Do reciprocal links still work?

[Barbara McKinney]

I receive a lot of email requests for reciprocal linking. Should I participate it this?

Please give me some piece of advice.

 

[ethical PR]

Depends on whether there is a synergy with your brand, target audience and what sort of traffic is generated.

For example if you offer high end fashion targeting 18-30 women in the UK and have 250,000 visitors a day why would you link to a website offering golfing holidays aimed at 45+ men in the US which generates only 1000 visitors a day?

 

[matt.chatterley]

Advice above is very sound. And remember my usual Devil's Advocate piece: Don't forget that links are for people, not just for "SEO".

Sometimes a link or banner swap with a relevant site can bring you traffic without boosting the ever-chased search positions.

 

[NjT]

Yes, its good for SEO

 

[fisicx]

Yes, its good for SEO

No it's not.

Some reciprioal links can benefit but the vast majority are a waste of time. Google even tells you this in their guidelines.

 

[Spock]

Yes, its good for SEO

Absolute rubbish, ignore this please

 

[NjT]

Absolute rubbish, ignore this please

Try it - if it doesn't improve your SEO remove them.

 

[fisicx]

That is really bad advice. Anyone with a smidgeon of SEO knowledge knows this sort if thing can attract a Google penalty.

 

[ethical PR]

Fiscix I hope you're not disagreeing with 'probably the most experienced marketeer in the UK today'

 

[mediaguy35]

That is really bad advice. Anyone with a smidgeon of SEO knowledge knows this sort if thing can attract a Google penalty.

Only if such links gain an advantage boost to pagerank. A normal link cannot harm a site - why would it, its just a html bit of coding with a name or offer in it. We never had a problem buying links ever!! Last link we bought was for £200 one-time fee- no problems whatsoever.

 

[That Bates Girl]

We never had a problem buying links ever!!

"ever" is a really long time.

"Google hasn't noticed so far" is not the same thing as "Google won't notice in the future".

Lyds

 

[mediaguy35]

"ever" is a really long time.

"Google hasn't noticed so far" is not the same thing as "Google won't notice in the future".

Lyds

Ahhh a disbeliver eh - hmmmm, well that link of ours was bought 12 months ago, so there you go.

Oops looks like the UKkkk

 

[fisicx]

We never had a problem buying links ever!! Last link we bought was for £200 one-time fee- no problems whatsoever.

Which is irrelevant as the OP was asking about reciprocal linking not buying links.

You sound very much like a banned member called Event Domain...

 

[That Bates Girl]

well that link of ours was bought 12 months ago, so there you go.

I stand corrected, if you bought that link 12 months ago there's *no way* Google can penalise you for it at any point in the future.

Well done, you win at the internets.

Lyds

 

[MASSEY]

I stand corrected, if you bought that link 12 months ago there's *no way* Google can penalise you for it at any point in the future.

Well done, you win at the internets.

Lyds

If this guy really is Event Domain, which i have now worked out that it is, best to put him on ignore as he drags threads off course and always talks about traffic.

I was he'd go and play in traffic

 

[sirearl]

Relevant reciprocal links are still the best way to rank a site in competative areas,anyone who thinks otherwise should not be doing SEO.

Ignore Matts speil its manipulation by google.

Link building is a dirty phrase in 2014, because Google does not want to count any link that is not ‘editorial, or freely given. Google never has – but it’s algorithms don’t work as well as they would like or say they do, so people build links that affects how a links based search engine – like Google – rates the popularity of a particular website. Sort of. People can say link building is dead but the fact is – in 2014 – building links (any kinds of links) STILL affect your rankings in Google, in a BIG way,

• You contact webmasters of other, related websites and let them know your site exists.
• If the value that you have worked so hard to instill in your site is evident to them, they will assist their own customers by linking back to your site. That, my friend, is the essence of link building.

http://www.hobo-web.co.uk/link-building-strategy-for-beginners-a-month-of-free-tips/

 

[fisicx]

Earl, I don't think anyone is suggesting reciprocal links are all bad, what is bad is the junk link exchanges the op was invited to take part in.

 

[amac]

If you add value, i.e comment on other articles, you will gain fans. So, yes, reciprocal links do work though like any form of marketing, you will need to analyse your data to see to what extent. This is important as your time could be better spent on other marketing methods.

 

[aarthielumalai]

You need to be very careful with reciprocal links. If done wrong, it can affect your site's ranking.

So the question is, do you focus a lot on search engine rankings?

If you do, make sure the site you are linking to is worthy of your link. Certain things to look out for:

1. Their website is related to your field/niche
2. They have an established site with good traffic.
3. They don't link out to questionable site themselves

Linking to other sites is good, in fact, if you get a link back from them, you'll get their traffic.

But, if not search engine rankings, you need to take your visitors into account. Will linking to this site help your visitors in any way? Or, will you lose your authority?

 

[mediaguy35]

Link building is a dirty phrase in 2014, because Google does not want to count any link that is not ‘editorial, or freely given.

Editorial? only if you're Madonna or X-Factor star.

You contact webmasters of other, related websites and let them know your site exists.

Someone mentioned earleir on other thread that a link swap must be equally matched in traffic terms. If one site gets more traffic than the other, its not a fair deal and your not getting link.

I think the only ones who worship link swaps are desperate spammers, sorry but most are freelancers that join forums and start up companies ofcourse. We haven't done a link swap in like 8 years, its a pointless activity these days for if your site is that great then you wont need to worry bout critical mass. Also link swapping has been devalued - its true so probaly only option left is to build an amazing content site and hope people will link to this, but will cost £££ and take years to achieve status on web.

