The Merits of Exchanging Links
By Scott F. Geld
Posted Tuesday, August 10, 2004
Exchanging website links is fast becoming the essential online marketing strategy of the 21st century. Sites boasting a diverse array of reciprocated quality links with relevant sites receive more visitors - this is a FACT! Search engines - the most popular method by far of finding a website - now place a high value on a site's link popularity in their ranking algorithms. Linkages from websites that are already highly ranked by search engines will positively impact upon your site's rankings. But before you rush into overdrive on your quest to exchange links with every webmaster you come into contact with, there are certain rules that you'll need to observe to insure that your site popularity is maximized.
1) Quality Links - Search engines value links to and from sites that offer quality information on pages that are not overloaded with advertisements and pop-ups. If you link to a high-traffic volume site that is poor on relevant content, it is unlikely you will see an improvement in your search engine ranking. Links to link farms & Free-For-All (FFA) sites will also have a negligible impact.
2) Relevant Links - Link to sites that compliment the topic or category of your site, thereby offering the web visitor more information on a relevant topic. This is sure to boost your search engine ranking and pull in more qualified visitors to your site from those that link to you.
3) Quantity - The more quality links to relevant sites that you have, then the better your search engine ranking and traffic volume will be. You may need to have 200+ active links in place before you'll see the benefits.
4) Consistency - a consistent ongoing campaign of link exchanging is vital to your success. Not only should you look to build link volume, but you should also look to constantly review the links you have in place to keep them fresh and up to date.
About the Author
Scott F. Geld is the Director of Marketing for MarketingBlaster.com, a company providing targeted traffic and leads: (http://www.MarketingBlaster.com)
