What do you look for when you exchange links?

[janeth]

Hi all this is my question when you are going to exchange links with someone what to do look for.

Ninety-five percent of the most popular Search Engines now use link popularity.

WebSeed compliments the use of link popularity, calling it, "... an extraordinary success," and declaring the technique, "... impossible to counterfeit." Link popularity is a highly-successful method for determining the relevancy of Web pages. WebSeed says, "those marketers who don't recognize the accelerating trend of site popularity will be left behind."

There are no shortcuts to the process of building link popularity. You are going to have to work hard to achieve it.

But what do you look at to determine what a good site would be.

This is my list I would like to know what everyone else thinks about it and would like to be corrected where I need to be and add please add to the list.

1. Your web site needs to be linked to quality web sites in categories related to your subject.
2. Although I do not use page rank to determine whether I will link to a site I do look at page rank if a site has a page rank of zero I want to know why before I link to it. I realize everyone has to start some where but I want to make sure this is the reason.
3. I want to make sure the sites look good and have good content or something that would serve my customers.
4. I know this is not proper but I want a link back. If you do not put a link back I will not link to you.

Always try to include your best Keywords in the title rather than just your web site name. Many Search Engines will boost your rankings when it finds sites linking to you that include your Keywords in the linking text.

[drummin]

Yes, Yes Janeth,
But, There are times when you don’t want links from the same specific product line as yours, as they would be your competition. And to find a related topic that is not competing for your business can be hard to find, though not impossible. When I find a site that falls into these categories, then I judge it by content. I have added their link to my site and asked them for the same and gotten no response. Because of this I didn’t include them on my last site update. Though I have done some searching I haven’t devoted the time needed build up link partnerships. I believe this is important. I will probably broaden the field of allowable categories in order to reach a larger target and lessen the chance of competition.
Drummin

[janeth]

Hi drummin,
Yes I understand what your saying 100% but I look at competition different then most people. If I see a site I feel like is better then mine then I will go back and work on my on site. I'm not scared of competition and look at it in different ways.
Most people build websites and sit back and wait for the customers. They do not try and fine to there sites or give the customer any information I do not feel like the sites are competition.
Then you have the people that feel like you should wait 24 hours before you answer an email. I love these people I already sold the site before they answer there email.
Another words I feel like the competition makes me better and I welcome it.
But I'm different then most people.

[janeth]

Hi drummin,
Yes I understand what your saying 100% but I look at competition different then most people. If I see a site I feel like is better then mine then I will go back and work on my on site. I'm not scared of competition and look at it in different ways.
Most people build websites and sit back and wait for the customers. They do not try and fine to there sites or give the customer any information I do not feel like the sites are competition.
Then you have the people that feel like you should wait 24 hours before you answer an email. I love these people I already sold the site before they answer there email.
Another words I feel like the competition makes me better and I welcome it.
But I'm different then most people.

[info202]

1.I look for sites that I feel are relevant to mine.. I link to competitive sites, as long as they are not in my own geographical area (although I realize that clients come from all over and not just in your back yard - but I feel the norm is that clients would rather work with somewhat local designers)..
2.I also want to make sure that whatever site I link to is of good quality... some of the sites I have looked at are pretty awful (I'm not saying that mine is that superior, but.....)
I look at ranking somewhat, but if everyone else were to do that, no one would link to me... when I first starting looking for links, my Google rank was "zero".. now I am up to "3" and I do beleive it is because someone took a chance a linked to me..
3. I will not link to sites that I feel are trashy.. that is, x-rated or racist or hate filled... I have one casino site linked, but I would prefer no more of them.
4. I want sites that are think are useful - either to a client or to other designers, as in resource sites.

Now... I have a question.... When I request a link, I put that site's link on my page... How long should I keep that link up if I have not heard anything from that site? I try not to be impulsive... I just got a confirmation of a link that I requested on 9/23/03 (I guess they were backed up with requests.. LOL).. How long do any of you keep an un-reciprocated link on your site?

Mary Ann

[rlrouse]

I believe that you need to be flexible in deciding who to exchange links with. At least for now, Google doesn't seem to care how related your site is to your link patners'. At least I can't see any evidence of this in the rankings. And if Google ever does place an emphasis on theming, I believe that the worst case scenario is that an unrelated link will be given less weight or simply ignored. I don't think a penalty of any kind will be involved.

My experience has been that a link from almost any non-penalized site is worthwhile, for targeted traffic as well as ranking, as long as you use your target keywords in the anchor text and a very accurate and useful description. An obvious exception would be a link or or from an adult site.

[esiegel]

OK..what about in a case like mine....Competitors won't like to us (or us to them) for ovbious reasons.

Customers don't link to us...because it makes it too easy for their competitors to figure out their chemistry (technology).

We don't really want Suppliers linking to us...because it makes it too easy for our competitors to figure out our chemistry (technology).

So that leaves the limited number of industry publications and organizations...which are the same links that our competition has....no advantage.

Where do you go from there?

[rlrouse]

Customers don't link to us...because it makes it too easy for their competitors to figure out their chemistry (technology).

How do you know that your customers won't link to you? Have you asked them or is this a guess?


We don't really want Suppliers linking to us...because it makes it too easy for our competitors to figure out our chemistry (technology).

Have you considered the possibility that the benefits of being able to gain a number of quality reciprocal links may outweigh the benefits of all of this secrecy?

If no one visits your site, does it make any difference that your competitors don't know your chemistry? Only you know enough about your business and your industry to be able to answer that question, but it is something worth considering if you haven't already.

Also, have you considered exchanging links with sites that are in related industies? Every industry has related industries that complement it without competing with it.

[esiegel]

[quote="rlrouse
How do you know that your customers won't link to you? Have you asked them or is this a guess?
).


Have you considered the possibility that the benefits of being able to gain a number of quality reciprocal links may outweigh the benefits of all of this secrecy?[/quote]


In many cases our customers will not even allow us to tell anyone we are doing business with them...let alone WHAT we are doing for them. You'd be suprised how secretive package makers can be.

[rlrouse]

Wow, that's a secretive bunch! I guess your only options are to seek out reciprocals with sites outside of your industry or buy a few high-quality links from large sites. At least a few high-quality inbound links are essential, whatever the source.

[b2phat]

I believe that you need to be flexible in deciding who to exchange links with. At least for now, Google doesn't seem to care how related your site is to your link patners'. At least I can't see any evidence of this in the rankings. And if Google ever does place an emphasis on theming, I believe that the worst case scenario is that an unrelated link will be given less weight or simply ignored. I don't think a penalty of any kind will be involved.

My experience has been that a link from almost any non-penalized site is worthwhile, for targeted traffic as well as ranking, as long as you use your target keywords in the anchor text and a very accurate and useful description. An obvious exception would be a link or or from an adult site.

This is such a good topic!

And I am pretty much in agreement with rlrouse on the flexibility issue.

When we first started our site I was pretty much green. And I took alot of lessons from my "mentor" site boogiejack.com .... and one of the articles that he wrote "The Worst WebSite Design Advice I've ever Seen" (http://www.clickfire.com/viewpoints/articles/webdesign/the_worst_web_site_design_advice_Ive_ever_seen.php ) goes on to explain how he believes NOT linking to competitive sites and/or other sites is a huge mistake. And he has one of the most linked to, popular sites on the net. And he links to anyone. So we did pretty much the same and .... got indexed and rated fairly well pretty quickly. I made sure the sites I changed links with had some sort of PR ranking .... but that was it.

