Reciprocal Links: Look Before You Link

A reciprocal link is when a web site links to you and you link back to them.

If you own a website, I'm sure you've received emails asking for link exchanges. This article's purpose is to help you decide who you should be linking to and why.

Look before you link!

Indiscriminate linking can be harmful to your search engine rankings and your reputation. When considering another website for a link exchange, always check out the potential link partner's web site and the page that your link is going to be placed on.

Five essential rules to follow when choosing a link partner.

1. Make sure that the website is related to yours. For example, if you're a real estate agent, don't exchange links with pages about diet pills or casinos. Link to other real estate related web sites, like mortgages or real estate agents in other areas.

2. Don't link to link farms. You can tell a page is a link farm by the fact that there's usually no company logo, hundreds of links and no real content.

3. Think of your outbound link as a recommendation for that site. If the web site or link page is of poor quality, don't link to it. Ask yourself, "Would I recommend this page to my visitors?"

4. Ensure your link will be found by search engines. Just paste the URL of the web page you'll be linked on into Google, Yahoo, or MSN. If the page comes up in the results, it's indexed.

5. Examine the links on the potential link exchange partner's web page. Make sure the links point straight to other sites and are not redirected or use JavaScript linking code. Look at the HTML source code and check the the links for the following text: "rel=nofollow". This code tells major search engines not to count this link in ranking algorithms.

If done correctly, reciprocal linking can be a great way to increase your online traffic. So, don't forget! Always look before you link!

About the Author

Robert Raught is the lead SEO expert at Technet, a search engine optimization firm based in Washington state. He also publishes daily SEO news and articles in an online RSS enabled blog titled "The Optimizer".

---

Using Traffic Exchange Programs Part 3

(Continued from Using Traffic Exchange Programs Part 2)Hello again!In the... Read More

How To Generate Loads Of Free Traffic To Your Website

One of the most popular ways to generate free traffic... Read More

Ethical Link Exchange, You be the Judge

Webmasters understand that quality and relevant inbound links can increase... Read More

25 Common Link Exchange & Search Engine Terms

In today's world of website promotion and traffic building, a... Read More

Site Link Popularity (Site Poularity)

Just imagine ... your website having high PageRank and a... Read More

3 Ways To Swarm Your Website With Highly Targeted Traffic For FREE!

Targeted website traffic is the lifeblood of any website looking... Read More

Got Traffic?

Here's what your website must have to get lots of... Read More

Website Traffics: 10 Sizzling Hot Secret Phrases To Ignite Your Website Traffics

For many months after I put up my new website,... Read More

The Most Useful Way To Utilize Traffic Exchanges

If you advertise through click-exchange traffic programs or GPTR programs,... Read More

Reciprocal Linking - A Business Partnership!

Link popularity is becoming the latest "in-thing" to get your... Read More

Reciprocal Links: Look Before You Link

A reciprocal link is when a web site links to... Read More

Rethinking Linking - Link Exchange Back to Basics

In the old days of the internet, links were the... Read More

Free Tips to Generate Traffic for Webmasters

Starting a new website and developing a traffic base if... Read More

5 Top Tips For Attracting Targeted Traffic

One of the most common needs of online business owners... Read More

Search Engine Submissions That Boost Link Popularity!

"Submit to 10,000 Search Engines" or "Submit to over 200,000... Read More

5 Illustrious Strategies To Explode Your Web Site Traffic

Are you spending hundreds of dollars on advertising campaigns, only... Read More

Create Laser Targeted Traffic to Your Online Home Based Business With These 7 Traffic Builders

If you are only looking at Search Engines too send... Read More

Higher Website Traffic Conversion Made Easy

In 1993, on a moon lit, warm summer night, I... Read More

Free Traffic Course - Day 5

Online statistics shows that about 10% from online visitors make... Read More

Baxter Grabber - Advanced Landing Page Strategy

What you are about to read is the strategy for... Read More

Linking Strategies That Bring Results

Website link popularity is used to indicate how many other... Read More

Making Effective Use of Traffic Exchanges

? What are traffic exchanges?Traffic exchanges are used by 100,000... Read More

Driving Qualified Traffic Using Directories

Some education is essential to enlighten you about this form... Read More

Link Building Strategies

Well, an effective link building strategy is not building some... Read More

3 Proven Free Marketing Methods Guaranteed To Improve Your Website Traffic

Why would you pay for advertising if you could just... Read More

Turn Content Into Traffic

As the saying goes in the business world "The Customer... Read More

Good Traffic is Targeted Traffic

Targeted traffic: the demographicAssuming your business is motorcycles, my first... Read More

Free Traffic Course - Day 6

We will start with one Internet Marketing myth - the... Read More

How to Approach Potential Link Exchange Partners

Exchanging links can be a great way to build relations... Read More

The FREE Web Traffic Explosion Method

Dear Friend,Many people like to listen to all the graphic... Read More

5 Power Tips To Double Your Online Sales

"How Can I Double My Sales?" - that must be... Read More

9 Hot Tips for Linking With Other Sites

If you have a website the chances are you receive... Read More

Internet Web Site Marketing: 4 Uncommon Insider?s Tricks To Get Lifetime Customers

Internet advertising is not easy.It is a numbers game.The more... Read More