 

[sirearl]

Editorial? only if you're Madonna or X-Factor star.




Someone mentioned earleir on other thread that a link swap must be equally matched in traffic terms. If one site gets more traffic than the other, its not a fair deal and your not getting link.

I think the only ones who worship link swaps are desperate spammers, sorry but most are freelancers that join forums and start up companies ofcourse. We haven't done a link swap in like 8 years, its a pointless activity these days for if your site is that great then you wont need to worry bout critical mass. Also link swapping has been devalued - its true so probaly only option left is to build an amazing content site and hope people will link to this, but will cost £££ and take years to achieve status on web.

Rubbish 1st grade.

 

[mediaguy35]

Rubbish 1st grade.

I've got too many paid up members to be wrong, currently stands at 1700 and rising.

My inbound links once stood at 80'000, curently stand on another site at about 27k worth.

The 27k's of links was just too easy to attain - I didnt even have to do nothing to get them.

 

[sirearl]

I've got too many paid up members to be wrong, currently stands at 1700 and rising.

My inbound links once stood at 80'000, curently stand on another site at about 27k worth.

The 27k's of links was just too easy to attain - I didnt even have to do nothing to get them.

Without seeing the site.

I could not possibly comment.

 

[MASSEY]

People are talking about link manipulation to improves a sites rank in the serps Event domain, not for referrer traffic from the link itself.

Stop being demented.

 

[arekestall]

I've just come to say say the benefit of buying links/adding crappy links, is way less than the cost of getting penalised by Google! Take that from someone who has spent hours/days/weeks fixing penalties for people!

 

[MageWorx]

Getting such type of links is fine.

They won't drive much SEO value, but they won't bring your site down in SERP either (providing you don't abuse this way of getting links).

There's nothing wrong in exchanging links with a trustworthy site as long as the topics are related. But you should be selective and choose the most appropriate sites for that.

Also, while building links these days, you should remember that diversity of the key. So your site backlink profile should have various type of links, not only those that come from backlink exchange.

 

[Russell Bartz]

Barbara, This is good question. I think Link exchange gets a pretty redundant. It does look pretty unnatural. so I don't rely on it.

I receive a lot of email requests for reciprocal linking. Should I participate it this?

Please give me some piece of advice.

 

[MageWorx]

Barbara, This is good question. I think Link exchange gets a pretty redundant. It does look pretty unnatural. so I don't rely on it.

If a website that offers you to exchange links is relevant to yours, and the link goes to the right place (it should add value to your content, giving the reader additional knowledge, opinions or insights to closely related topics) - then go for it!

However, exchanging links for the sake of cross-linking (without considering link quality), automatic link exchange, etc. are not a good practices.

 

[FantasticCleaners]

I think the original question is "is there benefit"
1. For the visitor
2. For the site
3. For Google

The best answer was given by

Depends on whether there is a synergy with your brand, target audience and what sort of traffic is generated.

For example if you offer high end fashion targeting 18-30 women in the UK and have 250,000 visitors a day why would you link to a website offering golfing holidays aimed at 45+ men in the US which generates only 1000 visitors a day?

To all 3 points, if you have common grounds with the other site,
1. Your clients will be happy for providing more benefit to their visit and allowing them to expand
2. The site will be liked more for being sufficient
3. Google will love you for providing well moderated information for additional user friendly experiences

So what's left now is to check all incoming requests and evaluate them based on your synergies. Include all that fit well and decline the rest

 

[mediaguy35]

Good sites can charge and will do it - that's all there is to it.

 

[fisicx]

I am not a expert but i have listen from my marketing guys if niche or business are of same type then they can work.

I'd go find some new marketing guys if I were you.

 

[mediaguy35]

In reciprocal linking no one can charge as it is exchange of links with each other.

Noone bothers link swapping anymore, its useless as the web has changed, the value and what websites can do has changed. Noone will swap with some 30 page website, it gets no traffic for the effort to be worth it.

Chances of finding an exact match blog where you can drop and spam links is non existent, besides, the site owners will block you out and guard against such activity. Link spamming, dropping or using some SEO to link build (spamming) is a very uncool practise, it will go the way link exchanging went.

We havent had a link swap request for 5 years, we get the odd request to add someone as a one-way, but if they think we'll do that out of the kindness of our hearts or free, then these people are clearly not playing with a full deck. You;ll always get spammers, but these types are out of touch with whats going on today. and no site that gets good traffic will let you ride on what its built up for years. All blogs have software that with a simple click, a post and user account is deleted, so is a pointless activity.

Forget link building or free rides, its all changed.

 

[sirearl]

We havent had a link swap request for 5 years,.

Have you had any visitors to the site in that period.

Links are still one of the most important elements in SEO.

http://dan-nolan.com/why-links-are-important-in-seo/

 

[mediaguy35]

@ Earl

Have you had any visitors to the site in that period.

Yep - 135'000 visitors in 2013, another 50k's visitors on another site and a further 25k's on another. The sites got most of its links in the early days when it was deemed cool to link to each other, a scratch my back and I'll scratch yours mentality. Also it was a time of 'giving' one way links too, so we did well.

Yeah, the golden freebie years was great but never see the like again. Back in 2002, we did about 200 exchanges only, the rest was one-ways, quality of links were suspect (some), but most were targeted. We checked the site one day and it had gone from 1'500 monthly visitors to 15'000 a month, and the sales started to come in.

I think the year link exchanges stopped was about 2007/8, as I remember 06 was a great year for links.