So Tell me why don't some of you exchange backlinks? Non Reciprocally

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Been meaning to ask for awhile but never got around to it. I see so many people submitting articles , making blog comment on low quality pages , getting profile links and paying large monthly fees for software.

Why don't you just come together and give links to each other? There has to be hundreds of sites represented in this forum "alright maybe few good ones but still. Why try and do it by your lonesome when you Could get together and rank?

Gather there would be some hurdles and you would have to have some rule s and things setup but it could be done.
#search engine optimization #backlinks #exchange
  • It's 2011, link exchanges don't work anymore.
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    • oh yee of so little SEO understanding - reciprocal link exchange is not the only link exchanges you can do.
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    • Not a bad question Mike.

      I can think of many reasons.

      First, one can't do it with a bunch of people.
      I'm not going to fill my site with freebies, except on a
      "friends link page," which I think is 1997ish. Okay, I could
      offer one link somewhere on each domain.

      The links would really have to match up. That is,
      PR to PR, authority to authority.

      Since people seem to be into blog networks lately here,
      how about this.

      Everyone with a blog just offers a guest blog post and gets
      one in return. That way at least you can get a contextual link.

      Each blog entry would have to skewed to similar content as
      main site. But that's easy to do. Link washing, I'll call it.

      I've asked for guest bloggers on my wife's site, but turned every
      one down. They are garbage looking to peddle garbage.

      I personally am a loner in this regard. Unless you have cash for
      a link.

      I would also imagine the ones who would be more into link trading
      are bottom feeders looking for a handout.

      Paul
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  • I guess I might just be weird or something. Cuz...if I find that another blog has related content to mine and has traffic coming from human eyeballs...I'm exchanging links.

    I have other ways of gain authority and page rank...I want human eyeballs without spending my bankroll on ppc.
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    No offense to anyone here, but I don't trust anyone enough to show them my sites.

    Keep in mind, I don't show my family my sites, I don't want them thinking they are helping me by clicking my Adsense & end up getting me banned.

    I've done a lot of work to get where I'm at with my sites, keyword research, seo, content.

    I don't need some yahoo with a free site stealing everything (content, etc...) in one day, that I've created over the last few years.

    We are all in this forum to make $$, $$ does not mix well with friends & family.
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    • Exactly how would they do that? Its okay if you don't understand the concept or don't have the imagination to figure out how you would overcome those simple problems. It wouldn't be for everyone anyway.
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    • Amen to that yukon. When I was first on the forums I put my link in my signature like many others but then quickly realized that I'm in an internet marketing forum and that people here know how to build and rank sites, most probably better than me.

      Definitely don't want people just browsing my sites and stealing my keywords, then checking my other sites on Whois and taking the rest of my keywords.

      -Mark
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  • Why not exchange backlinks?

    In most cases you don´t know the person you are dealing with and people that easily exchange links with others make me paranoid. It seems they are doing everything for some quick and easy links and therefore may be dangerous. I don´t know what they are doing besides that and may be de-indexed or punished by Google. And than I would link to a punished site. Doing regular checks if everything is okay with my linkpartners is a lot of work.

    Your link may appear near links from spammy sites.

    Linkpartners are often unreliable and do not stick to the agreement. Suddenly you notice your link is gone and when you email the person you get a reply like: Sorry, but did we have an agreement. I don´t remember and you can erase your link to my site. Constantly checking if your links are still there is also much work.
  • Just a word to those that don't know. Professional SEOs arrange for links all the time. Theres no question it works and frankly some of the things some of you are coming up with have been overcome as a major hazard (always a risk) by prequalifying the user and the site (if even by a third party)

    Again I want to state that I m not talking about reciprocal links or a free for all. I am very aware of the high number of people on WF that run some horrible sites. I get a lot of PMs looking for tips and asking questions and I concur. Lots of them are garbage but I also have been presently surprised at a few that are well built, have good quality and that are very business like in how they run their business.
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    • Mike, I can't PM you because I don't have enough posts. Would you please contact me offline at my username at hot mail dot com.
  • A non-reciprocal link exchange? Isn't that an oxymoron?
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  • I certainly do that Mike and you would be foolish not to. Many ways to do it, just have to be smart about it. If you it right then it's 10 times better than any other linkbuilding method.
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    • Theres life on this board !!! Thanks man. Amazing the responses I was getting. Like theres only one kind of link exchange and oh no there are bad people out there so I will never do an exchange with anyone.

      Funny stuff.
  • 1. Selfishness

    Honestly, I admit it. I want visitors on my site and my site only. I'm not here to promote other people's business.

