Reciprocal linking may not be dead

[Valley]

We are all aware that December 2007 spelt the message that paid links will get you penalized for buying or selling.
I have come accross a site that has sailed past me in the serps..... and guess what , they are all reciprocal links.
This I believed had died a death several years ago.
Perphaps this is now theonly way to proove that you have not bought them?
Anyway
I am going to give recips a try again.
It worked for them.....

[Icedout]

We are all aware that December 2007 spelt the message that paid links will get you penalized for buying or selling.
I have come accross a site that has sailed past me in the serps..... and guess what , they are all reciprocal links.
This I believed had died a death several years ago.
Perphaps this is now theonly way to proove that you have not bought them?
Anyway
I am going to give recips a try again.
It worked for them.....

I've been doing recip linking for 2 years now and getting good traffic and making money from adsense. Prolly not as good as some, but it's a lot easier doing recip linking that tyring to look for oneway links. Oneway links can be too time consuming, I have a 2nd job so there's no way in hell I can screw around with learning how to find one way links. I stick to the old fashion way.

Don't listen to everything you read on the internet man. Recip linking is not dead and it still brings a decent amount of traffic. You have to remember Google isn't the only search engine out there! There's other search engines that still value recip linking.

Some of the seo pros say one way linking is the best and only way you should do it. But they need to understand some people have a life and other hobbies. I'm not going to sit at a computer all day trying to look for one way links, sorry I'm not.

[Stallion]

I have come accross a site that has sailed past me in the serps..... and guess what , they are all reciprocal links.
Try to follow trends of adult webmasters. They have a huge market and they know how to play the game. They've been doing recip linking for years and they still do.

[Valley]

Try to follow trends of adult webmasters. They have a huge market and they know how to play the game. They've been doing recip linking for years and they still do.

Are there any adult webmasters?
Never met one!
Or do you mean adult industry?

[Ace0]

Yep I also saw some sites with many reciprocals... and a nice PR 5 and leading the serps....

[Valley]

I am begging to think there is real value in super related sites one again.
The site that sailed past me had mostly unrealted links

[pondlife]

Reciprocal links are still working for me...

You can get EASY one-way links from my site (see sig) no reciprocal required :)

[crystak]

Quality (QUALITY) one way links are hard to get - and in my opinion a PR5 reciprocal link (when your site has just started or is PR<3) is better than quite a substantial number of directory submissions and other crappy unrelated sites (blog comments, etc.).

I've always used reciprocal links (for my celebrity sites, where most pople use blogs etc. and you can get an easy "blogrol" link back).

[seo4china]

If it doesn't hurt, then it helps :)

[qazu]

I'm not sure it was ever dead, just devalued. One way links are best but difficult to get. A reciprocal link, non-related link, free directory submission are all better than no link.

[aboutthenet]

Yes a link is a link where ever you get it from

[MTbiker]

If the link doesn't come from a page that already has 500 links and no other content, it's probably worth getting. Those spammy links are probably the "dead" links.

[Valley]

If the link doesn't come from a page that already has 500 links and no other content, it's probably worth getting. Those spammy links are probably the "dead" links.

Problem is muppets link to you and then drop your link a week later.
Are you the one with the motorbike website? Valantino whatever?

[rjmueller542]

I think the one exception that a link is better than no link is if its a spammy link or link farm link. People say there is no proof they cause rank problems with your site, but I wouldn't go out looking for them or purposely add them

[Valley]

I think the one exception that a link is better than no link is if its a spammy link or link farm link. People say there is no proof they cause rank problems with your site, but I wouldn't go out looking for them or purposely add them

Recips are just more stable.
I have a suspiction that G is now looking at the link profile now, thus if you have no recips I BET that is a negative.
Now that is a thought....

[MTbiker]

Yeah that's true. You pay for a yearly link and it lasts a week... they don't care because they have your money!

(no motorbike sites here, must be another member) :)

[EdJohanson]

I believe that every link is good link. Reciprocal link from PR5 or higher is more valuable then one way link from PR2 for example. Important thing is content of the sites, of course. If sites are in different niches one way link don't has any value.

[Valley]

I may even have a play with webrings again.
Non SEO traffic

[dan99]

Exchanges with quality related sites are still fine IMO.

New sites with only one way links are quite suspicious.

[affiliatesheree]

I don't think it's completely dead, I just stopped focusing on it and started focusing on link bait and one-way links. That's where it's at. You can even have links at social networking sites if you're not spammy and acting like a marketer.