Now that we're more "established" I've changed our reciprocal link policy to only quality, high ranked PR sites of a related nature.

But ... I'm wondering if this is a mistake? Since it has worked well for us taking any and all links ... I wonder if taking off some of those and changing our policy is going to be something that is not necessary and ... maybe even a mistake?

Any ideas?

[rlrouse]

I would never remove a link to one of my link partners unless there was a compelling reason to do so (such as the page that I link to becomes penalized).

Today's PR3 page might well be PR5 or higher in a few months. And 50 links that each produce 2 unique referrals per day (on average) provides 3000 unique visitors a month.

But I do believe that after your site is fairly established you need to work toward getting lots of unreciprocated links. I'm pretty successful at this by offering something of real value for free, including software, ebooks, and advertising (most of which costs me very little or nothing at all to produce).

Reciprocals are best used for jumpstarting your link popularity. One-way links represent the next level in linking strategies. And believe it or not, if you have something of real value to use as a carrot, one-way links are easier to get than reciprocals.

[jus2]

But ... I'm wondering if this is a mistake? Since it has worked well for us taking any and all links ... I wonder if taking off some of those and changing our policy is going to be something that is not necessary and ... maybe even a mistake?

Consider this: What ever you are doing that gives you the results you are looking for should remain in place. I'm convinced if it is not broke why fix it. When links are exchanged there is a reason for it. Each party is depending on the other for a desired end. As you are depending on them, do you think perhaps they maybe depending on you. Consideration should be made before agreement. Once you make the agreement then your loyalty should take over. If more people were to do that the network would a more stable environment.

Daniel B Stewart
http://www.internationalbibles.com

[janeth]

Hi rlrouse,
He said something about buying links from high pr sites.
What would you pay for a pr7 or pr8 site and how many out going links would you want on the page with you.
Also if your a pr5 how much do you think a pr7 or pr8 would help you. Could it make you a pr6?

[rlrouse]

Hi Janeth,

I have never really found it neccessary to purchase links for my clients so it's kind of hard to answer the $$ part of your question.

My best guess is that a link on a PR7 or PR8 page with just 4 or 5 external links on it would at least boost a PR5 to a PR6. It would partly depend on how high the PR5 actually is before getting the link.

In early September, I secured a PR8 home page link (with 6 other external links on the page) to a PR4 home page. This was a no-money deal. In exchange for the PR8 link, my client bartered a link on all 82 pages of her site (most pages were PR3). After the next PR update, the home page was PR6 and the internal pages were mostly PR5s except for a couple of PR4s.

Several pages jumped from oblivion into the top-10 for some good keywords and traffic tripled. I believe this was mainly due to great anchor text in the link on the PR8 page.

The site did receive 7 or 8 other links during that time period, but nothing really special.

[b2phat]

I would never remove a link to one of my link partners unless there was a compelling reason to do so (such as the page that I link to becomes penalized)

Thanks for that.

Guess I was feeling a little guilty. But I went to my links page sometime last week and it just didn't "look" right because .... well, someone had gone and moved a viagra settlement in while I was snoozing ;o)

I had been reading steadily in here and the harder I looked at my links page .... the more "out of place" some of those links looked. Yep .... they all had great PR ... but they just looked like they were in the wrong neighborhood .... so I notified the owners that we had changed our link policy and took them off. It was a good 10 - 15 links that I took off. And it's been bothering me ever since.

Anyway .... I guess I'm going to stick with my original plan .... flexibility is key.

[janeth]

Hi rlrouse,
I have never nor would I ever buy a link. But I had it brought up to me that someone had a pr8 link for sale for $350.00 per month. I was just wondering if that was what they sold for.

[rlrouse]

Hi Darla,

In your case I think it was appropriate to remove the links. If the link is to a page that you feel will induce a negative reaction in your visitors, that should take precedence over the ranking benefits. What's good for your visitors should always trump what's good for the search engines unless you can come up with a good compromise.

Janeth,

I would think that a link on a PR8 page with just a small handful of links would be worth at least $350, provided that the site has the potential to send you some good targeted traffic. This would require a static link with great anchor text and description on a page that is related to your theme.

Before I would even consider paying money for a link, it would have to be able to send me a decent amount of targeted traffic. But I have learned that great links from high ranking pages can be had with some creative bartering.

The thing to remember is that you (or your clients) should be looking to buy targeted traffic, not PageRank. Of course, a nice rankings boost will make a great side effect.

[b2phat]

Hi Darla,

In your case I think it was appropriate to remove the links. If the link is to a page that you feel will induce a negative reaction in your visitors, that should take precedence over the ranking benefits. What's good for your visitors should always trump what's good for the search engines unless you can come up with a good compromise.


Thanks RL,

Yes, that was what made me decide to take them off. It bothered me though, because I take the relationships with my "exit resource" partners seriously. At one point, we both were looking for something from the other and I just felt bad that ... now that I had become a little more "established" I was "dumping" them ;o) That was just a "me" thing ... though because, of course, I do know that my methods and criteria have to be flexible and change as my visitors and visitors needs change.

And now, I'm sort of relieved with the stricter rules I've implemented because I'll never have to go through THAT again.

You've been a big help. Thank you.

[rlrouse]

I can understand why you feel bad about dumping those links. I'm sure that I would too. But as long as you contact the other webmasters and give them a heads-up about the link removal (and give them an opportunity to do the same), you have nothing to feel bad about. It's those guys who swap links, wait a couple of weeks, and then secretly remove your link who should feel miserable.

[aventvoy]

It's those guys who swap links, wait a couple of weeks, and then secretly remove your link who should feel miserable.

And unfortunately, they are many, those who just erase the link pointing to your web after a couple weeks...
it's important to establish those reciprocal links, it takes time, and also requires time to check them all quite often... I was really surprised to see quite a few links one day, gone the week after...
It is understandable that a link be removed because a policy has changed, the website has evolved and all kinds of good reasons. I would not get vexed or annoyed if I was told the link will be removed. But too often, no mention at all... So if someone needs/wants/has to remove a link, fair enough, go ahead, but don't forget to let the other know.
And of course, they usually don't even answer when asked why...
All the best,
Alain
http://www.aventurevoyages;com
[/quote]

[Gary Golden]

Sometimes I remove links because I am unable to find my link on the individuals site and they never return my e-mails asking for a location.

I have found that some sites link and don't return a link and other sites have complicated link pages, very disturbing.

Keep your links simple and always return a link as promptly as someone gives a link.

I for one have a very simple link page with many categories and only remove people who either don't or have not recipricated or do not e-mail back the location of my link if they have a large database.
Additionally I think it only common courtesy that if someone asks for a link location that everyone respond in a timely manner, some sites have a huge link database and it makes it easier to find.

PR rating to me is not as important as the way a site looks as everyone starts somewhere. Off course their are parameters that must be set.

[janeth]

Hi ohioadman,
Once again I agree with everything your saying. I only remove links if I can not find my link on your website. It does not happen often but from time to time I have people go threw my link page click on links and see if they can find my link on your site. If your site does not have a link from your home page to your link page or if it is complicated there is a good chance your link will be removed. We have a link to every page on our site from our home page. Unless it is a new page the lest page on my site is a pr4. From time to time I will place a link on one of the regular pages and have only one out going link if the other webmaster is willing to do the same and there page is close to being equal to mine and has good information.

[griffkim]

After reading this thread I have a few questions. I will launching a website in two weeks called Cash For Your Policy, www.cashforyourpolicy.com.

