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.
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