Link exchanges, swapping, and reciprocal linking are more or less the same thing.
Whether preferred by Google or not, there are plenty of webmasters and bloggers who resort to link trading.
This guide aims to explain the give-and-take policy of backlinks and explore its pros and cons in depth. So, hop on!
What is a Link Exchange?
A link exchange, also known as reciprocal links, is a form of link building strategy in which two or more websites share and exchange links for mutual benefit. Link exchange is an agreement between two sites, and the mutual benefit is basically the ‘trust signal’ obtained from receiving the quality backlink.
This, in turn, increases your website’s search engine ranking and traffic because by exchanging high quality backlinks, websites within the same industry or niche can acquire authority.
Are Link Swaps White-Hat Link Building?
As convenient and easy as they seem, these exchange practices can hurt your SEO rankings if care and ethics aren’t taken into consideration.
If not done correctly, this could violate Google’s spam policies and dampen your SEO (search engine optimization) efforts.
Why? The created links may not be of equal quality or may be considered a link scheme.
Google algorithms can spot unnatural link patterns, including link trading. When detected, these links are devalued and won’t improve your search rankings, negating any perceived benefits.
SEO Benefits of Link Swapping
Although a rather grey area, some SEO benefits of link trading are:
Increased Website Traffic
Your brand will be more visible when other high authority sites that Google values link to yours. Popular web pages act as a guide for Google to locate new websites.
So, gaining backlinks from a reputable website helps introduce you to their audiences. Hence, it is an easy way to gain referral traffic.
Improved Search Engine Rankings
When you swap links with reputable and relevant websites, you’re effectively building your site’s authority.
Search engines like Google consider backlinks from authoritative sites as signals of trustworthiness and relevance. This can have a positive impact on SEO value and rankings, especially if the linking sites are well-regarded in your industry.
Increased Crawling Frequency
Websites that regularly trade links tend to get crawled more frequently by search engine bots. This can lead to quicker indexing of new content and updates, potentially improving your site’s overall visibility.
Relationship Building
Engaging in link exchanging builds relationships with other webmasters and influencers. These connections can lead to collaborations and natural backlink opportunities, boosting your site’s SEO.
Different Types of Link Exchange
Besides a crucial thing to consider, which is the perceived benefit of link exchanges, educating yourself on the various types of link exchanges can help you better understand the do’s and don’ts of trading backlinks safely.
Let me walk you through the link exchanges that are classified into four types.
Private Influencer Networks
A private influencer network is a group of influencers who collaborate privately to support each other’s content or brands.
This tactic not only helps avoid the pressures of competition with others in the same field but also involves shared accountability because members are expected to actively participate by promoting each other’s content through liking, commenting, sharing, and sometimes creating collaborative content.
However, there’s a catch. No competitor would want to link to you even if you are offering a link in exchange.
And, if you’re a relatively new brand, finding the right websites and getting them to join your network takes a lot of time and effort and may not be successful.
Guest Post Swaps
A guest post link trade, as the name suggests, involves link exchange through guest posting. This helps various websites achieve topical relevance and authority in their field.
Guest posting is a feasible option if you’re on a limited budget because you are not just gaining a link from another site but also contributing valuable content to their site.
Reciprocal Links
Reciprocal link building involves exchanging quality backlinks (that help your SEO) between two websites. It is a straightforward link scheme that can be understood by the verse “link to me, and I’ll link to you.”
It could be deliberate (part of a link-building strategy) or organic (websites trading links without knowing it).
Direct link trading is easier because reciprocal links can act as backlinks and improve SEO.
Since it is mutually agreed upon, it is usually free or affordable. A recent Ahrefs study shows that 74% of domains have reciprocal links, which makes link exchange valuable.
John Mueller from Google has stated that reciprocal link exchanges go against Google guidelines. If most of your links are reciprocal, the Google Web Spam team may manually penalize your site.
Three-Way Link Exchanges
A three-way, ABC or triangular link exchange is an indirect way to perform a direct link trade between two websites. It involves using a third-party site to send and receive links without the participants directly linking to each other.
For example:
- Website A (you) gets a link from website B.
- Website B gets a link from website C.
- Website C gets a link from website A.
This method basically creates a complex linking pattern, which makes it seem less manipulative to Google.
However, managing three-way link exchanges requires careful tracking and follow-ups with multiple requests. Since they heavily rely on third-party websites linking to each other, this could be a challenging process if you’re not part of a supportive community.
Link Exchange Process
Engaging in guest posting or sharing links is a simple process, but the outreach involved in networking with the website owner involves a lot of back-and-forth communication.
Step 1: Find suitable websites to link trade by identifying well-established sites relevant to your field or industry that you’d like to exchange links with.
Step 2: Reach out to those websites asking to trade links with you through blog posts or other means. Propose a link exchange where two websites agree to link to each other’s content.
Step 3: Once the websites agree to your request, start discussing the next steps. Ensure they are placed in relevant and contextually appropriate locations.
Step 4: Regularly monitor the links to ensure they remain active and functional and abide by Google’s webmaster guidelines. Maintain communication with your link exchange partners to address any issues promptly.
Best Practices to Exchange Links
If you want to exchange links for SEO in 2024, you should be aware of the common practices for this strategy.
In my opinion, rather than solely basing your search on someone willing to link to a site, start by building relationships with them; consider it a stepping stone in the right direction with multiple long-term benefits.
