Emagine Web Marketing

Q&A: What to do About Link Exchange Requests?

home title Posted by on Apr 21st, 2009 home title

A friend of mine recently asked me what she should do about all the link requests she receives…

“I’ve been approached by numerous webmasters to do a link exchange and I’m wondering if this is a good idea.  Does it have some value for me to link?  I just don’t have a clue about the pros & cons regarding this.  I’d love to know your professional opinion.”

Here’s my answer:

When you link out to another website, it’s considered by the search engines to be a “vote” for that website.  It essentially says “I like this website and I think it has valuable information that MY website users would find helpful or interesting.”  If you can say that about a link you provide on your website, then I say go ahead and add it.  But if you are just adding the link because “its the thing to do to achieve high rankings”, think again.

The search engines continue to find ways of fighting link spam – so gone are the days of getting high rankings simply based on how many incoming links you have to your website.  And they even have ways of detecting linking schemes and low-quality link farm types of links.  So your best bet is to only link to websites that you feel would be of interest to your website audience.

Is it relevant?

Any link you feature on your site should have some relevancy to your website topic and audience.  My friend owns a massage business on Kauai so adding a links to other health and wellness products and/or services based on the Island or in Hawaii would be completely appropriate.

Evaluate the Website Before Linking

If you are considering linking with another website, make sure you visit the site and see if you get the sense that the site is worthy of your link.  Is the site filled with hundreds of other links with no real content?  Is the site populated with a ton of ads and banners?  Is the copy poorly written, with typos, etc?  Consider whether you want to be associated with a site of this caliber.  If it were me, I’d pass.  If the site is well done and there is relevancy in topic or audience, then by all means exchange links.

You also need to consider that any link you provide to another site from your site is a doorway for them to leave your site and begin exploring somewhere else.  This is another reason to only add relevant and high quality links to your site.

If you want to build valuable links to your website, I would suggest exploring the following posts….

Is Your Business Featured in Local Search?

Provide Valuable Relevant Links

A Few Things You Need to Know About Links by Stoney deGeyter

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Author | Michelle Harrington of Emagine Web Marketing
Michelle is a web development and internet marketing professional dedicated to helping small businesses in Hawaii achieve success online. Michelle provides free advice, tips and how to's on the Small Business Internet Marketing Blog.


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