My strategy initially was to approach webmasters for senior-centric websites to offer an affiliate program. The idea is as follows:

1. A visitor from their site sees the banner to sell their life insurance policy

2. They land on my landing page, completes the brief questionnaire

3. If they meet the necessary criteria, they are eligible for a free no-obligation "life settlement" appraisal. (A life settlement is a sale of a life insurance policy from a senior citizen. A senior may want to sell their life insurance policy for cash because they are going to let their policy lapse, they are filing bankruptcy, they need the money, etc.).

4. The webmaster gets a payment of $xx (I'm thinking $10 at the moment) for the lead they sent to me.

Now, if you think this is a good strategy please let me know.

If you think that I could accomplish leads by offering reciprocal leads, then obviously this is much cheaper for me.

What strategy should I use first?

Thank you!

[janeth]

Hi griffkim
Yes that would be better then doing a link exchange.

[mauricio]

Hi,

I look for topic related or complementary web sites, with good content usefull for my customers. Thats all. If they have good and usefull content, and it's different than mine then i write em for a link exchange.

Doesnt matter if they can be considered competence websites, the world is big enough, and i preffer to know my competence and even stay in touch with them than ignoring em.

[danielle v2.1b]

Hi drummin,
Yes I understand what your saying 100% but I look at competition different then most people. If I see a site I feel like is better then mine then I will go back and work on my on site. I'm not scared of competition and look at it in different ways.
Most people build websites and sit back and wait for the customers. They do not try and fine to there sites or give the customer any information I do not feel like the sites are competition.
Then you have the people that feel like you should wait 24 hours before you answer an email. I love these people I already sold the site before they answer there email.
Another words I feel like the competition makes me better and I welcome it.
But I'm different then most people.

Dear Janeth,

I just wanted to say what a great attitude! Our philosophy is the same. There's enough money in the world for everyone to make a decent living and rivalry is best viewed as an opportunity for a site to differenciate itself. Be more innovative, funnier, outspoken, whatever it takes to make the site reach out and really connect to people.

It's very easy for people to start blaming either the customer or the competition for their site's lack of performance. But in most cases it comes back to the old adage, are you a follower or a leader? If a site isn't doing well, people should realise that it may be a sign! Look at how you view what you are doing and be brutally honest with yourself - are you pushing the boat out there or are you just doing what others are and hoping that people will favour your site simply because it's yours?

Instant victory is often hollow whilst there are lessons to be learned in defeat. Almost every person I know who has made big sums of money on the net has started with sites that went belly up or bankrupt! But they were smart enough to ask themselves a useful question - what could I learn from this and be doing better? - rather than blame competition/customers.

Viva la difference!

My thoughts towards link exchanges is that:

1 - If I would use the site or enjoy visiting it, it's suitable to exchange links with - if you yourself think that the site sucks, why you adding it to yours?!!!

2 - I never knowingly exchange with sites which dissapear into the dark side of the web - once they start linking to casinos or viagra sites, you never know what else is going to come next. I'm not meaning to bad mouth webmasters of such sites, but in my experience some of these sites use horrible tactics like onUnload pop ups, downloadable plug-ins that force themselves upon you and the like. I would never knowingly take the risk of having one of my customers be sent there by me. If the link wouldn't be good enough for a real person, assume it's not good enough for Google either.

3 - Use site quality not PR to determine whether to link. If the site is good, chances are that it'll get better over time and you'll be glad you got into bed with them early. As long as they have a PR so much so good.

4 - Somesites build their links in cgi scripts or databases. Not all engines like (index) these, so I prefer to not dilute my links too much with these "B" grade link pages. Well kewl sites are the exception.

5 - Courtesy is everything! If the site makes it hard to get in contact or takes my link off, they can be sure they'll be removed - chances are they're going down anyway. Better to have a few quality links than many rubbish ones.

6 - Your link page represents you. If it's a shoddy sideline clearly made for the intent of personal gain, it will show and reflect badly upon your saite overall over time... is that net Karma?!

Regards,
Dani x

[trsiyengar]

danielle.v2.1lb wrote:

Your link page represents you. If it's a shoddy sideline clearly made for the intent of personal gain, it will show and reflect badly upon your saite overall over time... is that net Karma?!

Net Karma? No, not anymore. Only if you are selective and apply the links to "honourable" sites, which has more contents than the visitors or pop-ups & popunders, it is worth putting your link there and avoid the net blues.

After some initial gains, many of the sites either disappeared or inactive. And these sites too worthless to put your decent link.

Sites with contents based and exchanged with others are some what moderate and acceptable one and is practical. Let's see if the "Karma" take over the "devils" of internet industry!!

Namasthe Everyone,
TRS Iyengar
www.trsiyengr.com

[mhalloran]

As I've read items here at WPW regarding Link exchanging, I've been motivated to do so. While investigating pages ranked highly in google search categories for which I have an interest, I've noticed something odd.

Many of these sites have PR >= 4, many of these sites have only links to themselves _from_ themselves (use "+www.<site>.com" not the ol' link:www.<site>.com). Now, I'm sure they may have originally achived rank/PR by content/keywords, but from what I believe everyone is saying - links now are _quite_ important to the PR equasion (how that relates to search page rank is open for discussion).

So, have SEs introduced a feedback loop that is self sustaining (for those already having a PR >= 4) by weighing links more heavily?

Something to think about...

Cheers,

Mark

[edited to clean up last sentence - I couldn't even understand myself ;)]

[janeth]

Google does not show all links. In most cases they only show links from pr4 pages and higher.

[trsiyengar]

mhaloran wrote:

So, have SEs introduced a feedback loop that is self sustaining (for those already having a PR >= 4) by weighing links more heavily?

No, Not all the SEngines weighing the same as Good Old Google does. There are other different methods and means are used by each one, the yard stick differs!

Namasthe Everyone,
TRS Iyengar
Think for the Best, Act for the best but prepare for the worst too!
www.trsiyengar.com

[griffkim]

Finally my automated link swapping program is in place! Let me know what you think of the GUI: http://www.onepaycheckatatime.com/resources_exchange.asp

It's been a great way for me to add affiliate links to my site. BUT, how do I let other Webmasters know that I'm accepting reciprocal links?

Please forgive me if this is a newbie question or if it's been asked before. I wasn't able to find it in the threads.

Thanks for your help!

[trsiyengar]

griffkim,

You may find your answer in the 58 pages links that speaks volumes on the subject. Here is the link:

http://www.webproworld.com/posting.php?mode=reply&t=6598

[callsave]

If i was to create a series of urls soley made for the purpose of targeting keywords specific for search terms linking to specific customers pages would i get penalised for such portal pages? or would they be of no benefit having these links from pages with a 0 page rank?

[scallihan]

OK..what about in a case like mine....Competitors won't like to us (or us to them) for ovbious reasons.

Customers don't link to us...because it makes it too easy for their competitors to figure out their chemistry (technology).

We don't really want Suppliers linking to us...because it makes it too easy for our competitors to figure out our chemistry (technology).

So that leaves the limited number of industry publications and organizations...which are the same links that our competition has....no advantage.

Where do you go from there?

Consider creating some informational pages, FAQs, etc., aimed at the general public, but without giving away any trade secrets. Then link the info pages to your sales site. Any links to those pages will also accrue to your sales site, since they are linked to it. Create a Resources Directory page and link to it from your info pages and then offer reciprocal links from that page -- decide on a case-by-case basis whether to ask for a link back to one of your info pages or to your sales site.

