Link Cheating On The Rise

Website owners and webmasters who are trying to improve their search engine ranking by trading links with other sites should beware of being cheated. Beware of link cheating. What is link cheating?

Link cheating is when the other party in a link exchange does not live up to the bargain and does not add your link to his site. Link cheating can happen when you add someone else's link on your site first, then submit your link info, and assume that they will reciprocate and add your link to their site. What often happens is they don't add your link. And you end up with a one-way link, giving a link and getting none in return, improving someone else's search engine ranking and not yours. Link cheating. Even worse, you end up wasting a lot of your valuable webmaster time and energy for nothing. And, often, you won't even know it. You may not know you are the victim of link cheating or may not find out your link was never added to the other site until weeks or months later! Because link cheaters don't email you telling you your link has been added to their site and they don't email you telling you they have decided not to add your link (for whatever reason). They will just take advantage of the one-way benefit of you linking to them. Link cheating.

How can you protect yourself from link cheating? As a webmaster, protecting yourself from link cheating is very time consuming and frustrating. Of course, you can check every site you linked to and see if your link has been added to that site. This is very time consuming, even with a "link checker" tool, and you may not find your link even if it is there! Or, if you don't find your link you can follow up with a polite email. And, if you don't get a response within a week or two, you can remove their link from your website. Unfortunately, by then you've been promoting the other site(s) for a month or more and getting zero in return. Link cheating.

Link cheating costs trusting webmasters, trying to build their website ranking, a lot of time and a lot of irritation. A lot of time adding links, submitting links, checking links and, ultimately, a lot of irritation removing links which don't reciprocate. One website owner became so fed up with link cheating (20 times in 2 weeks) that he changed his reciprocal link policy. DestinyFinders.com no longer will add a link to their site unless their link is added first, and confirmed to them by email. They promise to then add your link provided it is deemed suitable and acceptable. And they will no longer be a victim of link cheating, by avoiding sites who force you to use those automated you-go-first-but-we-don't-have-to-reciprocate link management programs. Many of these are good programs but they are being abused by bad webmasters.

As for the link cheaters, in the interest of internet honesty and fair play, webmasters who offer a reciprocal link exchange should abide by the agreement. If someone links to you you should honor the link exchange and reciprocate. That means adding the other party's link to your site. Or, if you have decided not to reciprocate at least have the professional courtesy to email the other party stating that their link has not been accepted.

Link cheating is reaching epidemic proportions and appears to be on the rise. And there appears to be no easy cure. But here's some good advice for website owners and webmasters who wish to trade links ... beware ... be aware ... and don't cheat.

Maya Pinion is a freelance writer and contributing editor for News4Net. DestinyFinders.com is credited with coining the term "link cheating".

---

Promote Your Web Store

After spending substantial time and efforts the big day came... Read More

Five Fun Ideas That Increase Online Traffic

1. Using Hidden Links to increase subscribers or for a... Read More

About Testimonials and Customer Focused Sites

Think about it, when you browse any web site, you... Read More

Website Promotion: 10 Nitty-Gritty Tactics To Increase Your Orders

If you master these nitty-gritty website promotion tactics, you'll be... Read More

How to Make Your Website Sticky!

Five Nifty Ways to Make Your Site Sticky!'Stickiness' is one... Read More

Web Advertising: 5 Uncommon Ways To Generate Online Business Ideas

Success in business thrives on ideas.The more creative you're the... Read More

Promotional Tools That Work For Online Businesses!

Promotion... also known as selling. Not an easy task in... Read More

Promote Your Website - Link Popularity

What is link popularity?The quantity of links in different websites... Read More

7 Must Knows for Measuring Web Site Activities

Record keeping measurements for Internet marketing Record keeping tracks money... Read More

The Amazing Ways To Jump Start Your Sales and Attract Orders

Every business owner want to attract more orders and have... Read More

Signatures -- The Long and Short of It

What is the accepted standard for signatures? Who sets these... Read More

Promote Your Website Using Newsgroups

At present there are over 3.3 billion pages indexed by... Read More

Manual Submission To Directories: One Of The Most Tedious Part Of Managing An Online Business

(but also one of the most crucial part)It is time... Read More

6 Ways to Keep Them Coming Back

It is estimated that it can take the average consumer... Read More

Web Site Promotion: 10 High Powered, Magical Ways To Make Your Web Site Profitable

Are you interested in empowering your website so it will... Read More

The 7 Habits of a Successful Web-Marketing Plan

What is web-marketing? Why does your business need it?The best... Read More

How to Advertise on the Internet

Do you want to reach millions of potential customers for... Read More

Not Common But Effective Free Marketing

We all know the many "free" traffic producing avenues. We... Read More

1 Seldom Discussed Method Of Web Promotion

So you've made the perfect web site (in your eyes... Read More

How to Test a Keyword for Success!

Finding the successful keywords is crucial in order to get... Read More

Google Gives Web Page History More Importance

The Google patent application submitted in March, 2005 has generated... Read More

Free Tee Shirt

Sorry, there's not really a free tee here, but... Read More

How To Obtain Free Advertising For Your Online Business

The beauty of the Internet is that it allows you... Read More

Are You SURE Your Link Partners Still Link to You?

It's a fact. While most link partners are scrupulously honest... Read More

Competition Freebies and Sponsorship For Free Advertising and Link Popularity

How many competitions are there running on the net at... Read More

Branding With Banners

You might have heard that banner advertising is dead. Nothing... Read More

Do Not Post To FFAs (Free For All Sites) & Link Farms

With learning about online promotion, there is so much information... Read More

Website Promotion Ideas: 8 Simple But Effective Tips To Get People To Visit Your Web Site Often

If you have a website and desires to attract traffic... Read More

How To Acquire One Way Inbound Links

How can one get a good ranking in the major... Read More

Culture and Website Localization

Culture and Website Localization With the rise... Read More

Why The One-Pronged Website Promotion Method Doesnt Really Work

Would you attempt to use a cell phone with a... Read More

Marketing Tips for Your Web Site

Here are some simple and easy tips on how to... Read More

How To Gain Web Traffic Through 9 Simple Tips

Driving traffic to your website can be a time consuming... Read More