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Link Swapping - The Proper Way to Do Reciprocal Link Exchanges
Link swapping or reciprocal link exchange when properly done is a good way to increase in-bound links to your site and offer more value to your readers.
In this article you'll learn how to do SEO link exchange, factors to consider before exchanging links with a site and how to find sites to exchange links with using Sitesell's Value Exchange program.
Link swapping also known as reciprocal link exchange and two-way linking is an arrangement between two webmasters to link to each other's site.
A two-way link can help or harm your site, because when link exchanging your credibility is at stake.
If you link to a very low quality site it wouldn't tell well of your site in the eyes of the search engines and your visitors.
A link to any site is a vote from your site to that site and if the site happens to be a link farm, it would hurt your credibility with the search engines and your readers.
So when exchanging links with another site to increase your link popularity, ensure that you keep things real.
Search engines want to see a relevant site linking to another relevant site, this is why link building is given much priority in search ranking.
When you link to low quality sites the essence is defeated and instead of helping your site you would be hurting it.
You can not help who links to you but surely you can control who you link to.
So before exchanging links with any site make sure it offers value and linking to it adds value to your site.
Building backlinks takes a lot of effort from you. So you want to be sure every effort you put in will be well rewarded eventually.
So here is what you will do :
- Find quality sites that offers value and are relevant to your site
- Contact Webmaster and agree on the terms of the exchange
This article covers both areas.
How to Find Quality, Relevant Sites that Offer Value to Swap Links With
Finding quality sites to do link swapping with can be a daunting task.
Remember your aim here is to find relevant sites for reciprocal link exchanges. So it flows natural or serve as a good resource for your site's subject matter (that keeps things real).
You don't link to sites that doesn't relate to your site's theme.
For example if your site's theme is 'blogging tips'. You can exchange links with a site that gives website building tips and/or a site that also discusses blogging but does not completely cover the areas you cover.
Linking like this impresses the search engines as it appears natural (blends with your topic) and your visitors can easily click through to the sites to get value.
Just as visitors from that site can click to yours through the link to your site placed there.
Finding Quality Sites through Sitesell's Value Exchange Program
The Sitesell's Value Exchange program is a free reciprocal link exchange service that has made finding quality and relevant sites very easy.
All you have to do is Sign up to the program for free, giving the details of your site (title, description and keywords).
When you sign up you are showing your interest in exchanging links with relevant sites.
When it finds a site in it's program (that also showed interest in link swapping) with similar keywords, it notifies you of it through email and even tells you how to properly conduct your link exchange with the site.
Benefits of Using Sitesell's Value Exchange Program
The sites on the Sitesell's Value exchange program have already indicated interest in link swapping. So when you contact these sites you have an increased chance that they will link back to you unlike when you just contact site owners on your own.
Automated link exchange.
It saves you a good amount of time that you would have used to be finding and contacting sites owners yourself, who after all your efforts may turn down your request or not even reply your mail.
Sitesell's aim is to ensure you spend your time doing what is most important in building an online business - Providing quality content.
Tips on using the Sitesell's Value Exchange Program
- When you are notified of a possible link exchange partner, make sure you visit the site first to confirm that it is relevant to yours and offers value before sending a link exchange request to the site.
This is because a site using one or more keywords as you doesn't mean it offers related content. I have found that to be the case with many of the sites I got connected with. - After you have confirmed a site to be relevant and of quality, when sending the link swapping request make sure to include the title (should contain your keyword) and description you will like the link to your site to read.
And ask the webmaster to send you his or hers so you can create the link. - Also agree on the terms of the exchange. That is where you want the link to be placed on his or her site.
The proper way is to either have the link on his or her home page or on a page that can be access through the home page. See example of how that is done here
The site I have done link swapping with you will see there are not on my home page but you will notice that my navbar carries a link to that page.
Search engines don't give value to links hidden deep down into a site and there is no value to be added if visitors can not find the links.
Sign up to the Sitesell's value exchange program below this page
Request for Reciprocal Link Exchanges from Sites You Link to Within your Articles
There is no article I write that I don't first research on before writing it, not because I don't know what to write but because I want to give complete and up to date information on any topic I write on.
During my research at times I find sites that compliments the article subject I want to write on.
In some cases you can't cover every important point about the subject you want to write on.
So while researching if I find an article related to the subject I want to write on that covers areas I know I don't want to focus on or I can't discuss as well as the author has discussed it, instead of trying to include the points in my article I just link to it from my article.
This adds value to the article and offers additional information to my readers.
It also helps my credibility with the search engines having linked to a site that compliments my article and offers value.
After publishing the article I then contact the webmaster of the site. Here is a sample of one of such emails :
Dear Webmaster,
My name is Karo Itoje and I am the webmaster of www.blogging-the-beginners-complete-guide.com. During my research on the .... (I add the topic I was researching on), I found one of your pages .... (I add the specific page address) .
It adds value to this page I created ... (I add the address of the published article where I linked to him) so I linked to it.
It’s an informative and interesting page and it compliments the above page on your site very well. Linking to it from that page will be a good added resource for your readers. And it would increase link popularity for me just as it would for you.
Here are my site details
Keyword/Anchor Text (what you want the link to read): Use the exact keyword of the page you created.
URL: ... (I give the specific address of the page on my site where I linked to him)
If you are not interested in linking back to my page no problem. Your link will remain on that page of my website because it adds value to it which is what I am mostly concerned about and I believe that’s your primary aim too.
Thank you for your consideration
Karo Itoje
Here you are not just link swapping but value swapping or exchanging and also you are deep-linking (linking to a specific page on a site).
Remember we discussed deep-linking in the article on link building and how it affects the specific page and your overall site ranking.
Frequently Asked Questions about Link Swapping
What are the factors to be considered before linking to a site?
The Google page rank of the site.
The Alexa ranking.
The relevance and quality of the site.
For me I don't always bother with the first two. I added it because some people take it seriously. But I have never bothered with a site's Google and alexa ranking before linking to it because to me it's not important.
What is most important is whether or not my readers will benefit from what the site offers.
And also how is the site structured?
Is it well organized that content is given priority or Is it jammed with adverts?
Those are the only things I consider and I advice you do the same because as long as a site is offering quality, it's only a matter of time for its ranking to increase, that is, if it is presently low.
Note
Google hasn't updated PR for some time now and many are of the opinion that Google no longer uses it, though Google is yet to say that.
Alexa is a website that uses a toolbar to judge the popularity (traffic level) of a site. It's ranking simply depends on the number of people who visited your site with the toolbar installed.
How many Reciprocal Links do you Need?
At most five else your site becomes another link farm. But one or two good exchange will do.
Moreover, remember what we discussed in the previous article on backlink building.
It is better you diversify your link building methods so as to be safe in case something happens to one of them or Google suddenly starts devaluing backlinks coming from one of your sources.
Should You Do Link Swapping with a Site with Zero PR?
Of course. If it is relevant to your site and it offers quality in terms of content and site organization.
Like I said before, a site that meets with these terms will definitely grow along with it is Google and even alexa ranking, that is if Google still uses PR to judge a site's popularity.
If you follow these SEO link exchange guidelines when doing link swapping, then you'll be sure that the backlinks you'll generate will be quality backlinks.
To understand link building better I recommend you download Make Your Links Works by Ken Evoy.
The book focuses your link popularity efforts on the time-efficient side of Pareto's "80-20 Law.
It presents the vital bigger picture required for building targeted traffic (now and for years to come).
And for building long-term online profits. It's all the book you need on how to build quality backlinks.
Fortunately it is free for download.
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