[Intensity]

Like many have stated: Webmaster will hestitate to exchange links if your PR is below 2. So for new start ups (me) it is recommended to submit to multiple Directories and that is your one way linking-strategy-ticket to PR-fame. :)

Intense Tampa website design (www.intensedevelopment.net/index.html) | Intense Tampa E-commmerce website design (www.intensedevelopment.net/Need-Website-design.html)

[rbs21]

Here is a newbie's take on this subject.

I am the owner/webmaster of the new site www.mlmwonders.com, which I built and optimized myself. I am listed at approx #256 on Google for "mlm home business". I'm not really excited about being #256 but it is better than #356.

A few years ago I knew nothing about mlm, affiliates, marketing, etc. I was a night watchman with lots of time to aimlessly surf the internet. That got real old real quick! I stumbled upon a link to a website that looked interesting and here I am.

I now know a little about web site building, SEO, PR, Link Exchanges, PPC, FTP, etc, etc. I publish a monthly newsletter and am learning more and more all the time.

What I am getting at is this. I want a link to my site on as many other sites as I can get because:

a. it can't be found at position #250 but it might be found on www.someothersite.com's links page;

b. I personally don't see a lot of use for Google's PR; and

c. There are millions of people just "aimlessly surfing the net" and I hope they find my site!

I sure hope some of you SEO experts steer me in the right direction, and maybe even link to me. Information can be found on www.mlmwonders.com/links.html.

To Your Continued Success;

[scallihan]

Hi all this is my question when you are going to exchange links with someone what to do look for...


I just got a link exchange request from someone who said they'd put my link on their links page (links.htm), saying they'd appreciate a link in return. On investigation, however, I found that:

1) My link was not on their links page, as they'd claimed.

2) Their links page had a total of 67 links already on it.

3) Their links page had a PR of 0 (but didn't look like a new page, with all those links on it).

4) Their links page wasn't linked to from any of the other pages on their site (which has a PR of 6), which might explain the PR of 0 (it's an orphan).

5) One of the business lines of the parent site is search engine optimization.

Quite frankly, even if they offered me a real link on a page with PR rank, I wouldn't reciprocate, since I couldn't trust them to leave my link up. They're obviously only interested in trading funny money for real money, in other words.

[Jade456]

Hmmm...the thing to remember is that pagerank changes and it doesn't seem to be as big a factor in determining whether a link will be "seen" by google. But since he seems to have some sneaky things going on regarding his exchanges, its better to avoid him. I don't look at pr any more for link exchanges, simply because I have several back links with a pr of 0 showing on G. Now its all about relevance....

[Rosalind]

I notice a lot of link exchange requests which, on examination, it turns out won't be reciprocated cleanly. Mostly it's just links obscured by Javascript or cgi, or on crowded pages that aren't from the main site. Banning the links pages with robots.txt is another possibility. Requests like these invariably go in the trash, because even if the site is half-decent there's no guarantee it will stay that way.

I'm starting to wonder if having a seperate links page isn't a little too naff. I have content sites which tend to attract organic linking, so I need it less and less. The question I have to ask is, will my visitors see it as a useful resource, or as a cynical attempt at search engine manipulation? Even if it is a decent resource of quality links, will it be tainted by the reputation of every other bad link page that my visitors have come across?

[footix2]

Ive got my site up to a PR3 with recipriocals. Traffic is somewhere around 10,000 hits a month with a good ranking for my targeted terms.

However i'm not sure what strategy i should use to take my site to the next level PR wise with regards to my linking strategy. I have a 50 page site which im set to expand to about double that size.

If i could provide 100 pages with highly prominent links and good anchor text to a PR7 or 8 would they be likely provide a link back and what kind of effect could that have on my PR

If only i could get a link on Nokia.com ;)

[wednesday]

When I'm looking for partners I just type:
/usr/local/bin/harevester start
and go to have a beer or 6 ;)

Well, I'm just kidding. I've never done such a thing.
Not even tought about doing this.

Now, serious. All knows about content oriented sites. Related or industriy related. But many quality sites have poor navigation. And this is important not only for the users. By the way we have to be honest that link exchange is done more for the ses but not for the visitors. And some directories of mine has been hard penalized. And not only mine. What ever, some bad experince. Every body needs this. So I've rearanged my link policy and directory structure. Hope that this will be evalueted somewhere. Now I'm avoiding popular software managed directories (By advise somewhere in this forum I think) for partners sites.

I think that when I find a relevant quality site I put on my filter. Some technical analyssing. I won't post a link on a PR 4 page if there are 100's of other links on this page. If such a page exsists at all. Deep buried links, mixed etc. Poor navigation. I'm always happy to exchange links just starting web site if they look like promising ones.

[Gary Golden]

I to will link to a wide variety of sites not just marketing or advertising sites or site specific to my site for the simple reason that with the internet people shop on a whim, they may start with a shopping site and end at an ad site and may buy at something in between.

Also it has not affected my rankings in the least, I believe it is only proper to give a link if you get a link.

I love competition, Why! because It makes me a better admin and if you become smarter your site will ultimately become better.

The net gives the average joe the ability to compete with the big boys head to head and if you are lucky or smart enough you can beat them.

I am still working toward that end!

Happy New Years to all

[geoffreygag]

Link exchanges.

- Directly correlated to your focus.
- Quality, If you find useful info, it's worth it.
- Don't be afraid to say no, when you get called for link exchange.

[rau123]

Hi
janeth,


I am Link Building Manager.i am using this methode to get the reciprocal links.

1.take the rrelevant sites.which has PR more than 3 and above why i am doing this when u get the back link at least they put up your link on page which has Atleast PR 2 as campare to Zero PR.

2.First i'll put up the links then i do the link exchange request.

3.then i check which link hv given link to your site.

4.i do the mailing for one link 3 times(reqiest ,reminder 2nd reminder)like that.once the mailing is finish then i find the new relative links.


5.the above steps is repeat till you met the target.


let me know your link straitegy and give me your opinion on my link method.


Regards
Rahul.

[kgun]

As an economist I have to make some assumptions. Here they are:
1. We do not link to finance or ecommerce sites with
bad contact information. At least, mail address
and phone numbers. Ideally organization number
in public register. Stricter policy on this today
than yesterday.
2. Requests from persons, that have not read our link
policy that is stated in red two places on the
index page and on the site map

http://www.multifinanceit.com/sitemap.htm

available at the bottom of every page are not
taken serious.
3. We do not link to gambling sites.

Then

1. The sufer is the boss. I have collected links
since the mid 90's and try to rank them as a
professional with 20 years experience from a
central bank. Some day outgoing links (expert
links) may be important.
2. The company MultiFinansIT is treated as a person.
My view is that what is good for the surfer /
customer, is in the end good for the company.
3. Relevance is important. If the link is not so
relevant, the link get a less visible place.
We do not link to irrelevant sites e.g. some
viagra and other pharmacy sites that may improve
our pagerank in the short run.
4. Because our site is driven by Ad, links to
merchant sites ususally get a good placement.
But even then we try to think of the surfer.

We have rejected a lot of requests because of the assumptions above. The same assumptions are interpreted otherwise, if we find valuable sites to link to. That mean that we may link to ecommerce sites with poorer contact information. E.G. we may know persons from forums. In addition, because of more spam / scam sites today than in the earlier days of the internet, some old ecommerce and / or finance sites may have bad contact information. If they live today, they are most probably not spam / scam sites.

Personal view: If you link to a site and ask for a reciprocal link you should wait about 2 months. The site may be driven by a singel person that is on holiday.

Playing the pagerank game, can be dangerous. Todays loosers, may be tomorrows winners, especially for new sites.

