I'm new to directories but not necessarily to recip linking. Why do most people who submit recip links to our directory put our recip on some buried page that isn't linked off their site and is never going to get indexed? Am I missing something here? How do other directory owners handle this?
Those are the lame so called webmasters who are trying to get a link from you no matter what. They place the reciprocal link to a satellite page that is not linked to the main site they are submitting, just to trick your phpLD to detect that reciprocal link. The reciprocal option is useless, and besides that, it can hurt your directory. Google doesn't like reciprocal linking. So remove that damn reciprocal link option because you have nothing to gain with it.
They are trying to fool you. Remove the reciprocal option. It will only harm your site and waste your time.
Yeah a commom problem, even if the links page was linked to the site they submit it would be a positive start, but unfortunately thats often not the case. Reciprocal links cant harm your site its just the way the reciprocal option is offered in some places. But i agree its often not worth the hassle.
Dont do such type of exchanges, Delete those links and have some submission guidelines on your link exchange page.
You need to have strict submission guidelines, if you are getting backlinks from pages that are not indexed by the search engines you should probably delete the links.
Thanks for the info everyone. I've posted stricter guidelines on the site for recip links so we'll see if that makes a difference. If that doesn't help I'll probably just remove the option.
Not like that LocateArt, PR is not so useful these days. There are some factors which we can look for a link, like is it linked from the site or not? Is it cached in G or not? How is the content in the page? How is the anchor text? These are some factors which make a link good not the PR.
OK - Looks like I need to get educated - thanks for the suggestions. Is cached in Google a sign that link page is crawled? And if it is crawled then the links are done correctly without any funny business (quality)? Or does cached in Google indicate higher listing in search results? Sorry for sounding naive, just learning.
i think reciprocal linkage is something you should always be weary of. only link up with related sites run by people you trust. you can usually get a feel for the website and the people that run it by browsing it's pages and keeping tabs on it for a few days. get linked from a rubbish site and it's almost as bad as being in a link farm.
I don't actively pursue reciprocal links and don't have the option on site. It would have to be a very attractive link exchange to go through the hassle of tracking that one recip link to ensure it stays online, is cached by search engines etc.
Comes back to one way links - viral marketing and effective affiliate program is only option. I have never had luck with directories.