Sheree

[uniqueasitis]

Finally someone who agrees with me. Yes rep links are not dead. So why the articles on the Internet saying they are dead? Like Icedout said do not believe everything you read on the Internet. Many times people create stories to get attention to their website. Link baiting. And at other times they just write because they have nothing to write and yet at other times since it didn't work for them it must be dead! So like you have correctly stated they are not dead.

[Valley]

Finally someone who agrees with me. Yes rep links are not dead. So why the articles on the Internet saying they are dead? Like Icedout said do not believe everything you read on the Internet. Many times people create stories to get attention to their website. Link baiting. And at other times they just write because they have nothing to write and yet at other times since it didn't work for them it must be dead! So like you have correctly stated they are not dead.

Yep they have nothing to write about.
They are in the business of selling papers so to speak, not providing facts

[dbl07dee]

I . You can even have links at social networking sites if you're not spammy and acting like a marketer.

Sheree

What's wrong with marketers?

Recip linking was never dead
Just be discretionary in the use and have a balance of both one-way and 2-way links
Relativity is still the key

[momonari]

Someone mentionned adult webmasters. Yes, but those either sell subscriptions or are paid through affiliation, so traffic > everything. On your regular information website with google ads paying like 7 cents per click, would you prefer reciprocal links that get you a little traffic or outright paid links that generate a few hundreds per month?
I'm trying to answer that question myself.

[xpose]

I'm not sure why people want mostly one-way links. If you think about it, you have no control over who links to you. But you have control over who you share links with. That makes it very important in your circle of trust for google.

[bogart]

Google webmaster guidelines state that Excessive Reciprocal Links are a link scheme. Some industries like real estate that relied on link exchanges have been slapped hard.

However, reciprocal linking will help you as long as the link exchanges are not excessive and you have a balanced link profile.

[Sharon25]

I have come accross a site that has sailed past me in the serps..... and guess what , they are all reciprocal links.

Sounds good, soo lets give it another shot then :D

feel free to add your links to our site, lets trade :D

[j.cardell01]

I totally disapgree...it's dead for sure!! Google have been gving us the clues before they changed their algo's...confirm it with them! They'll tell you the same thing!

[Qryztufre]

If you feel that recip linking is dead, and you are pointing you DP sig to your webmaster blog, by the gods NEVER EVER mention DP on said blog, otherwise it'll be a reciprocal link ;)

I am sure two way linking is not all that bad of a thing so long as the two sites are related.

[Stallion]

Are there any adult webmasters?
Never met one!
Or do you mean adult industry?
Well, you know what I meant, but I guess anything for the post count. But I'll play. I'm an adult and I'm a webmaster. So I guess I'm your very first one.

Hi!

[Stallion]

Someone mentionned adult webmasters. Yes, but those either sell subscriptions or are paid through affiliation
So?

, so traffic > everything.
You are right, traffic is everything.

On your regular information website with google ads paying like 7 cents per click, would you prefer reciprocal links that get you a little traffic or outright paid links that generate a few hundreds per month?
I don't know? It's hypothetical. If it was good quality traffic that yields more $$$ than you pay, I suppose it is a good move.

[bogart]

Links are what makes the web.

[Valley]

I totally disapgree...it's dead for sure!! Google have been gving us the clues before they changed their algo's...confirm it with them! They'll tell you the same thing!

Matt I thought u were at Las Vegas this weeko?

[Valley]

Well, you know what I meant, but I guess anything for the post count. But I'll play. I'm an adult and I'm a webmaster. So I guess I'm your very first one.

Hi!

I am pissin laughing
Grammar was a tad out and was very funny.
Knew what you meant but this elf keeps hitting keyboard.
Valley

[foreststone]

free reciprocal links can not be dead, i think it only way to prove you have good quality site, not only have money:D

[Valley]

Links are what makes the web.

Hi mate.
How are you?
I have missed a big point for the last 12 months.
I should have been linking to related sites, in a recip basis.
This adds quality
Instead I built a monster of inbound and no outbound.
Thinking that not having recips will catapult me to the top...trash.

Only outbound were to factories or my satellites.
Inbound would have shamed yahoo!

Build a useful site is answer, and have a balance
Recips.....if you like them
One way..... you can't control
Paid...... I don't think they really care as long as they are realated and not excessive.....


Balance... that is the one word SEO tutorial from me for 2008, and my humble lesson.
Equals a link profile not the 100 M dash

Yin and Yang

[Valley]

Well, you know what I meant, but I guess anything for the post count. But I'll play. I'm an adult and I'm a webmaster. So I guess I'm your very first one.