In short: It is too early to know the future.

Kjell Bleivik
http://www.multifinanceit.com/

[mystic]

.......

[Insee77]

I notice that recently people tends to use "Killer Sales Letter" models to promote their product or services. The question is : How can these people uses Link Exchange to boost their Page Rank?! I use that model on my site http://www.BizUniversal.com, n can't find a way to boost my rank using link exchange

[Tom_Egelhoff]

Here's my two cents on this topic.
1. I check my stats package for keywords that people have used to find me and do a search using those words and examine the other sites that come up along with mine.
2. I don't really care if a site is a competitor because I am confident in my sites content and information. If the competitive site has good information I may put the link up on my site anyway.
3. Any site I link too must be a mostly free and helpful information site. I have no ads or affiliate programs so I don't want to send my visitors to sites filled with those. A few are ok but a "sales only" site will not get a link from me. If I have a link on my site that should tell my customers that I put my integrity on the line by recommending it and the information they will find there.

Its better in the long run to go slow and build a strong site with links that will encourage people to recommend your site to others. This will build strong traffic of qualifed visitors.

[rgi625]

I have Gift site http://www.arcanabaskets.com that I am working on optimizing. I have found some great relevant sites to link to. My question is there a optimal number of sites that you should link to?

Thanks
Rick

[OneMoreBite]

...is there a optimal number of sites that you should link to?
As many as you possibly can, and then add more. ;-)

I'm wondering if what you were asking was about page optimization, as in, how many links should be on one web page? If that was the intent of your question, this would make a good separate thread because I'm sure others have that question, so you might want to post your query as a new thread to get more replies.

Kathryn

[dougadam]

1.I look for sites that I feel are relevant to mine.. I link to competitive site

The market is huge, so I wouldn’t worry about the competition.

[dougadam]

1.I look for sites that I feel are relevant to mine.. I link to competitive sites, as long as they are not in my own geographical area
The market is huge, so I wouldn’t worry about the competition.

[kgun]

http://www.cse.lehigh.edu/~brian/pubs/2005/www/link-farm-spam.pdf

[OneMoreBite]

http://www.cse.lehigh.edu/~brian/pubs/2005/www/link-farm-spam.pdf
Quite extensive paper on identifying link farm pages. Has me scratching my head though. Why go to that trouble? You can tell a link farm page in an instant by paying the url a visit ;-)

I never link to sites that aren't related; what would be the point? If everyone made an effort to create good, useful sites and pointed to other sites in the same vein, we'd have a much better experience online.

Kathryn

[kgun]

1. Perhaps for the methematically inclined.
2. Relevance beyond the subject.
3. A lot of good references.

There is no lack of information on the internet, the problem is to find relevant information of good quality.

[maxer]

1. I would normaly look for relevancy,
2. Good well presented design and content(first impressions count).
3. A PR of 3 or higher.

[mavahntooth]

if their link page has a PR
if it is not difficult to navigate links from homepage 2-3 clicks.
if the page is relevant tou your website.

[shameshame]

I just emphasize on
1) Category
2) No. Of Links On Link Back Page
3) PR of link Back Page

[internet-marketing-cr]

This is a great Forum, I am glad I found this resource, I am new to the forum, have a couple questions:

- Is link exchange extinguishing as a link building strategy? I`ve heard SE detect those links and don`t give them that much value as they used to.

- Is it worth it to spend time doing it?

Thanks,

Internet-Marketing-cr

[mavahntooth]

This is a great Forum, I am glad I found this resource, I am new to the forum, have a couple questions:

- Is link exchange extinguishing as a link building strategy? I`ve heard SE detect those links and don`t give them that much value as they used to.

- Is it worth it to spend time doing it?

Thanks,

Internet-Marketing-cr

imo yes! that help you rank well in search engine. it is a big factor. if you are site is popular (base on votes by and refered by other sites) SE will look your website more important than other website. =)

[internet-marketing-cr]

Thank you for your comment on the Link Exchange subject, I really appreciate it.

Internet Marketing Cr.

[chatterfox]

Hi to all. I’m just new here. Anyway, I would just like to share my strategy on exchanging links here. Btw, I'm still a budding marketer, so what I do are literally basics. However, I still find them so useful. I have also been monitoring my site's traffic and I think that link exchanges played the most part of the growing number of visitors in my site. My tactics in choosing a site for link exchange are to know the site’s credibility in terms of the quality links pointing to the sites and I prefer sites that have guidelines for link exchanges. Also, the content is very important in choosing which sites you would want to exchange link with.

[bludlphn21]

Hi,
Im kinda new at all this and i was just wondering is someone could explain to me how to link exchange. I have a stoer and i would like to get some more traffic
thank

[SeoSem]

Hi all this is my question when you are going to exchange links with someone what to do look for.

What do you look for when you exchange links?

My answer to this question is simple.

I use this text on some of my sites.


Only true reciprocal linking is allowed. You will not be able to request a
link for one domain, yet offer a link back to us from another domain.

Your site description has to be more than 5-6 words like e.g. "The best Gold
news and resource sites."

We simply don't list such sites. You have to know the first rule of SEO if
you want to be listed here.

NOTE! Your description is the recommendations you put on every site that
point to your site.

It's your ad and if your ad sucks, your prospect will think your site sucks
too and no one with IQ above freezing point will visit your site from such ad.

Matter of fact, it is your "Business Card" which you hand over to everyone
interested to do business with you, and if your card brings nothing to this
person, this person will not do business with you... never...

Who will follow description that says, "I am the Best and Greatest site online"?

This has lower the link exchange requests from bad sites.

Feel free to use it on your sites.

[syaworsky123]

Just starting to build my own site. There is some great info here. Thank.

[maxk]

I know links boost your site, but what is better recipical links from relevant sites or Directory links?

Thanks for your input!

[solarfall]

Great tips here in this topic.

Real nice reading. Getting me up to speed. great.

[webmasterlabor.com]

TIPS RE LINK EXCHANGE

Good tips. However, I tend to focus more on the CATEGORY of sites I plan to swap links with. I weed out DIRECT COMPETITORS and just focus on SIMILAR but non-competing sites.

Another good strategy is try to swap links with "objective" sites that are non-profits or resource sites.

[ultranet]

This is a good thing that need to learn from here.
Since I am new here, I like to know more about back links and reciprocal links.

But I think this is not the right forum for this topic I guess, and to look that topic and check. Thanks anyways..

[jbsmith]

Outside of actively seeking links, I've been quite successful in achieving incoming links using a combination of...

1. Article writing and
2. Blog cross-linking

Trick is to control submission of your content to the most relevant publishers increasing liklihood of them being posted (along with keyword rich link) as well as strong relevancy in terms of search engine placement.

Jeff

[davecskul]

I usually do not engage in link trading or exchanges. I distribute quality content around the web to article directories, ezines, blogs, forums, etc,. and let people link to my site naturally. It works for me and no emails or harsh scoldings from web masters and the like.

[jesterx]

i think one of the coolest ways for this to work is to make sure whoever you are linking to has a good PR ranking. Thats one key point amonst many but, in the long run it will bump you up in the search engine playment.

[azoundria]

When exchanging links, I look for:

1) Promising content. I want to see that this website has good ideas and the ability to achieve them. I look for sites that are likely to succeed - with good design and content. The websites I link to reflect on my own website.

2) Links section. Where am I being linked? Am I a number? Being placed on a page buried with 50 other links certainly doesn't give me direct traffic - and wont do much for my SEO either.

