Link Exchange for Site Promotion: Is it Really Worth It?

Link exchange (swapping links between web sites to win higher position in the search results) is one of the life-tested site optimization tactics. Although it’s not exactly as powerful as it used to be some years ago, it still remains a really efficient means to build authority of a site and better its standing in the search engine rankings. Let’s go through the exact steps that account for a successful link exchange campaign.

Link exchange (as well as any linking means in that respect) is grounded on two things: quality and relevancy. You need to ensure that the websites you exchange links with are trusted and established sources on the web and are in the same niche as your web site or are complementary in some way. That brings us to the first stage of linking campaign.

Keyword Research

To find relevant web sites you need to find the key phrases these websites can be found by. Take your general list of keywords that you target in your search engine optimization campaign and broaden it with search terms from close markets. For example if your site is about electric guitars, you can also include key phrases that describe effect pedals, amps, musical theory, picks, recording equipment, etc. Once you’ve created a list of keywords you can advance to the second step of link exchange.

Finding Link Partners

Running a search on Google and other SEs is the mostself-evident and a very effective means to research for relevant link partners. Search for the keywords from your keyword list and you’re sure to get scores of relevant results. Don’t try to focus on the first page of search results. In fact you would be better off starting with the second or third page, because websites that are already at the top are less likely to be interested in link exchange.

Select The Best Link Sourc

When you have a list of relevant web sites it’s high time to select the best ones. Though every relevant inlink is good for your website’s SE rankings, links are not equal in value. SEs tend to place more trust in .gov and .edu sites, therefore text incoming links from these domains are more efficient. Don’t think too much of PR thoughand keep in mind that it’s just one of the factors in the ranking algorithm. It’s not a bad idea to scan the linking profile of a website, i.e. the websites it links to and those that are linking to it. Exchange links only with websites that are not involved in a ‘bad neighbourhood’ and are not associated with shady websites.

Set Up Links To Partners

Before you begin mailing emails with link exchange requests to owners of the sites from your list it’s best to be the first to act and link to them from your site. Generate a partner directory with links to your future link partners and mention it with the exact page URL, anchor text and other parameters when asking for a link back.

Contact Partners with Link Exchange Invites

Link exchange requests are the type of email every website owner receives daily. Many of them are automatically generated by link exchange scripts, so if you want to improve your chances to win a in link try to sound as personal and particular as you can. Address each person by their name, mention their web site and by all means be nice.

Control Your Link exchange Efforts

Having a link back to your web site is not yet the finish of the link exchange program. It’s rather the start of a new stage. Now you need to secure that the link stays in place with the right anchor parameters. When you have dozens of links it’s not possible to maintain them all manually. The optimal way to check your links is by using some SEOtools. This way you can save hours of time and checking your links prompter and more efficiently. Such software is also very useful on all other steps of link exchange: when looking for websites to link with, measuring the link value, sending out link requests and so on.

Like this post? Subscribe to my RSS feed and get loads more!