    2. Scams

    There are more link exchange scams than people can imagine. Some webmasters simply delete the links after a week or two (but you still link to them). Other webmasters simply using link exchange websites to 301 redirect the link juice to the site they are really trying to promote and in that way, the real site never links to you.

    It's not that they don't work if you go about it in a careful manner, it just doesn't seem worth the headaches for minimal SEO and direct traffic benefits.
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    • Perfectly understand those concerns. The best way for such a system to work is through a third party that verifies and provides incentive for the person to leave the link. If its jut one on one then they can do what they want but webmasters tend not to play around when playing fast and lose with one link could end with them losing scores or even hundreds of other links to their site.

      Plus you have to have some hoops for webmasters to jump through. the third party verifies the sites for good solid content. copyscape etc. show that they hav done some link building maybe even put a minimum PR requirement in. Spammers, rip offs and scammers tend to be very lazy. when you put in some requirements that require some work you can be left with some very solid sites to get links from.

      Just has to be set up right.
  • You can do some exchanges such as guest blog posts on each others' blogs that both include links. Or article exchanges. However a big page of links with a required link exchange doesn't work anymore. It's a waste of time.
  • Hi Mike,

    I think Link Blueprint works in exactly the way you're talking about. It's a co-op link exchange program where people place links on their own sites and in turn earn credits for links on others. (You have to be a member of Steve & Tim's IMA Membership Program (no affil) to get access to it or own another one of the product creators products.)

    In theory it's absolutely awesome and there are a number of things in place to prevent some of the issues raised in this thread. For example, if you build a link for someone on your site, only to remove it a few days later, your credit will be revoked.

    As I say, in theory, it's great and it has been utilised by many with great results but the main problem is that when it's free like it is (as in you're not directly paying for a link) it's hard to get people to continuously participate. And that's what it needs. I believe the owners of the service are having a rethink to change how it works.

    My main gripe with the service was with the lack of effort put in by most people participating. I'd do my best to create a nice, contextual link from a strong PR site of mine in order to earn credits. Only when it came time for me to trade my credits for a PR link from someone else... the link would be on some ridiculously crap website or on a site with such a poor backlink profile that it was inevitably going to lose that PR.

    Anyway, I just wanted to point this out as a solution to this concept that is out there (there may well be similar services too). You can pretty much guarantee a lot of warriors would be looking to put in the bare minimum effort possible if they were to use a service like this, and this make it harder for it to work.

    Matt
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    • link blue print seems to be dead

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  • I think it's a great idea.. several ways to approach it. I would obviously do my own due diligence to see who I link too - *Google can't punish you for who links to you, but who you link to and endorse*. I agree that reciprocal linkbuilding is harmful if you link back to the same page, but that's the thing - don't link back to the same page .

    Here's a scenario I think Michael is looking for:

    My own site: www.netdawg.com = PR 2, Internet Marketing
    Client site: www.fishbowlinventory.com/blog = PR 4, Inventory Software
    Client site: www.theaccountantsoffice.biz = PR 3, accounting
    Purchased Domain: www.acowjumpedoverthemoon.com = PR 2, Baby Products (future)

    I have webmaster access to these properties in 1 way or another and I'm looking for links related to the mentioned categories (mostly business related and one consumer related).
    If any warriors have related thanks they can offer, then im open to discuss the exchange.

    Why?? Because my competitor SEO's aren't doing this.. so it's an advantage. I try to match them link for link and it will be hard for them to emulate this.

    **When other SEO's are using the same public linkbuilding venues as you - the separation comes from *PERSONAL WEBMASTER LINK EXCHANGES* - trading value for value, just like the good old days. Anyone can create a Web 2.0 link, social bookmark, submit to directories, every low hanging fruit... but at some point you need to go for the higher fruit.

    Will it take more time? Sure.. but a legitimate PR 2-5 link can go a long way.

    Details can be worked out to make sure it's in the best interest of both of our web properties.

    Thanks for the topic Michael.
  • 3 way link exchanges work well with local businesses because you can partner with same-industry businesses in different geographic locations. I've done this some (it's not my sole linkbuilding method). It works, it's relatively efficient, and I haven't had any issues with partners removing links.

    Again, it shouldn't be your sole linkbuilding method, but it works, especially for non-competitors in the same market.
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    • This does work and it's a great way to link-build in your niche without competing. Real estate agents in different states refer to each other all the time, since they cannot physically compete. This same principle translates over to SEO as we all know Google centers its algorithm around actual HUMAN behavior and is centered around people. SEO's could learn a lot from personal networking.
  • So many excuses not to do it...I think its a great idea staring us all in the face if we can figure out a way to keep everything on the up and up.
  • Not only does it not work anymore. But any time that you do a link exchange, it is not a fair trade. One person is always giving up more, and in the long run it may not be worth it. The other thing is that you need to keep with all of them to make sure that they are keeping your link up for the same amount of time that you are leaving up their link.
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    • A) You are talking nonsense about it not working anymore. A three way link exchange is not the same as a reciprocal link. A three way link done right is the same as a one way link and it works quite nicely

      B) Where in the world do you get that one person is always giving up more? Why shouldn't it be a fair link exchange? I only exchange links with someone who has the same PR and on subjects that I want .

