Is Reciprocal Linking History? by David Evarts
Reciprocal Links are the Meta Keywords tag of 2006
Just a few short years ago there was a web page description tag called the Meta
Keywords tag. It quickly became popular with unscrupulous web masters
incorrectly applying keywords in an effort to rank better in the search
engines. Google and many other top search engines ended up discounting, and
ultimately ignoring meta keywords. It is still important to include them in
your page, but for different reasons.
Increasingly, search engines have been placing more importance on website's
"connectivity" to other websites to determine how important or relevant the
site is. This connectivity is done through linking. Search engines perceive
links as votes of confidence, and have determined that sites with more links
are important and legitimate. More links coming into your site means more
"votes of confidence" that your site is worth a visit. Majority rules,
democracy in action!
Who stuffed the ballot box?
Again, unscrupulous types have figured out a way to circumvent the system in an
effort to gain a better position in the search engines. The technique was to
build massive amounts of inbound links quickly, triggering the search engines
to point to your site. The most effective way for the spammers, for lack of a
better term, to accomplish this fast linking was to band together and form
reciprocal linking pools, co-ops, alliances, and partnerships. The majority
could no longer be counted on to vote correctly.
Google quickly caught-on to this method and had to make a decision. Google
decided that the majority could not be trusted, and therefore their vote will
be discounted. In fact, reciprocal links from sites that have a page rank of
PR1-3 don't even count anymore. What's more, associating your site with large
reciprocal link swapping programs could potentially cause the search engines to
label your site as "unreliable," which could have a negative impact on your
over all web position.
Educated Voters Rule!
There is a new vote in town, and it is called the One Way
Relevant Anchor Text Link
. It's not really new, it's just more important today. The search engines have
determined that if someone is willing to "vote" for your site and receive
nothing in return, than you must be worth a visit.
Every link into your site has a "value" or "weight" that is assigned by the
search engines. Mathematically, it is very possible (even probable) for a dozen
One Way Links to have more value than 100 reciprocal links. Think of it as the
"New Math" on the web.
The Hanging Chad...
A question I get almost every day is: "So why not go out and purchase some
great One Way Links and be done with it?" The answer is simple. Google has a
patent (yes, a patent!) on its method of determining a web sites overall
valuation and relevance. Buying links circumvents their methods, and can
absolutely result in your site being ejected from the search results
altogether. What would happen if you woke up tomorrow and your website was no
longer in Google?
In addition, that same group of unscrupulous types have come up with all kinds
of methods and tactics to turn those link pools into artificial looking One Way
Links. Google is a lot like the IRS; when they catch you cheating, you lose.
In a recent discussion of SEO and Linking experts regarding link co-ops the
consensus was unimanious:
"An associate of mine just got pummeled for participating in a co-op. He believes
so anyway. He's talked to a few other people in the co-op and their websites
got penalized about 2 weeks ago. His website is still cached in Google, but it
just doesn't rank for anything anymore. Even worse, he shows up on the 3rd page
if you search the name of his site!"
WebFu Design
"Sounds like a recipie for disaster to me! These links pages would surely go
supplemental on Google (search results) as they would all be duplicates!"
sem4u
"The problem with any link pool/coop/unnatural link system is that it is not
permanent and some more than others rotate and change which can have a pretty
devastating effect on your serps with members leaving/arriving and engines
looking for key indicators that suggest unnatural linking.
" Scott
"It is risky right now. Some people think Google is dropping the ax on sites that
use link co-ops. Best to not participate and just build up inbound links by
other methods." A2ZSEO
The Votes are in.
Do not delete your reciprocal link inventory, or discontinue building
reciprocal links. Just remember that they do not have the same impact.
Swap links with sites that you feel bring value to your web visitor. Exchanging
links is considered natural in the eyes of the search engines. That's a good
thing.
Focus on building quality one-way inbound links from sites that are in the same
content arena as you.
If you are involved in any unnatural link building practices, you need to ask
yourself if the risk is worth the reward.
Provide outbound links to Subscriptions that are similar to your site's content.
Consult your SEO advisor if you have any questions, as they have your best
interests in mind.
Get creative. There is more to linking than just directories and websites.
A few linking ideas are: Articles, press releases, testimonials, interviews,
contests, forum and blog participation, social networks, and Google video
deployment. Also, talk to every vendor that you pay for services or products,
and tell them they owe you a link!
About the Author
David Evarts has extensive experience in web promotion and link development SEO.
Contact David at 1any.com anchor text links
directory for additional information or consulting. Or just search
"anchor text link directory" on Google and choose the #1 result :)
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