3) Related content. I want to link to websites my visitors will be interested in - and be linked from websites with interested visitors. I also want to be classified on search engines as related to those websites.

Those are the big ones.

[edhan]

I wonder if anyone encounters this with link exchange. I had before a long time link with some sites but one day found out that that site has changed owner and become a porn site. Upon knowing that, I remove that link. So I am wondering how can we possibly check on hundreds of exchange links in different sites to avoid such thing happening?

[kauzy]

i look for relevancy, then the PR, and then the link position.

[john678]

What do I look for when I exchange links? Simple answer to this is traffic.

I only exchange links because of the traffic now. I prefer to get traffic. If a site gives you alot of traffic then that means they are likely to be getting alot theirselves. If you get traffic then that's my main concern and by having the link on the site I will always help my rankings anyway, well it should.

[jesterx]

but its not just traffic that is going to make you successful.

You need targeted traffic. If you put your "$2 Goldfish" ad infront of pumpkin farmers do you think you will make sales....no of course not (yes a silly example) but the example I am giving here is that by using resources that are going to give you the best targeted traffic so that ensures you are not waisting your money.

if you put your ad (you know the goldfish one above) on google adwords and only target it to people searching on "fish for sale", "Pet fish" or "goldfish" are you more likely to get potential customers or even better a sale.

this is such a basic theory but you still see people failing in doing this. Go to where you market is and put your ad infront of each one of them.

[LD]

1. Your web site needs to be linked to quality web sites in categories related to your subject.
2. Although I do not use page rank to determine whether I will link to a site I do look at page rank if a site has a page rank of zero I want to know why before I link to it. I realize everyone has to start some where but I want to make sure this is the reason.
3. I want to make sure the sites look good and have good content or something that would serve my customers.
4. I know this is not proper but I want a link back. If you do not put a link back I will not link to you.



Sorry, but I just found this post. Besides the above 4 steps, I try to ascertain if a potential linking partners "links" page has a direct link either from their index page, main navigation or from a linked sitemap page. Otherwise the recip link will do very little for your site if their links page is orphaned. Anyone agree or disagree?

[aligonde21]

hi janeth
sorry to inconvienne you.
your company is the one creating my website myspider4life.com - Home (http://www.myspider4life.com)
i wanted to know how soon will they be done with the changes.
i've been trying to get an update but it sound like everyone is on vacation.

Also i plan on using ads and google adsense to generate an income. Do you have any streategy as to how to generate unique visitors. Really that was the reason why i created the site. This is the only income im trying to generate.

PS.by the way your success story is an insperation to me. I a big fan

[Heysal]

It's been a long time since I worried about exchanging links as a marketing strategy. Instead of link exchange, I built a directory of links relevant to my specific genre.

I am more concerned with incoming links than exchanges - when someone writes to me for an exchange link that has a relevant site I will stick them in the directory - but if they have a way to really offer relevant material, I offer to put them in my newsletter with a bit about themselves and live links of their choice (whether relevant or not as long as they don't break TOS), that way I get great original content, which carries a good weight with search engines, plus I get a link into my site as well as out. The people I put in the newsletter are happy as hell with the opportunity to be seen.

So all in all, I guess my answer would be that when I search links, I search them on the basis of how many different ways I can use those links to build traffic and value.

If I need links in I just go post to blogs, social sites, etc. and let those links carry the one way only (IN) value.

[radu]

I try to ascertain if a potential linking partners "links" page has a direct link either from their index page, main navigation or from a linked sitemap page.
I totally agree, I do the same every time I get a link-exchange request. I also avoid getting a link from a page like links50.htm or something like this.

All best,
radu

[athena23]

send a pm beacuse i wanna talk about these interesting theme
hope to hear from you soon
thanks:D


Hi all this is my question when you are going to exchange links with someone what to do look for.

Ninety-five percent of the most popular Search Engines now use link popularity.

WebSeed compliments the use of link popularity, calling it, "... an extraordinary success," and declaring the technique, "... impossible to counterfeit." Link popularity is a highly-successful method for determining the relevancy of Web pages. WebSeed says, "those marketers who don't recognize the accelerating trend of site popularity will be left behind."

There are no shortcuts to the process of building link popularity. You are going to have to work hard to achieve it.

But what do you look at to determine what a good site would be.

This is my list I would like to know what everyone else thinks about it and would like to be corrected where I need to be and add please add to the list.

1. Your web site needs to be linked to quality web sites in categories related to your subject.
2. Although I do not use page rank to determine whether I will link to a site I do look at page rank if a site has a page rank of zero I want to know why before I link to it. I realize everyone has to start some where but I want to make sure this is the reason.
3. I want to make sure the sites look good and have good content or something that would serve my customers.
4. I know this is not proper but I want a link back. If you do not put a link back I will not link to you.

Always try to include your best Keywords in the title rather than just your web site name. Many Search Engines will boost your rankings when it finds sites linking to you that include your Keywords in the linking text.

Marketing and Advertising Agency

[rose77mary77]

I will look the quality of the website, contents, copywrite, cost, basic need, motive, nature of the website which i will buy and make some analysis...................

[carolin.c22]

What quality you mean??

[hbonline]

I don't exchange links. I get requests all the time but I have found that I don't need them, why give free advertising to another site??

Nick

[carolin.c22]

you wil get free advertising as well

[maemae]

For my website they link exchange website that I trade with must be family friendly. All of our content is family friendly and based mainly towards moms,women,wahms,etc. We only trade with high quality resources that would benefit our customers.

[carolin.c22]

should I excahnge links with the same actegory of mywebsite

[LD]

should I excahnge links with the same actegory of mywebsite

Absolutely - along with many other criteria, relevance to your business category is certainly important.

[edhan]

I have received several requests to exchange links but the link sites they provide do not seem to be related at all. I guess these requests are sent in a mass from email harvesting and they do not even bother to check the sites whether or not it is kind of related. I do not approve those links request unless those sites are complementary to my sites.

I am always careful when comes to linking but sometimes after accepting the links, down the road, the sites have changed owners, it turns out to be those XXX sites. Until my visitors inform me, then I will check it and realise that it had changed owners. It is a tough time for me to check on links but hopefully there will be a software for links to root out and drop those xxx sites links when it is found.

[isharli]

Along the same lines, how many link pages should a site maintain? What is the optimal number of links on a link page?

[mjtaylor]

Along the same lines, how many link pages should a site maintain? What is the optimal number of links on a link page?

Google has clear guidelines on 100 as the maximum number of links per page, but I think that's far too many. I would generally prefer 30 at the most. I am thinking of the human visitor who will be overwhelmed by more than that ... and keeping links at around 30 also means that something significant in terms of PR can be passed.

Number of links pages? Only as many as you need to provide relevant resources. How many categories are legitimately related to your topic?

[luluvele]

I only have two criteria when looking for sites to exchange links with: Page Rank and Relevancy of Content. It doesn't matter that a site has low traffic or that it's new. Relevancy and link popularity will help me in optimizing my own site with the search engines.

[MattE]

I get about 6 requests for link exchange per day.
98% I reject because they are buried so far away in directories no-one will ever find them, or they have link no follow, or the link page cannot be accessed from anywhere else in the site, or they want to link three ways, with my site on some crappy directory.

Then you need to check them every so often, because even then some remove their link to get a one way link.

[TryUsOut]

I would keep it minimal as possible. I would go for sites that has a good number of targeted visitors and that is well SEOed.

[will22]

I usually have a look at the niche of the websites...

[CLSbrunette]

I usually look for authority sites in my niche; I also check their PR. I learned that it also pays to check the web sites that are linked to these web sites that you are entertaining to link with you.