Hi!

Never mind PR and serps what size shoes???

[Mikesblank]

I've tried putting in the code for directory recips from lots of different directories, but the directory never registers that its in my code. Ive tried putting it in the footer, header, body, links etc everywhere possible on my page but they never register it. Any ideas?

[affiliatesheree]

I completely agree however, I've learned that a great way to do things is to just link to blogs and sites that you think are awesome and that's that. Your selflessness will get you pretty far.

Sheree

[affiliatesheree]

What's wrong with marketers?

Recip linking was never dead
Just be discretionary in the use and have a balance of both one-way and 2-way links
Relativity is still the key

There's nothing wrong with marketers, I'm a marketer. I'm talking about spammy in your face marketing tactics. People really hate it and you can't tell me otherwise.

As I said, maybe it's not completely "dead," but there are much better ways to spend your time. Plus, well read my post above.

Sheree

[phughson]

Reciprocal links still have value, given that the links are coming from natural pages with quality content. I noticed a good improment in my rankings after procuring few quality reciporcal links last month.

Paul.

------------------
IT consulting Company (http://www.bodhtree.com)
Epublishing Service provider (http://www.pressmart.net)
Website marketing Services (http://www.airping.net/website_marketing.htm)
Mini Makeup Courses (http://www.tuimagenpersonal.com)

[igme]

Link Exchange still has a good result to my site but excessive will hurt.

[bogart]

The bigdabby infrastructure update made it possible for Google to identify reciprocal links. Avoid having general link exchange directories on your site.

[Valley]

Reciprocal links still have value, given that the links are coming from natural pages with quality content. I noticed a good improment in my rankings after procuring few quality reciporcal links last month.

Paul.

------------------
IT consulting Company (http://www.bodhtree.com)
Epublishing Service provider (http://www.pressmart.net)
Website marketing Services (http://www.airping.net/website_marketing.htm)
Mini Makeup Courses (http://www.tuimagenpersonal.com)


What sort of changes did you notice?

[affiliatesheree]

The bigdabby infrastructure update made it possible for Google to identify reciprocal links. Avoid having general link exchange directories on your site.

So, what you're saying is don't have a links page, just put the links within the content? Well, how many other people are you going to find who will do the same with your link? Not many I bet.

Sheree

[azarweb]

Yeah that's true. You pay for a yearly link and it lasts a week... they don't care because they have your money!

(no motorbike sites here, must be another member) :)

give it more of your time and it will stay....
i was buying links in large numbers and less than 1% were removing but after few mails links were up and staying.

find the sites that interested in long term links and you'll be fine

[azarweb]

its never a good thing to have only one type of link.
spread your links among all possible linking strategies and it will look natural.
but if you only have recips its not hard to see what that means.

[Valley]

So,
this site that has just salied past me whom has an old fashinoed link bit at the footer and is gaining a link a day?
Are they heading for an iceberg?

[catanich]

Although reciprocal links may (?) get a site some PR juice, there are two other reasons not mentioned that also count.

Pushing the Keyword Anchor Text
Unique Page Content Creation


Within the reciprocal link, you should place your Keyword Phrase with the link back to your site. This does help very much. And then start changing the Keyword Phrase every ~ month.

One point that is always missed in this discussion is the page you put their link on, is a new page to your site. This alone adds page rank to your site. If you keep the links to ~20 links per page and add a ~150 word “description” with it, you will create a Google recommended “topic specific”, unique content page to your site.

This follows the Google webmaster guidelines to the letter. The real question is does the page rank come from the new page or the inbound links?

[Valley]

The bigdabby infrastructure update made it possible for Google to identify reciprocal links. Avoid having general link exchange directories on your site.

What if I add a very selective directory, that is actually usefull?

[Valley]

Although reciprocal links may (?) get a site some PR juice, there are two other reasons not mentioned that also count.

Pushing the Keyword Anchor Text
Unique Page Content Creation


Within the reciprocal link, you should place your Keyword Phrase with the link back to your site. This does help very much. And then start changing the Keyword Phrase every ~ month.

One point that is always missed in this discussion is the page you put their link on, is a new page to your site. This alone adds page rank to your site. If you keep the links to ~20 links per page and add a ~150 word “description” with it, you will create a Google recommended “topic specific”, unique content page to your site.

This follows the Google webmaster guidelines to the letter. The real question is does the page rank come from the new page or the inbound links?

Are u saying that making a new page with an outbound to a very related good quality site adds PR to that new page?
Why?

