Exchanging links - How Efficient is is this SEO strategy?

Reciprocal linking is without doubt one of the most disputed subjects in the SEO community. The reason for this is because they simultaneously can greatly contribute to your link network and also damage it pretty seriously.

And Google is permanently improving its mechanism of tracking down and devaluating obscure link exchanges.

As a matter of fact, reciprocation in link building is encouraged by major search engines as long as its sole purpose is promoting relevant content among niche related sites.

Here are your actual alternatives

1. Making linking partners outside your niche market. In the short term, position in the SERPs will improve relatively quickly but, in the long run these irrelevant linking partnerships will delay your website from incrementally improve rankings.

2. Only looking for relevancy; even though quality link exchange opportunities aren't stumbled upon every day of the week, in the long run, by constantly being placed in context among the other players, your site gains Search Engine trust for the niche it's in.

Still, keep in mind that it takes time to build a presence online and brand yourself. The good news is you build a solid foundation for selling your product or service.

Reciprocal links are a great way to fuel your link network once a comfortable number of good one way back links is secured. The reason is that they only require a minimum level of relevancy and, above all, are the easiest the build.

You're not only after back link numbers, but also telling the search engine what's your website all about.

Junky back links are not a thing to worry about as long as you don't return the favor.

Mutual promoting each partner website is a great way of using link reciprocation, given that each promotional content is accompanied by a back link to the referee.

Reciprocal links provide credibility and recognition when employed transparently in your niche market. No matter how productive they might be, you should know that it doesn't have always to be 2-ways.

Then again, this statement is contradicted by our incorrigible human nature that constantly cries the "what's in it for me" exception.

The way around this human instinct is to created high perceived value content that others feel they have to reference; and reference with a FREE, collateral back link to your own site.

An efficient way to promoting your own content is to dissimulate it among other good content resources. Only when your potential linking partner is assured of your trustfulness is he willing to consider your pitch.

As the majority of link requests are turned down due to presumed automation, always address your future partner with a personal email. Try obtaining a one way back link and only if this doesn't work out, then negotiate reciprocation.

When to Stop Using Reciprocal Linking

Once you start getting involved with the reciprocal linking networks, consider this:

1. Sites part of linking networks are there for the same reason you're considering joining - Poor Rankings. There is no point in building links with lower ranking websites, all the more so if they're unrelated to your niche.

2. At best, these sites reach 10 pages in length, giving them no chance of ranking even in markets with low to no competition at all.

3. Most of the time sites forming linking networks smell and taste as spam, e.g. keyword stuffing, hype copy, etc.

4. Artificial link building is case sensitive for Google especially when it involves reciprocating links in enclosed schemes.

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