Reciprocal links: How relevant should the linking sites be?

[mystery1709]

Links are supposed to be relevant, but how relevant? Is it better to take the most limited view of which sites are relevant? Is it only the linking page that matters in determining relevance or the site as a whole? I am evaluating link partners for a criminal defense attorney site. Should I limit reciprocal links to other criminal defense attorney sites? What about websites for other types of attorneys? What about sites for attorneys in other countries? Or is the content of the linking page that I need to paying the most attention to? Thanks for any insights you can offer.

[eternity]

anything which would help a visitor to your site in doing what he wants to do, while he is at your site, better can be considered as relevant.

degree of relevance will be proportional to the usefulness to the visitor. it need not be the same service, it could be services which complement or supplement what you are doing. if your service is part of a list of sequenced items that he has to use in order to accomplish his goal, then links to other sites which offer the services or goods or information that he needs to take his task to completion can be considered as relevant.

more experienced SEOs, please comment..

[mystery1709]

Sorry if I wasn't clear. My question really relates to link popularity for SEO purposes. These reciprocal links will be virtually useless in driving clients to the site. The question is whether for SEO purposes, reciprocal links should be limited to other criminal defense sites or if a link from a personal injury attorney's website, for example, would be considered relevant and thus help with rankings on google?

[eternity]

to make it more clear and talking in the context of link popularity(talking about both inbound and outbound links here and not forgetting that link popularity and SEO is ultimately about driving more traffic to your site and for increase in sales of your services):

1) links from 'related complementary or supplementary sites',which translates to 'relevant', could increase visitor retention; since your site act likes a small directory for your visitor in this context. (these need not be reciprocal, these can be one-way too.)

2) if links from 'related complementary or supplementary sites',which translates to 'relevant', are reciprocal among the set of sites in the chain of services,more like a webring,, they have chances of driving more traffic to your site also. Anyone visting at least one of the sites in the chain of services offered, would be happy to find related site links which would help him in his task completion.

have tried to answer some of your specific questions below. hope this helps.

qn:- Links are supposed to be relevant, but how relevant?

Is it better to take the most limited view of which sites are relevant?

ans:-qualitatively, the most relevant would help in visitor retention more.

qn:-Is it only the linking page that matters in determining relevance or the site as a whole?

ans:-only the linking page. if the whole site is relevant, that would be an added advantage

qn:-I am evaluating link partners for a criminal defense attorney site.

Should I limit reciprocal links to other criminal defense attorney sites?

ans:-as longer as they are not your direct competitors, links to other criminal
defense attorneys in the same area should not be a problem.

this could even help in work sharing if the area is one which needs
more services in this area.

qn:-What about websites for other types of attorneys?

ans:-this should be helpful as your site would act like a small directory here.
(you could consider this as a case of complementary sites)

qn:-What about sites for attorneys in other countries?

ans:-this would be helpful as your site would act like a small directory here.
(you can consider this as a case of complementary sites)

qn:-Or is the content of the linking page that I need to paying the most attention to?

ans:-good content would ultimately translate to good page rank in the long term,
so either either one of them should be sufficient, as long as the content is
not way below acceptable limits.

[mystery1709]

Thanks for taking the time to answer. I really appreciate it.

[eternity]

please translate 'content' as 'presentation' in the answer to the last question in the post on 29th october.

[eternity]

qn:-Or is the content of the linking page that I need to paying the most attention to?

ans:-good content would ultimately translate to good page rank in the long term,
so either either one of them should be sufficient, as long as the content is
not way below acceptable limits.

please translate 'content' as 'presentation' in the phrase " so either either one of them should be sufficient.". please do not misinterpret this to mean that 'page rank' takes priority over 'actual content' or 'service' offered from site.