[abraxas]

I still have several reciprocal deep links from few years (from content to content pages of diff. sites) and they even bring some traffic. However, I'll avoid making any new reciprocals - don't believe they have nearly the same value as 1-way links, but they still bring some traffic from highly relevant sites so I'll keep the old ones.
As for the removed 1-way links - my experience is only one expired domain...didn't contact the guy, who is/or was from DP actually...but not important. Articles also work very good for me!
Cheers to all nice people across DP!

[Valley]

I still have several reciprocal deep links from few years (from content to content pages of diff. sites) and they even bring some traffic. However, I'll avoid making any new reciprocals - don't believe they have nearly the same value as 1-way links, but they still bring some traffic from highly relevant sites so I'll keep the old ones.
As for the removed 1-way links - my experience is only one expired domain...didn't contact the guy, who is/or was from DP actually...but not important. Articles also work very good for me!
Cheers to all nice people across DP!

I am gonna try recips, on basis it alters the profile

[bogart]

So, what you're saying is don't have a links page, just put the links within the content? Well, how many other people are you going to find who will do the same with your link? Not many I bet.

Sheree

Links/resource pages are fine. Don't put up a general reciprocal links directory like everyone was doing before bigdabddy.

Links within the content are great.

As long as you have a balanced link profile trading links is fine. Try to keep reciprocal links under 20% of your inbound links.

[Valley]

Links/resource pages are fine. Don't put up a general reciprocal links directory like everyone was doing before bigdabddy.

Links within the content are great.

As long as you have a balanced link profile trading links is fine. Try to keep reciprocal links under 20% of your inbound links.

I have a van sales website that I am hoping will be quite significant.
My intention was to add a subdirectory and install eSyndicate on it.
The link partners would be only useful resources from the UK, that are doing exactly the same thing.
The idea not being to link to automtive sites around the world, but if somone was offering a useful service in the UK like plylining or engine modifications, surly G would not penalize that?

[bogart]

So, what you're saying is don't have a links page, just put the links within the content? Well, how many other people are you going to find who will do the same with your link? Not many I bet.

Sheree

A resource page or small relevant directory is fine

Quality links are more important to improve traffic and search rankings

Are u saying that making a new page with an outbound to a very related good quality site adds PR to that new page?
Why?

Selective directory is great for your users and a great way to get some webmasters from good sites to link back to you

I have a van sales website that I am hoping will be quite significant.
My intention was to add a subdirectory and install eSyndicate on it.
The link partners would be only useful resources from the UK, that are doing exactly the same thing.
The idea not being to link to automtive sites around the world, but if somone was offering a useful service in the UK like plylining or engine modifications, surly G would not penalize that?

Automated programs have a high risk of being viewed as spam

What is a balanced Link Profile and
Link Quality Factors

Balanced Link Profile
1) Quality Links
2) Links from many different domains
3) Deep linking to your internal pages
4) Varied Anchor text including non-keyword anchor texts

Link Qualilty Factors

Aged Links
Authority Links
Contextual Links
Deep Links
Links that generate traffic
One Way Links
Related Links

[seconnection]

reciprocal linking never died

[Valley]

A resource page or small relevant directory is fine

Quality links are more important to improve traffic and search rankings



Selective directory is great for your users and a great way to get some webmasters from good sites to link back to you



Automated programs have a high risk of being viewed as spam

What is a balanced Link Profile and
Link Qualilty Factors

Balanced Link Profile
1) Quality Links
2) Links from many different domains
3) Deep linking to your internal pages
4) Varied Anchor text including non-keyword anchor texts

Link Qualilty Factors

Aged Links
Authority Links
Contextual Links
Deep Links
Links that generate traffic
One Way Links
Related Links

Always on target.

[bogart]

reciprocal linking never died

Big daddy killed reciprocal linking to #1

However, any link that could bring some traffic is still useful. I made $8000 from one hit from a recipocal link last year. So, I'm not about to get rid of my recipocals.

Remember that not all traffic comes from search engines. Use the reciprocal links wisely and don't over do it.

[Valley]

Big daddy killed reciprocal linking to #1

However, any link that could bring some traffic is still useful. I made $8000 from one hit from a recipocal link last year. So, I'm not about to get rid of my recipocals.

Remember that not all traffic comes from search engines. Use the reciprocal links wisely and don't over do it.

Obviously an estate agent then!

[Valley]

The bigdabby infrastructure update made it possible for Google to identify reciprocal links. Avoid having general link exchange directories on your site.

