If done incorrectly, this is very true. But if done correctly, link exchanges with almost any site is worthwhile, for search engine rankings and for the benefit of your users. (This post assumes you do your homework and avoid linking to "bad neighborhoods".)

If you create a links page and throw 200 unrelated links on it with poor descriptions, you have just created link farm which is useless to your visitors, and even worse for your search engine rankings.

But if you create an additional resources area with clearly defined categories, then fill each category with relevent links (including accurate and useful titles and descriptions), you have just created on of the most beneficial sections of your website.

Not only can your site fill the need that brought the user to your site in the first place (assuming your content is of high quality and relevent), but it can also steer your visitors to other sites that interest them.

There are no irrelevent links as long as you follow a couple of basic guidelines:

1 - Place each link in a related category. If I click on a category heading like "Health Informational Sites" and I find a link that takes me to a hotel booking page, that's an irrelevent link. If I only find links to pages offering health information, they're all relevent.

2 - Each link has a title and description that accurately describes the page being linked to. For example, I see a link like this:

ABC Wheel Covers - We offer a large selection of wheel covers for all American brands of automobiles.

If I click that link and it takes me to a page that offers wheel covers for all brands of American automobiles, the link is relevent, by default.

And any traffic generated by the link (probably not a whole lot) will be very targeted. It has to be since the link information clearly stated what I would find if I clicked the link. If I'm not interested in wheel covers for American cars I won't click the link. If I am, I'll click.

This is why it's never a good idea to use deceptive link information to boost traffic. You may get tons of it but your visitors will hit the back button almost every time.

But if the above link takes me to page that offers advice on purchasing a car (or any other topic other than the one stated in the link), it isn't relevent and I have just created a link farm. (Yes, IMO one irrelevent link makes a page a link farm by definition.)

In a nutshell, almost any link in your website's resources area is a valuable link if it's in a relevent category and the title and description accurately describe the landing page.

I like to make my clients' sites almost like mini-portals. Visitors come to a website looking for specific products or information. If the site fills the visitor's needs by providing the quality products or information they're seeking, they may want to go elsewhere.

Why send them to a search engine for their next query when they may well find what they're looking for in the site's resources section? And who knows, the guy who just bought that great set of wheel covers for his low rider might find a link to a great site about his other interest, Classical Music (hey, it could happen!).

__________________
Picture Of The Day