      I will admit that if you have nothing to offer and are trading with other junk sites you are not going to get far. So let me ask a question. If you take your business seriously, have something more than some made for adsense experiment site and I give you a PR4 link in exchange for your PR4 link.

      Why would you remove it and risk losing my link when it helps you to rank?

      C) what present linking system do you NOT have to keep up with your links? Profile links are deleted like crazy, as well as blog comments and multiple other links gt so far buried in networks that Google doesn't even index them any long after awhile.

      The link that you place and can guarantee will be removed or become useless does not exist so you have to keep up with all links.

      I think people make the same knee jerk reaction like Yukon made and makes. The whole world is not made up of Imers. People who only know how to build quick adsense sites to make pennies don't understand how the rest of the internet works with people who have real sites. there are thousands of sites that the webmaster will not be scuzzy and short sighted to remove a link on a site that is not hurting but helping him. If you do a link for the home page then there may be changes but if you do link exchanges on blog posts (different form blog rolls) the serious webmaster is not going in and deleting the link for no good reason.
    • If it's not a fair trade, that's at the fault of the SEO, not the principle of exchanging links. I can understand your take on keeping an eye on the links, that could prove tedious, but that's the name of the game for SEO's.

      BOTTOM LINE: Exchanging links between webmasters is still the best way to receive quality links. The motto "Givers Gain" translates well into this theory. What Google can penalize is 2 trackback links between 2 pages, which is why you don't link back to the same pages.

      Do you really think Google penalizes all of the interlinking between ESPN.com and sports blogs? The internet is all about exchange, heck business is all about exchange. SEOs are networkers, except we exchange links instead of business cards.

      The meat of the thread is this: Warrior Forum is full of webmasters... why don't we exchange links more? Valid question.
  • Hi mike (original thread starter),

    I keep hearing how exchanges are so 2010, and google doesn't like them blah blah blah, But you know what, Link exchanges work.

    I have had sites rank well almost exclusively on them.

    WHY THEY WORK

    You are swapping with niches only.
    The exchange usually requires you to contact the site and for you to trust each other, this is the whole concept of what PR was set up for, from papers citing other papers that they trust as an authority.

    They are hard to do as they usually require lots of manual effort and emails, webmasters are lazy, people are suspicious of being contacted out of the blue, spam blockers etc - so any reciprocal link is gold (cause google know it usually takes a lot of effort to set them up.
    Links of this kind are permanent, or at least until the site dies.
    Compared to forums such as this one, you are linking to a niche, not just a random forum (even though this one is very good :-) )

    WHY DO OTHERS SAY THEY DON'T WORK

    Because its MUCH EASIER for your SEO Manager to charge you for one way links they spam on forums. They don't want to be bothered with old fashioned, manual link building.

    DOWNSIDES

    Yes Google knows that you have traded a link between two sites, but I am sure the same can be said for posting on each others forums, blogs etc.

    You usually get positioned on a link page that has low PR and many other links, so your PR share from it is often low, but at least its connected with your niche right?

    SURE there are many ways to get links from social sites, forums, blogs, paying for them etc. But reciprocal links from authority sites in your niche beat the hell out of many other 'easy' link building methods' and can get you work or sales as the site is connected to what you do ...

    anyway thats how i still see it in 2011.
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    • I think that's a legitimate reason.

      But i also think there are some cards you play and some cards you keep under the table. Being an SEO professional - social media managers, bloggers, web designers, niche marketers <-- these would be great partnerships that wouldn't compete with me vertically. And doing work for clients locally, I don't see much worry with people competing in my local market.

      If the attitude of scarcity, holding ideas back, and not sharing advice became the culture of this forum - then it would lose its value. But I can agree that this forum is a hangout for entrepreneurs and ambitious minded people - so you definately wanna play some things close to the chest.
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    So Tell me why don't some of you exchange backlinks? Non Reciprocally

    Been meaning to ask for awhile but never got around to it. I see so many people submitting articles , making blog comment on low quality pages , getting profile links and paying large monthly fees for software. Why don't you just come together and give links to each other? There has to be hundreds of sites represented in this forum "alright maybe few good ones but still. Why try and do it by your lonesome when you Could get together and rank?