An added approach to link building is engaging in link exchange. It simply means “I’ll allow you to create backlinks on my website if you will agree to do the same for me.” If you are in dire need of building links to websites other than article and PR directories, you will definitely bite this proposal. But, if you are a business-minded person, you will mull over several factors before giving in.
Link exchange can be beneficial to you in terms of increasing your page ranking because Google and other search engines frequently read and index backlinks. But do not agree to any offer that comes your way. You have to weigh various aspects that will create impact – good and bad – to your SEO campaign.
Is the website related to what you offer? Does it carry your targeted traffic? Do the frequent search engine results pages? Is the content written with high quality, in terms of grammar and information? Yes, this may give you a lot of work but you have to guarantee that you will not waste all the efforts that you have put into your own site by inking a so-so partnership. Finally, you have to know if the site carries a nofollow attribute. Do not be tricked. Why will you agree to link exchange if it does not allow an exchange of links in the first place?
Next, is this even a good website at all? We mentioned grammar and the quality of the writing, but what about the actual information it offers? Is this a website you want to be associated with. While to each his own is a rule everybody should follow, think whether the traffic you get will suit you. Perhaps its as simple as you being into one line of work, and the offered link exchanger is in another. Perhaps, however, they deal in things you may find immoral. Pornography, gambling, and things of that nature won’t really help a family-oriented website.
However, perhaps you do not wish to associate with a website that offers low-quality content, with an ugly, low-quality design.
Your ‘partner’ may remove your backlinks without your knowledge. If he does, you are definitely at the losing end. But to make sure that this will never happen, you can make strict monitoring. Can you afford to waste your precious time for this? Is the website worth the effort? Do not allow people to do this cheap ploy on you.
Is there a point in investing time, money, and effort into getting a deal with such an individual, only to have them remove your backlinks? And of course, there is another issue – what if they actually put your links into low-quality content, without your permission? These can mess with your SEO functionality, but it still gets you to work more and more, forcing you, again, to lose time and money. So, this is one aspect of monitoring you already have to do – do you need more on your plate?
Now, don’t get us wrong, you need to add backlink monitoring to your SEO work schedule. But, you want to focus on things that matter. You want to focus on getting rid of a spammy, nefarious website connecting your links to them. Furthermore, sometimes you hit the goldmine and have an incredibly popular website link to your own. This can do wonders for your SEO efforts, but you want to keep things that way, just in case this kind of link disappears.
You cannot just command the webmaster to seek your approval prior to the placement of the anchor text that will link to your site. You are not his boss. He will not care too much about it because it is not his territory. Unlike in your own site, you have full control of your keywords and keyword phrases, which you can use for the anchor text. But if you insist on agreeing to link exchange all because it is one of the most credible websites in the world or at least in your state, clear this issue and make sure that you can have a say on the keywords for anchor text – if it is possible.
This is very similar to the previous issue. Namely, a matter of control and monitoring. When doing link exchanges, you have to trust this random individual whose face you probably can’t even see. The same goes for anchor text keywords. You will be in a position where you will have to invest your work into the trustworthiness of this person.
Is there anchor text even good? Too many inbound links with the same anchor text will get penalized by Google. Things like having a link every fifty words, or just having anchor text that doesn’t make any sense – these things will tank your website rating and your SEO score.
The reciprocate link may not be solely yours. It may have been offered to hundreds of other sites. Therefore, the voting power of the backlink has definitely been reduced. They get the bigger and the most delicious part of the pie. While you? You stay at the losing end.
Indeed, are you getting the short end of the stick here? You are risking doing business with an individual who wants to piggyback onto the success of your work, your links, and the quality of your content. In essence, they are leeching off of you.
Check out the metrics of their website. What are the rankings of these links, how authoritative is their content, how good are their SEO metrics? Use the metrics from Page Authority or Trust flow, and figure out this information by yourself. You want the best you can get if you truly provide the best you can make.
Most Internet marketers do not agree to link exchange. More often than not, the partnership is not well reciprocated. Others benefit from the link building agreement more than they do. Hence, it is better if you work on your own. Plus, considering the discussion above, will you want to be at the disadvantage?
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