Too Many Reciprocal Links Bad

flaxseoguru

Yea I never found an answer on this can someone tell me?

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waveshoppe

Well you first have to ask if participating in link exchanges offers a ranking advantage. Whereas the answer is no. So a few probably wont harm you, but if it starts looking like a link farm then it possibly could.


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1-Clan

waveshoppe wrote:

Well you first have to ask if participating in link exchanges offers a ranking advantage. Whereas the answer is no. So a few probably wont harm you, but if it starts looking like a link farm then it possibly could.

what do you mean just standard link exchanges? if so why would it look like a link farm? you need link exchanges with others to rank higher so I dont understand your reply dude




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waveshoppe

"you need link exchanges with others to rank higher so I dont understand your reply dude" Well I dont think you understand SEO dude.

One way links still have some influence on search engine results, but link exchanges are are ineffective and have been for years.


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1-Clan


thats not what google say they still value link exchanges within your niche + link exchanges are not just about the SE's are they, they also help with word of mouth which gets more visitor which is what SEP is all about so I think go for the link exchanges as long as its not a bad site it should not be bad for your site.

We have had no bad out comes from any link exchanges we have made only good with higher serp, more views and more sales. So surely link exchange are still a go part of seo?!



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waveshoppe

Well I don’t pay much attention to what Google says. It you take the top 50 factors that influence ranking, link exchanges are at the bottom of the heap, maybe even a negative factor. While link exchanges may assist with crawling and discovery, you cant say definitively that the exchanges themselves are directly responsible for a ranking improvement. Having the page indexed is closer to the truth and now a days that can be accomplished with a lot less effort. So if link exchanges are the main platform for ones SEO it will only keep you on an even platform with the other link exchangers. The goal in SEO is to dominate query space and not float around in the sediment with everyone else.




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matte

I get lots of link requests and over 75% of the time they will be to a third site that has nothing but links in it. Not even posing as a directory. So would these count - NO!!

I then get requests and the link page looks fine, bit is not linked to any other page (or from) on the main site so remains invisible to the bots. So would these count - NO!!

Or even if they do link but they have 3,000 links over hundreds of pages. So would these count - NO!!

Common sense prevails. If humans cannot see it and the directory or link page has no human value, then in my view it has no PR or SE value either. Being on the 40th page of a link exchange means you might as well be invisible.

If your link pages are like this, then it is time to refine the list, shed the porr ones and keep the good ones and get better ones.

My view anyway.



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Roger_Silvester


Google is rightly penalizing bad linking practices, webmasters who obtain links (sometimes irrelevant) in high volume using full duplex software's or services that make links without editorial discretion.

In regard to linking, the Google Webmaster and Quality Guidelines have not changed (although they did update them recently), saying in part:

"Don't participate in link schemes designed to increase your site's ranking or PageRank. In particular, avoid links to web spammers or "bad neighborhoods" on the web, as your own ranking may be affected adversely by those links ... Keep in mind that our algorithms can distinguish natural links from unnatural links. Natural links to your site develop as part of the dynamic nature of the web when other sites find your content valuable and think it would be helpful for their visitors. Unnatural links to your site are placed there specifically to make your site look more popular to search engines."

So if google considers the reciprocal linking between the two sites as artificial way of enhancing the Page Rank of a site then you could be in danger.



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rankhigher

I personally think that reciprocal links are useful for getting a website first established but after that I don't think that they have much value.

I think that Google will rank websites higher that naturally get one way links as people are linking to your content with an intent that your content is good and valuable.

I would also not recommend getting involved with a link exchange network as most of these are reciprocal link based anyway but if you really want to join one to save time I would recommend one where it is one-way link based.

Overall I don't think that reciprocal links have a negative or positive value on your SERP ranking.


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1-Clan

I thought that link exchanges were ment more for helpping you site with:
PR,
Getting better known (advertisments in away)
and more authority in your sites niche

Is that not what true link exchangeing is all about when you think about? I mean what eals would you want a link exchange for other then to help your site views and the above?

I know as waveshoppe said link exchanges are not a main factor in SEO but they still have their reasons in my view.


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rankhigher

It really depends on how the Google algorithm works these days.

If Site A has a PR of 8 and Site B has a PR of 1 and they both link to each other, will the PR 8 contribute towards Site B to improve the PR?

Would Google really consider this as it has detected a reciprocal link?

I'm simply against reciprocal linking as this would be very easy for a computer program (e.g Googlebot) to detect the sites taking part in the exchange. I would say that the majority of websites which take part in reciprocal link exchanging is for an intention that it will contribute towards their SEO, not because they think their content is valuable.

I'm just taking a generalisation on link exchange networks.



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amber.ella



Reciprocal links should of course relevant to your site.. Quality back links are the best compared to those irrelevant sites that you are getting.