MMM
A competitor website is still slicing through the serps with JUST recips, . Roughly 95 % link profile

[eyezshine]

I have always traded links and have never had problems. My problems came from buying links from a site that was flagged by google. Site was de-indexed except for the home page within a month and PR dropped from a 3 to a 1.

[Valley]

I have always traded links and have never had problems. My problems came from buying links from a site that was flagged by google. Site was de-indexed except for the home page within a month and PR dropped from a 3 to a 1.

I think I will buy some links next month....... for anyone cheaper than me.....
Hurrah for Google
I can't SEO my own sites.....but I can wee in the water for others....

[bogart]

What if I add a very selective directory, that is actually usefull?

A resource directory is fine. Include some links that are useful even if they don't link back.

The FFA directories where you link to everything from jewlery, hotels, real estate, insurance, fishing, computers, toys etc is the kind of reciprocal link directory to stay away from.

MMM
A competitor website is still slicing through the serps with JUST recips, . Roughly 95 % link profile

PM me the url. I'd like to see that.

I think that if a site has enough trust and authority it pretty much can do what it wants.

[Valley]

A resource directory is fine. Include some links that are useful even if they don't link back.

The FFA directories where you link to everything from jewlery, hotels, real estate, insurance, fishing, computers, toys etc is the kind of reciprocal link directory to stay away from.



PM me the url. I'd like to see that.

I think that if a site has enough trust and authority it pretty much can do what it wants.


Domain is about 2.5 years old
They are doing the FFA directories really

[bogart]

The FFA directories are probably discounted but not penalized.

The site looks like it has a good number of relevants liks and would have a good 'hilltop score'. Google uses a two step process to rank sites - PageRank (Authority) and Hilltop (Relevance).

[affiliatesheree]

I am doing an experiment right now. I have a pretty new site that I'm keeping strictly content and no monetization. It has a matching wordpress blog at the .info as well. Every page has a section with related sites that I think are helpful but I didn't exchange I just linked. There's no "links" page either, just related links on a per topic basis.

Instead of the usual stuff like put it in a link exchange site, I have decided to give plenty of link love to related topics, tell other bloggers how awesome they are, stuff like that. My visitors have the option to bookmark my stuff but I'm not submitting my own stuff.

I'm experimenting with what will occur by letting nature take charge.

So far? Well, I never submitted it to any search engines yet it was listed in Google the day after I put it up and I'm getting opt-ins every day for the most part so somehow, people find it.

I haven't been checking stats yet, I figured I'd give it some time to hang out. I thought it would be fun to strip away all the "tactics" and see what really goes on. I'll keep you posted.

Sheree

[catanich]

Are u saying that making a new page with an outbound to a very related good quality site adds PR to that new page?
Why?

Valley

If you add a new page, with good content, Google will give that page "1 point". This is more than you had before.

If you add one outbound link, Google will assign that link ~.4 point. You still will have more PR than you had before.

Now, if you add ~20 outbound links that are on topic with SEO anchor text and ~20 word descriptions, they will share the outbound PR google assigns. It will not be 100%.

Therefore, if all outbound links are "web hosting", you have created a unique content, on topic (web hosting) page. What is the difference between this and the DMOZ's "web hosting" page?

I know I'm pushing this, but if you add more words to the descriptions, it makes this concept vaild.

[Valley]

I am doing an experiment right now. I have a pretty new site that I'm keeping strictly content and no monetization. It has a matching wordpress blog at the .info as well. Every page has a section with related sites that I think are helpful but I didn't exchange I just linked. There's no "links" page either, just related links on a per topic basis.

Instead of the usual stuff like put it in a link exchange site, I have decided to give plenty of link love to related topics, tell other bloggers how awesome they are, stuff like that. My visitors have the option to bookmark my stuff but I'm not submitting my own stuff.

I'm experimenting with what will occur by letting nature take charge.

So far? Well, I never submitted it to any search engines yet it was listed in Google the day after I put it up and I'm getting opt-ins every day for the most part so somehow, people find it.

I haven't been checking stats yet, I figured I'd give it some time to hang out. I thought it would be fun to strip away all the "tactics" and see what really goes on. I'll keep you posted.

Sheree

Ahem
Thread is about link juice
NOT love juice

No
Serious have noticed that sites tend to index without submission.
Was going to be my next post.
I have a directory that OK was submitted, with no inbound.....
But every what I would visually class as a good link...........outbound.....
HAS PR JUICE
Does google have a welfare system for new sites>?? As a separate algo?

[bogart]

If you have adsense on the site the adsense bot will crawl it.

The bots have been known to crawl sites that are on the same shared hosting