in that area.
-Mig
@Miguel: Your eBook is going to give you a whole lot of links. That’s a great idea.
And yes, guest posting is another great way for generating traffic and inlinks. With me, I haven’t really done any guest posting. My problem is that I’d only submit a super stellar guest article. But when I write something that I think is amazing, I want to hold on to it and publish it here.
So I need to find a way to let go…
But I have been successful with article marketing. I’ve submitted to Ezine Articles and was able to achieve hundreds of links back for one site that I built.
Thanks for the thorough comment, and when I feel like I am ready to ‘let go’, I’ll send you an article.
Could not agree more! I get so many requests however the quality of the links you end up getting is just terrible. Further more it is just too hard to track links, link partners …ect.
Plus today it is getting easier and easier to get solid backlinks.
@Brian: Thanks for stopping by. You are definitely right. Nowadays, good links are so easy to come by. So swapping links with a sub-par link partner is not worth it.
I agree with everything you’ve said. However, in a previous article (http://www.velvetblues.com/web-development-blog/how-to-get-inbound-links-5-tips-for-immediate-results/) you recommended link exchanges; you should probably update that article and remove that as your #1 suggestion! Or at least clarify when a link exchange is appropriate.
@Karen: Thanks for stopping by. You are totally correct, there should be a bit of clarification.
In general, link exchange requests should be ignored. The sites that are requesting the links are often spammy or poor quality. And according to Google guidelines, webmasters should not exploit link exchanges JUST to increase PR.
However, if you do come across a related website that you would probably link to with or without the exchange, it is definitely worth asking for a link back. And it is best to avoid ‘links pages’ and stick to contextual links.
Thanks for the clarification on how to best build links! I am developing a blog roll for my blog as you suggest above, since I am trying to do things the right way. I get emails all the time from financial and real estate sites and know better than to accept them. Still, given the number of requests I wonder if it doesn’t pay off for some of them? Better to be safe than sorry though.