Does Link exchange Still Work?

Does Link exchange Still Work?

One of the terms that you hear about frequently as a way to build traffic to your site is the “link exchanging” process. The name is basically self-explanatory. A link exchange consists of a strategy to get partnerships with other websites in a way that promotes both “partners”.

The process sounds quite interesting and easy. Some other partner you locate will promote your website on theirs for free, and in exchange you will offer the other guy a tiny space on your own website. It could be a real plus to have some “sponsors” on your website but by link exchanging you will be doing far more than that.

Most people that work in the web world know that search engines love inbound links (links on external pages that are linking back to your website). In fact, they love them so much that inbound links constitute a large share of whats needed to improve a site’s ranking. If you look at the Alexa ranking of a powerful chain of websites in the travel industry you will discover that their web ranking is greatly improved because of all the linking between all the website “branches”.  Their ranking is also affected by other factors including traffic, keywords and other algorithms utilized by the big search engines but inbound links are also an important factor in search engine formulas to determine a sites ranking.

The question arises if link exchanges really still work? The answer is yes, they do-especially if the link exchange is well-crafted and you can find solid business partners with whom to do the link exchange but it is becoming more difficult with the constantly changing algorithms used by the major search engines.

How can we measure the quality and consistency of a link exchange? You should consider several things when trying to establish a quality link exchange:

• Think about using a text link because for spriders or crawlers everything is about text-KEYWORDS! Although a banner can be a more aesthetic solution it is not necessarily as good or better than the plain old text link.
• Make sure that your main keywords are on the link title
• Link exchange is generally a good practice, but it is especially great if you are exchanging links with a another website within your same market, niche, or geographical location.
• Make sure that you take the time to do a thorough analysis of the quality of your website link exchange partner. If the site is only starting up perhaps a free link exchange is not the way to go because his website will receive the greater push if you already have a powerful or well established brand to promote. Your partner will see the greater benefit because of your higher visits, pageviews and web rank.
• A good link exchange will include the main keywords, and your own brand to make it consistent. Google and other large search engines will automatically associate these keywords to your branded website. You want to avoid fighting for keywords as much as possible as tie the keywords in your title as closely as possible to the name of your website URL.
  

It is important to understand that there are link exchange websites but often times you must pay a fee to become a member. Once a member you can create link exchanges with other members. The truth is these sites are not necessarily the best way to go.  Sites that promise thousands of backlinks to your site may get your site flagged and penalized so it is important to do your homework and check out these sites. It may be better to work with a professional consultant and locate other businesses within your niche if you want to pursue link exchanges.