Page 38 - The Dark Side of Back Link Building

THE DARK SIDE OF LINK BUILDING 38

Introduction To Link Exchanges &

Reciprocal Linking

In the previous chapter, we talked about how if you exchange anything for a link, it’s a
bad linking practice.

Unfortunately, that includes other links.

On the surface, exchanging links makes sense. You help someone out, they help you
out back!

But Google doesn’t want people “dealing” in links this way. The point of a link being
a “vote” is that you create links to things that you believe provide genuine value. Any
kind of exchange behind the scenes corrupts that idea.

This generally applies even if you believe the links do provide genuine value to users.

Once you enter into an agreement, you’ve crossed the line.

So, don’t go scratching any backs.

Do People Still Trade Links?

It’s not quite as cut and dry as I stated above.

Reciprocal links happen all the time. It often makes sense for two related websites to
have links going between them, and this often occurs completely naturally.

When reciprocal links happen this way, naturally and without a prior agreement,
there’s no problem.

If you specifically try to acquire reciprocal links, you’re technically engaging
in a link scheme.