Relevance and Authority
When someone is interested in a link trade, don’t rush into it. Instead, I strongly suggest taking time to analyze the website’s relevance to your site.
Ensure to aim for links from trustworthy websites with high authority and avoid websites that are suspicious or less reliable.
Natural Link Placement
Place exchanged links in a natural, contextually relevant manner within content rather than in unrelated sections or solely for SEO purposes.
The ideal approach is to add links on a page that describes or hints at your chosen topic naturally.
Anchor Text
Anchor texts must be natural. They should not appear forced. Make them catchy without sounding too unnatural. Anchor texts like “Check out these tips on.. ” are more likely to be clicked than “Click here.”
Google uses anchor text to determine the context and relevance of the linked page.
Balance Reciprocity
Aim for a balanced exchange where both parties benefit fairly. Avoid excessive reciprocal linking that may appear manipulative in the eyes of search engines. Whether it’s direct linking or another category of linking, add only a few.
Track them actively
Tracking your web address once it is submitted and added is very important. It is done to find out which links are functional. The ones that are non-functional should be removed.
Disavow Low Quality Links
Even after following the best practices in exchanging, you may get low-quality links with below-average SEO metrics. Use the Disavow tool by Google to protect your backlinks’ quality.
Diversify Link Profile
A varied link profile looks more organic and less manipulative to search engines.
Relying too heavily on a specific type of link or a few sources makes your site vulnerable to changes. If a major source of your links is devalued by search engines or removed, it can significantly impact your rankings. Diversification spreads this risk.
Are Link Exchanges Safe?
They are relatively safe when done in a balanced manner. They are good for SEO, just like other link building opportunities. It helps you to establish relevance and authority.
If you trade links between site that are relevant, it will boost your SEO results considering the link exchange looks natural.
Link exchange may not be safe when;
- There is too much overlap in exchanges: If you trade links with the same websites too frequently.
- There are too many outbound links compared to inbound links: Search engines might interpret this as an attempt to manipulate link value, which can harm your site’s credibility and ranking.
- The site is not related to your niche: Irrelevant links are of little to no value to SEO.
- The site is spammy: The last thing you need is a penalty whose effects can be irreversible, causing lasting or permanent damage to your site’s ranking and visibility.
How Does Google Identify Link Exchange?
When Googlebot visits the group of websites on your list and finds the web addresses, it acts as a plus point for the site’s popularity. Having more of these points will help build a more significant quality site.
However, if the crawler notices a sudden change in the web addresses, it is a warning sign for the website. It is considered spam, and Google might penalize your site manually.
Too many suspicious and inappropriate web addresses will harm your site as well as your SEO.
Have You Considered Facebook and Slack Groups?
Link exchanging is fairly simple in these groups. If anyone is unwilling to participate in the exchange, they are kicked out of the group. The group’s self-policing ensures everyone adheres to the agreed-upon rules and regulations.
Here’s a Facebook group I recommend for you to start off with: ‘B2B Bloggers Boost.’
Slack groups:
Link Exchanges As Link Building Strategies: Yay or Nay?
It depends. Hear me out.
Let’s say you resort to link swapping. I highly recommend you prioritize value to users over ranking. As long as the links on both sites are relevant and naturally placed, the link trade would look natural to Google and benefit both parties.
In simple words, for it to look organic, your partnership has to make sense.
But if the links look forced or irrelevant, they risk penalties for both sites, and the SEO damage is just not worth it.
In my opinion, the easiest way to not get caught in a link swap is to do it three way. However, for it to work successfully, you need a huge network of niche sites. Niche sites ensure contextual relevance and a large network ensures diversification of links that make them look natural.
As in a three-way, a bigger network helps avoid detectable link patterns that could be identified as manipulative by search engines, reducing the risk of penalties.
Remember: The only guaranteed way to climb rankings is to focus on quality over quantity.
To Wrap Up
Link exchanges are generally safe, but don’t forget to be vigilant to make it work. Concentrating on quality sites will result in relevant link profiles. At the same time, you should not depend excessively on Private Blog Networks (PBNs).
When considering a link exchange, you must always verify your partners to secure high-quality links.
FAQs
1. What to consider when exchanging links?
• The site must be topically relevant to your niche and well-designed.
• Only trust-worthy sites and owners should be partnered with.
• Select a quality site for real link juice.
2. Where to find link exchanging opportunities?
• The process of finding link exchange opportunities is similar to finding guest post opportunities. It is done through a manual approach or by joining social networks to connect with people.
• Platforms like Facebook groups, Slack, Discord, and Skype can help find people with the similar interests in link exchanging.
3. Where to position links?
Links must be integrated into relevant content and should not be placed in less valuable areas such as sidebar or footer. You have to make sure that the link profile is acceptable.
4. What is the count of outbound links?
• The greater the number of outbound links, the weaker their individual impact becomes.
• Maintain the outbound link ratio because excessive linking can harm link opportunities.
5. What’s a good domain authority goal for exchanging links?
• If your website has a lower DA, it is hard to convince websites with higher DA(more than sixty) to do an exchange.
• It is best to aim higher because if they agree to share with you, your DA will also increase.
6. Are link exchanges legal?
• Thousands of site owners use these exchanges, and about 74% of the sites use direct exchange.
• The webmaster guidelines clearly state that the sites will get a penalty if they use excessive exchange of web addresses. Otherwise, you are good to go.