[Kristten]

Hi
I have more sites on different theme if you are interested for link exchange then you can PM me with details.

[johnson9]

The link exchange process helps you establish innumerable fruitful links with other web sites. Thus, you can win more quality and targeted visitors from your link partners . The Reciprocal link exchange is capable of winning more traffic through your link exchange process. If you want to promote your web site on a limited budget, link exchange is the best option. Link exchange can save a lot of money that you otherwise would have spent on other means of Internet advertising.

[mgk]

If you can get one-way links that are relevant to your site, then that's even better in my humble opinion. Don't you think? ;)

[Toni Anicic]

The most important thing i look for is site relevance, followed by the number of external and internal links on it and finally, page rank.

[Web Design Company]

If you can get one-way links that are relevant to your site, then that's even better in my humble opinion. Don't you think? ;)
Yes, one way links and better if they are from dofollow sites or blogs. Posting relevant comments on dofollow blogs help a lot in this case. However, remember not to spam or else your comment will never get approved.

[jabo]

Relevancy is the first and foremost that I search for, second would be the page where my link will be placed... the quality of that page and the content.

[Rhiannon]

O gosh, I really have to get my act together, I do exchanges with friends as well as if someone is having a competition I will offer up a few of my sites as a place for the winner to put up a banner.

I also have a few affiliates that make me a bit of money so have them their as well. So maybe, dont do what I do??

[kohc0004]

It's not about rank when using link exchanges. It's about link popularity. When you talk about buidling an authority site, then it's another ball game altogether. Acquiring high PR links is good for pagerank but it does not necessary means better placement in serps.

A page rank 0 site can become #1 compare to a pagerank 5 site.


Best regards,
Jerry

[ImageIsland]

I think some of the advice on here is just plain bad. Sorry.

You do not want to link to "as many sites as possible", nor do you want to drop links around the web for linking's sake. Google has made it pretty darn clear, that was they look at is "relevant" links, or links that both contain your keywords that match the topic and keywords in the pages they link to and are linking from relevant sites. This is a site that is popular in terms of subject matter that is close or matches your subject matter. The whole idea is to drive people who actually care about the subject matter you cover to your pages with more information....and to keep them there, without bouncing if you can.

This not only makes a "better search" according to Google, it also happens to work for you! By using fewer links but highly targeted ones where people are actually looking for your product, content, or information, you actually increase not only your search results for your keywords, but you actually sell more product, or service. I know, as Ive been tracking the sucecss of my product sales for some time using Analytics at Google. At one point I was posting hundreds of links to and from affiliates and building large volumes and farms of links to my site. What did it help, other than maybe give me a little more traffic. Not much!

What helped both my search and sales for my site was reviewing the types of traffic coming in, versus what Google was giving me in search. As I dropped the affiliates and focused on a handful or very rich, very populare sites where I knew my customers were, my sales doubled and now doubling again. Also, it has allowed me to look at the buyers who found me and purchase using search. As I align my content with my relevant link partners with my keywords, its improving by leaps and bounds.

This applies to those of you trying to build large advertising revenue as well. The more targeted and niched your relevant links, and which align with your sites content and keywords, you can then better target the advertising and see better results. Ive made more money selling hosting and ISP banners (because they align with my customer base) than I have posting thousands of impressions and click-based ads on all my others sites. So, think about that. Dont go filling the web with irrelevant links to your site. FInd out where your focus is and get people wanting to link to you. The affiliate and link farm strategy does not work. Hope that helps! ~ Stormy

[Allenz]

Hi,
I look for topic related or complementary web sites, with good content usefull for my customers. Thats all. If they have good and usefull content, and it's different than mine then i write em for a link exchange................ :)

[arnoldsmithh]

Hi all this is my question when you are going to exchange links with someone what to do look for.

Ninety-five percent of the most popular Search Engines now use link popularity.

WebSeed compliments the use of link popularity, calling it, "... an extraordinary success," and declaring the technique, "... impossible to counterfeit." Link popularity is a highly-successful method for determining the relevancy of Web pages. WebSeed says, "those marketers who don't recognize the accelerating trend of site popularity will be left behind."

There are no shortcuts to the process of building link popularity. You are going to have to work hard to achieve it.

But what do you look at to determine what a good site would be.

This is my list I would like to know what everyone else thinks about it and would like to be corrected where I need to be and add please add to the list.

1. Your web site needs to be linked to quality web sites in categories related to your subject.
2. Although I do not use page rank to determine whether I will link to a site I do look at page rank if a site has a page rank of zero I want to know why before I link to it. I realize everyone has to start some where but I want to make sure this is the reason.
3. I want to make sure the sites look good and have good content or something that would serve my customers.
4. I know this is not proper but I want a link back. If you do not put a link back I will not link to you.

Always try to include your best Keywords in the title rather than just your web site name. Many Search Engines will boost your rankings when it finds sites linking to you that include your Keywords in the linking text.

Must be relevant from your website category and above page rank 3.

[Web Res]

It is a shame it is all so hard. I was just thinking I would read through the forum and find some good tips on link exchange, but... yeah.

I also get unsolicited e-mails asking to set up link exchanges, but like any spam I assume the outcomes are probably not going to satisfy. Do you guys actually follow these up? Perhaps I should not be so quick to dismiss?

We do accommodation websites - about 50 a year - all based in Australia. Some are refurbished with decent ranking and some are brand new. It would be really good to find a core group of people (probably tourism/travel related) that would want to do link exchanges.

The web can be such a 'wild west' type of environment. Do you all tend to develop into groups and work together for link exchanges? Seems like a better solution is to get a group you trust than to just spam everyone or hope that people will place a link and then leave it.

[kbeus21]

Really I think you hit it. Personally I do not look for at page rank since the beginning of april I was page rank 0 and now it says I am not ranked at all but I am ranked in the top ten for make money free and the number one spots for makemoneyfree makemoney free and make moneyfree I just wanted to make the point on how little importance PR has when it comes to the serps. Sorry a little off topic I look for relevance and content. It is rough though because placing a link on your website that points to a direct competitor worries me a little bit, but I guess its for the best.

[pragmatic]

Thanks for sharing your valuable tips. Content of the site should be reliable also.

[Jenie0109]

1. Relevancy

2. Strong PR

3. Contents does makes sense...

[pragmatic]

I value more the creditability of the site considering the product/services, quality of the content and web management.

[ajay0547]

1. relevancy
2. PR
3. content
4. inbound/outbound links
5. date of last cache

[fashionsteel]

a smart link exchange must be content related
goggle might not care if your website isn't a demo one
and get a new page once a month

a lot of webmasters says the limit is 100 outgoing links per page
but making your home page a "link bank" might unfocused your website
definition... i recommend looking a content related website offering
its services in a different country

[Cigtina23]

Let us face the reality, PR is still needed in link exchange.
(Though other SEO person will say it's not necessary anymore.)
When you want to know where in their site they will put your link
you will ask for what PR that certain page has.

When I was looking for a qualified link partner I was first looking
at the relevancy of the site, PR, backlinks and the popularity.

[Doc]

I have rarely taken advantage of reciprocal links, simply because the most relevant candidates always seemed to be competitors. However, on a site I managed for a contracting company, I did exchange links with several other contractors, that were either complementary or non-competitive. All of us were well-known enough that we all benefited, in traffic and in sales. To me, relevancy was paramount. Then reputation. PR didn't really enter into it, although it perhaps should have. I wasn't culling that large a list of prospects, and all were personally known to me, so PR meant little.

