If you’re struggling to get more reciprocal links for your website, I have some good news. Reciprocal linking as a search engine optimization tactic is dead. It’s a huge waste of time and it doesn’t work.
Live Link Popularity!
But don’t confuse reciprocal linking with link popularity.
Link popularity continues to be one of the most important aspects of any successful search engine optimization campaign. But the way it’s done is changing dramatically.
Up until now, webmasters have been scouring the web trying to find sites that are willing to swap links in order to help boost their rankings. But as soon as they find a link swapping partner, what do they do? They bury their partner’s link while expecting the partner to place their link front and center on a highly ranked page, thank you very much.
It seems like a hopeless situation; both parties want to deep six the other’s link, rendering it virtually invisible to search engine spiders and human traffic. I think I can safely say that this is NOT what Google had in mind when it included link popularity in its algorithm.
Google's doorstep.
My search for the solution began right at Google’s doorstep. Let’s take a quick peak at what Google says about link popularity and how it works:
Google interprets a link from page A to page B as a vote by page A for page B. But, Google looks at more than the sheer volume of votes or links a page receives; it also analyzes the page that casts the vote.
Hmm… and all this time webmasters were focusing on high numbers of incoming links, period.
(Google) analyzes the page that casts the vote. Votes cast by pages that are themselves “important” weigh more heavily and help to make other pages “important.”
Should I pursue a link?
So, how do you know if Google considers a page “important” enough for you to pursue a link on it? The answer is PageRank Score. (Downloading the Google toolbar will allow you to see any site’s PageRank Score.) If the page in question has a Google PageRank Score of six or higher, it’s a real good candidate.
Do I place a link on any web site that has a high page rank?
Important, high-quality sites receive a higher PageRank, which Google remembers each time it conducts a search. Of course, important pages mean nothing to you if they don’t match your query. So, Google combines PageRank with sophisticated text-matching techniques to find pages that are both important and relevant to your search. Google goes far beyond the number of times a term appears on a page and examines all aspects of the page’s content (and the content of the pages linking to it) to determine if it’s a good match for your query.
Should I Pay For A High Value Link?
Yes, It’s time to start looking for quality sites that will post your linking ad… and be prepared to pay for it.
Because at the end of the day, it’s far better for your business to have a few links on important, relevant web pages than it is to have hundreds of irrelevant, low traffic, low PageRank sites linking to you.
Why? Because having your ad appear on a site that Google considers important and relevant can not only improve your rankings but can also attract targeted traffic that converts into leads and sales.
You need to consider all these factors:
- Is the linking site important according to Google’s criteria?
- Is it relevant to your site?
- Does it have the quantity and quality of traffic you need?
- Is it affordable to you?
- Does it accept linking ads?
Find The Right Linking Partners
the greatest benefit of using this strategy is the dramatic reduction in headaches caused by trying to find hundreds of link partners that only end up burying your reciprocal link.
Contact Us For A Free High Quality Link Consultation
