Trading Backlinks a good idea?
-
New to the "backlinking" party. Wondering if its 'good practice' to trade links with other websites within a like-industry.
We've been receiving a lot of emails from other websites asking us to trade links. Is this a good link building practice anymore?
Thanks!
-
Thanks, Branagan. This is what I meant by "..a little knowledge being dangerous..." I've been reading a lot here and there (plenty here in SEOMoz) about the dangers of link exchanging and taking it as a hard and fast rule to never exchange links that is rather new due to recent Penguin updates. What I was missing was "excessive" or unnatural and that if it makes sense, is approached wisely and isn't done in bulk, it's still ok.
-
Might be worth checking that if they say they are going to link to you that they actually do so and that they leave it up. Hopefully if they are decent enough sites they wouldn't do that though...
As others have said, definitely only link with decent sites and only if it would make sense from a human point of view to do so.
Might be worth checking in GA to see if the site then refers you good traffic. It may help you decide which ones to link with in the future.
I wouldn't go mad with exchanges though.
-
Hi Gina, If it isn't clear enough in the comments, check the first video I posted and the sixth point in this one:
10 Myths That Scare SEOs But Shouldn't
Cheers!
-
Jumping in here with some confusion and probably an example of a little bit of knowledge being dangerous. Can someone please explain this to me? I thought that complimentary link exchanging has become a no- no. What am I misunderstanding?
-
If it makes sense to put their link on your site, then go for it. If it fits naturally and isn't out of place, then yes. Otherwise, no.
Basically just use your common sense. If it looks spammy on your site, don't use it.
Also, avoid having a page full of links. That's a huge red flag and could end up hurting you. And if they are putting your link on a similar page, you are better off without it.
-
I never really do link exchanges unless they are part of a blog post. Also, I don't link to sub-par websites or unrelated websites. It's okay to link to another site and they link to you. One example is I have my BBB Membership page point to my site and I point many links from my site to that single BBB Page.
Look at the site you are going to link to and ask yourself, "Can this potentially cause a problem in the future? What's the risk?" I have turned down MANY sites wanting to link exchange, but if they are willing to write a high quality guest blog post, then I'm fine with it whether I get a back link from their site or not.
-
Trading links with other quality sites in your niche is a great way to get links. Just make sure the sites you're linking to are high quality (not spammy, have pagerank, aren't using shady link tactics). A quick backlink check of the sites using OSE or Majestic is probably a good idea.
I usually like to put together a "Partners" or "Resources" page where I add all the links from people I trade with:
http://www.salsabythebay.com/resources/
Hopefully you can use the initial link exchange to begin a relationship with some of the other players in your niche, so you can collaborate on other projects too, like guest posting, interviews, etc.
-
If you exchange links with quality sites, relevant to your niche and in a useful manner from the user point of view, you should be on the safe side and could probably benefit from it.
Check out this video for more info: Whiteboard Friday - Sitewide, Reciprocal, and Directory Links
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Difficulty getting relevant backlinks
I run a very niche blog on getting section 8 housing. I've had the blog for about 6 years and have paid attention to it on and off. For the past few months, I've been ON again. What's appealing to me is the amount of potential traffic the keywords have and small competition. I have knowledge on the subject. I've read Moz seo guides, etc... The problem is government sites rank high (understandably) or other sites that are nonsense / scams when you search 'section 8 application'. It's very hard to find active bloggers to do link exchange is with as the sites that rank high are trying to scam people and obviously I can't get government back links. I've tried reaching out to people with no avail. I think I have good informative content. All of my adsense goes to charity but at this point it's not much. I'd like to get it out there, white-hat style, but I'm having difficulty. Any suggestions (please be specific), on how I can target sites that would be relevant to this topic and not do generic back-linking (unless you think news submissions, etc will work)? Thanks!
Link Building | | sstrick1 -
Directory Listings no longer counted in Backlinks?
Interesting situation when I looked at Google Search Console this morning, I found that back-links from directories had dropped off and am wondering if anyone else is seeing this? Specifically, I am in Australia and had links from Yellowpages.com.au and Truelocal.com.au to my primary domain. Interestingly, Yellow Pages had gone a bit crazy recently in that the number of links to my site seemed to balloon exponentially from about 50 when I first listed to 700+ to 1500+ to 1800+ and then the balloon popped. Truelocal in contrast was only ever showing the 1 link. There have not been any changes from my end, and I only ever had one listing in these directories so not sure what generated all these extra links in Yellow Pages. Anyone else in Australia noticed a sudden drop off in Google Backlinks from Directories? If not it may just be a temporary blip.
Link Building | | Excal0 -
Good article distribution services?
Our site has a lot of content we are able to modify/distribute without too much time so I am planning to syndicate some of this using article distribution. Apart from Ezine articles, are there any other article distribution services I should/could consider using? I do know that I should also be focussing most of my resource on building high-quality links through guest blogs etc! However this seems like a relatively quick win. Thanks in advance
Link Building | | GBC0 -
Is there a tool that can take all your backlinks and categorise them into categories?
I am looking for a tool that can go through my site (and others) and categorise the backlinks into categories... such as Directory, Blog Comment, Social, Forum etc? To help you understand the backlink mix? Is there this functionality out there?
Link Building | | clayts0 -
Recommendations for a good outsourced link building partner
Merry Christmas everyone. You shouldn't really be reading this question on Christmas Eve but as you're here... ...I'm looking to outsource most of my link building to a good partner. Can anyone recommend a person or company that they have used in the past who has delivered good results. I have used oDesk in the past and paid peanuts and got appropriate results in return. Poor quality links that everyone else was going after and that disappeared after a few days or weeks. I am very dubious of using these automated link creation sites the web is littered with, and most of them are dodgy link farms or worse. Ideally I would provide a set of keywords each month and the partner would spend their time working on links based around these terms and the content on our site(s). Your comments, suggestions and ideas are all very welcome. Have a fun Christmas everyone Scott.
Link Building | | eseyo20 -
Best way to index backlinks
We have created many high authority back links for our clients and after several months we have noticed 10% or so have actually been indexed (via multiple sources). I am trying to find a way to easily get these backlinks indexed. There is a bunch of software out there, some create RSS feeds and others social bookmark these pages. Any suggestions?
Link Building | | waqid0 -
Links Through Banners are good for SEO?
Hi, I am planning to get to an agreement with some blogs to have my banner that link to my site. My question: Is this Good for SEO, Bad or Neutral? Thanks in advance, Maria Jesus
Link Building | | goperformancelabs0 -
Widgets Designed for Getting Backlink
Where can we find widget samples that are designed for widgetbait and getting backlinks?
Link Building | | merkal20051