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Exchanging link with site which targets the same keywords?

by milkyway
7 replies
  • SEO
    • |
Hi folks,

I got a respectable link exchange request for one of my niche blogs. We haven't talked about details yet, but one thing puzzles me:

The site in question targets pretty much the same keywords as my site. Well, to a large degree anyway...

The actual offer is different (an online shop selling physical items vs. an adsense/affiliate blog), but not the keywords for the search engine traffic.

I don't really understand what the gain would be in exchanging a link with somebody who aims for the same spots in the SERPS, and maybe label both links with the same keywords...

But then, I only have some basic knowledge in that field, and the actual suggestion came from their SEO company, so there must be some logic behind this...

Could you guys please enlighten me? Does such a sort of link exchange make sense, and if so: why?

Thanks,

Regine

PS: I've read the discussions/statements about link exchange in general, and I'm really only curious about this particular case, and couldn't find anything about it in the other threads.

PPS: Glad the search function is back on!
#exchanging #keywords #link #site #targets
  • Profile picture of the author dvduval
    The biggest mistake you can make is exchanging links with a lot of sites or doing sitewide link exchanges. A couple may be okay, but I would say be really careful. The reason you should exchange links is the traffic.
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    It is okay to contact me! I have been developing software since 1999, creating many popular products like phpLD.
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    • Profile picture of the author milkyway
      dvduval,

      thanks for your answer.

      I know about the potential problems with link exchanges. I just don't understand why anybody would suggest a link exchange for SEO reasons with a site which obviously targets the same keywords and thus is a potential competitor, search engine-wise.

      To get direct traffic from the other site, ok. But said SEO company explicitly stated the advantages of backlinks for a good ranking in the search engines.

      I just can't grasp the logic behind that in this particular case and was wondering if there's anything obvious which I am missing... :confused:

      Regine
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  • Profile picture of the author jasonmorgan
    Does the site in question rank higher than you or have a decent page rank? If so, take the link and run.

    Chances are you rank higher than they do and they want to borrow some of your thunder.

    Nothing wrong with reciprocal links, you just need to link with sites that are going to benefit your site.

    If you are trading links with another site that is chasing the same keywords as you, you're both going to benefit. You just need to put in more work than they do. If you get a link from all of your competitors and they each only have a link from you... you should out rank all of them.

    If you got this request from their SEO guy, this is what he is trying to do. He wants links from all relevant competitors which should shoot him past all of you. He gets 10-20 links (in total) and each of you get 1.

    And for those who say reciprocal links are bad. What are 5 or even 20 reciprocal links when you should have hundreds or more incoming backlinks. It's nothing and it's not going to raise any red flags with google.

    Having a massive link farm or 100+ sites all linking to each other is very different from a handful of solid reciprocal links.
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    I'm all about that bass.

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    • Profile picture of the author milkyway
      Hi Jason,

      they have PR 3, my site has PR 2, and I haven't done much to promote it - yet...

      I did a little digging tonight and it seems as if their SEO guys have been pretty busy. Tons of backlinks from blogs which seem to belong to some SEO blog networks.

      If you got this request from their SEO guy, this is what he is trying to do. He wants links from all relevant competitors which should shoot him past all of you. He gets 10-20 links (in total) and each of you get 1.
      Now that you point it out, it's obvious...

      Thanks for your answer,

      Regine
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  • Profile picture of the author jasonmorgan
    sometimes you gotta be a hustler and a player in the game
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    I'm all about that bass.

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    • Profile picture of the author milkyway
      Originally Posted by jasonmorgan View Post

      sometimes you gotta be a hustler and a player in the game
      lol...

      Guess I was just thinking too innocently...

      A valuable lesson...

      Thanks!

      Regine
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      • Profile picture of the author Sir Dude
        Hallow Warriors!

        Saw this thread while researching the subject, there's not much information around (or I couldn't find it), and there seems to be some knowledge about it here! So I just registered to try and grasp some wisdom from you SEO elders.

        Here's the story:

        I was ranking #1 for a though keyword (around 1M exact searches/month), but lately I'm getting some pretty big ass sites after me.

        One of this huge sites, which has niche targeted sections, asked me for a three way link exchange, where they linked me from another of their high authority sites (high traffic, high PR) if I linked their niche page on their other big site, for the same keyword we are competing for.

        I didn't have any big one way links, and my site doesn't have any PR, so I though (like I read up in this thread), that I'd benefit with the exchange, right?

        But then I saw they added to the site from where I got the link, a second link with the same keyword to their niche page of their big site..

        What would happen if the competition (B), asks for a link from your site (A), in exchange of giving you a link from a high authority site (C), but then they also link themselves from that site (C) with the same keyword?

        Does the two links from C nullify each other like in a mathematical formula? Does in the end site B get the only benefit?

        C ---> A
        C ---> B

        A ---> B

        I'm getting duped right?
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