The Dangers of Link Exchanges

When you are in the process of building back links for your website the use of link exchange websites is something that you‘ll often consider more than once. Even though link exchange directories and link exchange websites promise to give you access to huge volume of back links you should not jump into this without careful consideration. There are several factors that can make this a very poor decision if you are not fully aware of what you are getting into.

You should know how to build links using these link exchange websites otherwise you may end up losing your website’s reputation. There have been too many horror stories where people wound up with links to sites that they would otherwise never be caught dead associated to. The first thing that you should remember with regard to building links through link exchange directories is that this is a two way link exchange option, which means that you will have to link back to your link partner’s website. This may interfere with the integrity of your website and this may not be suitable for B2B websites. You have to pay attention to every single exchange request closely, and you have to make sure that you have not opted in for any “auto-exchanges.” They are akin to the kiss of death.

We have talked about the quality of the incoming links in this blog many times over and will again now. Your links have to come from a niche relevant website to be of any value. You should get your links from a website with good PageRank. One of the factors that many do not know is that Google assigns PageRank on page by page basis. So it is equally important to get links from a page with good PageRank and it is not enough to check just the PageRank of the linking website. This can be time consuming but it well worth the time.

When you enter into link exchange, webmasters will have a separate page called, ‘Links’ or ‘Resources’ or something similar and they will place your website’s link in this page. This is the norm almost everywhere. This page will already have hundreds of outgoing links in most cases – if a site is popular. Backlinks from such pages may not be of great value to your website. These links are often diluted and carry little or no value – they can even hurt you. Worse than that, these webmasters may insist you provide them with prime placement for their link – run! If this happens just walk away from the deal.

You will have to spend a considerable amount of time reviewing the linking website and its search engine reputation. Do not rush through this! There are many websites have been blacklisted by the search engines as they have been notorious for spamming the internet. You do not want to be associated with them – not even a single link! You certainly would not want to be associated with bad neighborhood. Your search engine ranking will be affected if you are associated with blacklisted websites. It is worse still to link to blacklisted websites.

When you choose your link exchange partners tread very carefully. Link exchange directories are becoming less popular because of the numerous risks they expose your website to and because of the emergence of multiple one way link building strategies that are also highly search engine friendly. It is something out there which is available, but considering the time and effort – not to mention the risk – is it worth the bother?