Last updated on October 18th, 2012 at 12:59 pm
I’m sure you’ve heard this before – link exchange. Ever had an email asking you to exchange links with them – Giving you the “You scratch my back, I scratch yours” kind of a deal?
Just make sure you don’t do more scratching than they’re giving you.
Swap Juice?
Link exchange has been a practice in the internet ever since. And it is a good practice too – if you do it right. Link exchange has a potential to positively impact site traffic and improve business relations.
I give you a link, you reciprocate, everyone’s happy, right? If only it were as easy as that.
Why you shouldn’t vouch for link exchange
There are a lot of factors why you shouldn’t really consider link exchange. Here are some of my personal reasons:
- Their website is unrelated to my site niche. They’re asking for a link to Their kitchen utensils site and my site is about SEO. Hmmm Lemme think… Hell no.
- Their website is crap. No valuable information. It looks like it was made just for being used as a third wheel for a 3-way link exchange request.
- Their website has lots of outbound links because they have exchanged links with a lot of people while my site has only a few – meaning my links are highly valuable and theirs is a commodity.
- Their website is new. No PR, no alexa presence, no compete presence – trash.
- They give out nofollow links. Who the heck do they think they’re trying to exchange with?
- Their website is horribly designed. Bad navigation. Disaligned divs. Horrible and unprofessional. No thanks.
- Link exchange requests via e-mail are spammy, impersonal and down-right annoying. It starts with “dear webmaster” and it doesn’t even mention your website’s name even once. Screw them.
There are a lot of other reasons why you shouldn’t do link exchange. But there are also some RARE CASES when you SHOULD consider it.
- Their website can give you a lot of traffic
- They have a good archive of information that is related to your website topic/niche
- They are not in competition with your website
- They are a high quality website
- They appear in search results with the same (or approximately similar) keywords as yours
Link exchange helps but one-way links are the best. Exchanged links give a lot less link juice compared to one-way. I personally think it’s better to improve your site content and user-friendliness in order to get one-way links rather than investing your time asking around for link exchanges. It’s simply not worth it.
This entry is part of the SEO Hacker School series: Link Building Strategies
You can also check our comprehensive all-in-one guide about Effective link building strategies
This is a really good read for me, Must admit that you are one of the best bloggers I ever saw.Thanks for posting this informative article.
some link exchange will only work on new sites but never on established ones, there was one time I tried to link exchange to a high pagerank but was turned down because I found out te site was getting better alexa traffic, most link exchanges I know are one with close friends, and if you want to rank higher you'll have to pay or purchase text ads on a monthly basis.
There's truth in what you said Faust. Most big sites will just shrug you off coz they don't need your link anyway. That's why I find link exchanging to be tasking and not worth the investment
Thanks @Sean for useful article. I think that exchanging links is a good way to increase traffic but do not think a one-way links better. Thanks again.
You're very welcome :)
I am shocked at the items I overlooked before I read this post. Thanks for the good information.
You're very welcome buddy! Sometimes we gotta check our blind spots when it comes to SEO – it might get dangerous
Great post…I have always advised people to avoid link exchanges but keep seeing lots of sites do really well with them…I guess if you can't beat em, join em. Your advice seems like a good framework.
Hey Nick!
If your niche has a good source of other websites with vertical keywords (see https://seo-hacker.com/kinds-keywords-related-vert… for details) coz of the vertical nature of their business with yours – link exchange is a very, very good linkbuilding strategy to execute.
Otherwise, you'll find it hard to do linkbuilding with link exchange – compared to just creatign linkbaits.
Interesting post, Sean. It doesn’t surprise me that people would spam other site owners trying to exchange links, but agreeing to exchanging links and then adding a ‘nofollow’ would definitely drive me crazy!
Yeah – it would drive us crazier when they someday put it down without notifying us :)
Tought it was a good idea but now have changed my point of view, thanks
I love getting link requests from emails that tell me why I should give them a link to their weight-control blog or website. Of course their subject has nothing to do even remotely with my website and if I happen to check their site out 9 times our of 10 it is an auto-blog or a site with 2 pages… Do they really get people to take them seriously? Thanks for the post, always good to be reminded of the dangers in not paying attention in the link world.
Hey Craig,
You and me both mate. I don’t think they get much links from what they do (if any at all). Those morons give SEO a bad name.
I totally agree with email contact as a very impersonal/annoying way to ask a link exchange. But you didn’t give us few more alternatives for beginners! which other ways should we use so we don’t sound like spammers or robots! And does exist out there a serious community for contacting serious and relevant (to every niche) link building sites? It should be!
Hello Carlo,
Of course make it more personal so you don’t sound like robots. That is not taught. It is learned in a way of interaction with other people as you live this life. Be kind to others, mention their name, make the topic focused on them. Appeal to nobler motives. etc. Linkbuilding is relationship building. Asking for a link exchange should be like asking to be friends.
Hi Sean great article. We follow each other on twitter and I had to retweet this one. I strongly believe in the reasons you gave as to why you shouldn’t vouch for link exchanges. Link exchange should be about quality and not quantity.
Glad we’re on the same page about link exchange Andria. I usually just deny or ignore ’em in my inbox.
Hi Sean intense article. We monitor every one other on twitter and I had to retweet this solitary. I strongly believe in the reasons you gave as to why you shouldn’t vouch on behalf of link exchanges. Link switch over ought to be roughly speaking quality and not quantity.
Great post. I find so many people wanting to do link exchange on blogging communities that I was honestly tempted to jump in and give it a go. Good thing I found this post.
Unfortunately, it’s still a practice that a lot of webmasters do. It’s not as powerful as other one-way linkbuilding methods where you can spend more of your productive time on.
After reading this i have decided not to spend more time on link exchange ,i will more time forums and blogs to get links to my site .
This is a really good read for me, Must admit that you are one of the best bloggers I ever saw.Thanks for posting this informative article.
very good post!
Informative Blog !!
Thanks for Sharing
Hello it is my first post on this website and to start with I would like to thank for the great quality information, which I were able to find in this and all previous posts ,it really helped me a lot.
Hi i created a link exchange classifieds website for webmasters who want to advertise their link exchange offers. It is free.
website is linksyou.me
Nice blog, link building can be tricky.
Content is still king and I agree that crafting interesting, even quirky, material that people want to share is, and always was, the best way to get juicy backlinks. However, the old ways still have their place and link exchange can still be useful as a secondary tactic.
All effective link-building is time-consuming and now, more than ever after the Penguin updates, it’s vital to ensure that your link exchange is with sites that are relevant.
Thanks for your thought provoking article. Some great ideas here
You are very right there Martin! :)
Thanks for sharing great information. Link exchanging very new to me. I like your post!
This information is very useful and new for me. I will apply link exchange for my website. Thanks for sharing!
So moral of the story is link exchange to related keyword-related sites that are somewhat quality…..no trash sites.
“Link exchange helps but one-way links are the best. Exchanged links give
a lot less link juice compared to one-way. I personally think it’s
better to improve your site content and user-friendliness in order to
get one-way links rather than investing your time asking around for link
exchanges. It’s simply not worth it.”
Thank you for that info. Cheers
Thank you for share. This is wonderful post.
This blog is right on target. I’ve enjoyed reading your posts and hope to see more. Kudos to the author.