[pathmaker]

I always check for a site's number of outgoing links, it might consider be a spam. Then the relevance of its page.

[thefandango]

Relevancy of links is key. Anchor text is key.

[Zukario]

When I exchange links with other people are will always look for their page rank and also their sites content whether it is related to my blog or not.

[fashionsteel]

I have rarely taken advantage of reciprocal links, simply because the most relevant candidates always seemed to be competitors. However, on a site I managed for a contracting company, I did exchange links with several other contractors, that were either complementary or non-competitive. All of us were well-known enough that we all benefited, in traffic and in sales. To me, relevancy was paramount. Then reputation. PR didn't really enter into it, although it perhaps should have. I wasn't culling that large a list of prospects, and all were personally known to me, so PR meant little.

i really like that attitude, that would keep your actions
on the right side of web marketing.

[shubh]

I consider following aspects:
PR of the site
Relevance to my product
Traffic of the site – quality and concerned source
Stability of the site

[jayparker90]

What i look for is the basics like website content, quality mainly
and the keywords and the PR ofcourse
all these will be a useful marketing strategy

<in your signature only please>

[craftscn]

high PR site's back link and high traffic is what i am looking for, it will improve my PR and traffic.

[JBullet]

A relevant site to the site I want a link to and decent content on there.

[Doc]

I recall a web marketing consultant once saying that if you put up a link to a site that is obviously poorly written, or poorly constructed, when a visitor follows that link, it is, in his mind, part of your site. He will NOT ask himself, "what kind of idiot BUILT this page?" He'll ask, "What kind of idiot LINKED to this page?" YOU become the idiot, in his mind.

Makes sense, and no matter HOW relevant or accurate the page is, I won't link to it if it is full of grammar and spelling errors.

[Doc]

By the way...excellent thread, Janeth! I'm curious - have your criteria changed at all from those you posted so many years ago, in post #1 (I'm mostly talking about item #4)? Just curious. ;)

[janeth]

By the way...excellent thread, Janeth! I'm curious - have your criteria changed at all from those you posted so many years ago, in post #1 (I'm mostly talking about item #4)? Just curious. ;)

lol, I am a lot like a search engine, always changing.

I'd say there is very little I believe today that I believed back then.

[Doc]

lol, I am a lot like a search engine, always changing.

Ain't that just like a woman? :rolleyes:;)


I'd say there is very little I believe today that I believed back then.

I can say the same, mostly because I used to believe all the standard hype. WPW has been VERY educational for me. ;)

[ELArmson]

You want to look for sites that add value to what your site already offers. For example, if you are selling shoes, you might link to a site that provides medical-related advice on the pros and cons of certain types of shoes - which are the best for your feet and back, etc.

This will give you a complementary link exchange - one that complements what you are offering, rather than competing with you.

Make sure the site offers value and not just a list of links going to other sites. Make sure the content is of top quality. Avoid sites that show poor grammar, lots of mistakes and information that is incomplete. In other words, make sure the content is not grabbed from somewhere else just to fill the page.

PR is not necessarily all that important as long as the exchange is highly relevant and builds value for both of you. In time, the PR will come for you and your exchange partners, so never overlook linking to a good site, even if that site doesn't link back. The important thing is that you are sending them to a place where they can get more information, but you might want to create the link to open in a new window, rather than the same window. That way, the visitor can close the other site and come back to continue with your site and... buy from you. ;)

[innominds]

While requesting for any link exchange, most of the time, I concentrate on the relevancy of the site.

[kylelmoon]

Link exchange is good... But one way link is still the best.
SE put more point in one way links.

[mizzcain]

when im exchanging links..i always look for relevancy and PR :)

[simplybookit]

Hi all this is my question when you are going to exchange links with someone what to do look for.

Ninety-five percent of the most popular Search Engines now use link popularity.

WebSeed compliments the use of link popularity, calling it, "... an extraordinary success," and declaring the technique, "... impossible to counterfeit." Link popularity is a highly-successful method for determining the relevancy of Web pages. WebSeed says, "those marketers who don't recognize the accelerating trend of site popularity will be left behind."

There are no shortcuts to the process of building link popularity. You are going to have to work hard to achieve it.

But what do you look at to determine what a good site would be.

This is my list I would like to know what everyone else thinks about it and would like to be corrected where I need to be and add please add to the list.

1. Your web site needs to be linked to quality web sites in categories related to your subject.
2. Although I do not use page rank to determine whether I will link to a site I do look at page rank if a site has a page rank of zero I want to know why before I link to it. I realize everyone has to start some where but I want to make sure this is the reason.
3. I want to make sure the sites look good and have good content or something that would serve my customers.
4. I know this is not proper but I want a link back. If you do not put a link back I will not link to you.

Always try to include your best Keywords in the title rather than just your web site name. Many Search Engines will boost your rankings when it finds sites linking to you that include your Keywords in the linking text.

Janeth, can you tell me when one gets penalised for link exchange. I am a bit confused. I get emails about link exchange but always ignore them. Please can you or someone else clarify when to accept link exchange and when not to

[rebecca-may]

Make sure that the page that the Link comes from has been crawled and indexed by Google. Also, that it is not a "no follow" link.

[webgoorrilla]

Janeth,

Please listen to me..DO NOT exchange links with sites like this honey...My business is getting BANNED Adwords advertisers their privileges restored with Google and 78% of them exchanged links with someone and not only ended up BANNED by Adwords, but websites were BLACKLISTED!

You will be banned even IF the bad link is 9 or 10 links removed from the direct contact that you exchange links with...Besides, Google is HOOOTTT that SEO Link selling is going on and controlling their search engine and I think you will find in the next 18 months, back link building is going to become less and less relevant..BLASPHEMOUS isn't that SEO Experts?




Hi all this is my question when you are going to exchange links with someone what to do look for.

Ninety-five percent of the most popular Search Engines now use link popularity.

WebSeed compliments the use of link popularity, calling it, "... an extraordinary success," and declaring the technique, "... impossible to counterfeit." Link popularity is a highly-successful method for determining the relevancy of Web pages. WebSeed says, "those marketers who don't recognize the accelerating trend of site popularity will be left behind."

There are no shortcuts to the process of building link popularity. You are going to have to work hard to achieve it.

But what do you look at to determine what a good site would be.

This is my list I would like to know what everyone else thinks about it and would like to be corrected where I need to be and add please add to the list.

1. Your web site needs to be linked to quality web sites in categories related to your subject.
2. Although I do not use page rank to determine whether I will link to a site I do look at page rank if a site has a page rank of zero I want to know why before I link to it. I realize everyone has to start some where but I want to make sure this is the reason.
3. I want to make sure the sites look good and have good content or something that would serve my customers.
4. I know this is not proper but I want a link back. If you do not put a link back I will not link to you.

Always try to include your best Keywords in the title rather than just your web site name. Many Search Engines will boost your rankings when it finds sites linking to you that include your Keywords in the linking text.

[brick7]

When we do link exchange we usually see what is the PR of their site and after we look anything else...
(http://www.brick7.net)

[melovemoney]

I look for both relevancy (obviously) and make sure that the content is good and abundant.

I don't care if a site is a competitor either, because competitors are relevant.

[thersey]

do not try and stick around the number.Try and get quality links like Pr4+..pr8.Make sure the links are relevant or it may have a negative impact on your website

[Hexip]

I thought the link exchange is already dead

[janeth]

WebProWorld should unsticky this post.

It was written in 2003 and things have changed a lot since the post was written.