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With the advent of SEO strategies, there has been a tremendous increase in
the need for webmasters to create reciprocal links with related websites.
While users may just see your links page as a valuable resource to find related
websites, search engine spiders see links to other sites as a kind of endorsement
of the site. Spiders will follow these links. There is a strong opinion in SEO
circles that reciprocal links and the text in the links are a major driver in
improving search engine ranks. When a spider finds your site you pick up
some of the popularity of the linking site (at least according the Google
PR theory). Many search engines will use the text inside
the actual link as source for keywords associated with your site.
It would be oh so nice if you could just send an email to another website
owner asking them to link to your site. In this case though, the other
website owner has no real incentive to provide the link. This is where
the idea of reciprocal links comes in. While a website owner will have no
real incentive to just post a link on his site to you if you request the link
out of the blue, by including a reference to your willingness to also
include a link to their site. Both sites have the potential to gain
from this reciprocal link.
One of the best places to find sites that will reciprocate links is Google.
Find websites that are comparable to yours on Google, then check where their
links came from. This is done by searching using a command like:
link:http://www.sitename.com (changing the URL to
your comparable site)
The results of this search will be all of the sites that link to your comparable
site that have a minimum PR (typically 4 or higher). You can then surf to these
other sites to see if they may be good candidates for reciprocal links.
Once you find sites that you want to reciprocate links with you need to initiate
the contact with the site owner. In the ideal situation the website owner will
provide guidelines for reciprocating links and you can follow the instructions.
In cases where there are no instructions, you will need to initiate an email
conversation. Be careful not SPAM the website owner. If you do not get a
response from the website owner, you can likely try once again without making
the owner feel like you are spamming them.
Some points to consider:
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Websites you want to trade links with may be more likely to reciprocate if
you put their link on your site first. This just shows that you are
interested in their success too.
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Do not overload your links page. Most search engines see pages with an
exorbitant number of external links as FFA's. No one really benefits from
FFA's
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Be polite in your request for a reciprocal link. Point out that you already
have a link to their site on yours, and that you appreciate the
opportunity to partner with them
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Once you make it big, remember how hard it was to build up your site. Don't
be afraid to exchange links with the next up and coming site even if their
PR is not very high yet.
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