Reciprocal Linking and Why You Should Do It

Reciprocal linking to many seems like a bore; something that has to be done but everyone would prefer one way inbound linking. I agree, so do many other webmasters, that reciprocal linking sometimes isn't worth considering. True, indeed, search engines tend to weigh more heavily towards one way inbound links, and this is where most webmasters should concentrate their linking efforts on. However, does this mean that reciprocal linking shouldn't happen at all. Personally, I would say no. Any type of linking with your website should be looked at favourably rather than as a chore. Reciprocal linking in its simplest form is trading links with another website. You have a link pointing to their website, and they have a link pointing to yours, whereas a one way inbound link is when you have a link pointing to a website, or they have a link pointing to yours, and there isn't a link back. One way inbound links are the best types of links to get for your website. They are deemed almost a votes for your website. Reciprocal links can be seen more of a trade. You provide for me and I will do the same for you. It is for this reason that reciprocal links are not looked at in the same way by webmasters as it sometimes is thought that a link back isn't really a definite vote for the website. Understandably. However, does this mean that you should therefore forget all about reciprocal linking. Personally I would say no. Reciprocal linking is one of the best ways of marketing your website to other webmasters. I have traded links with other webmasters who after seeing my website have actually bought something from it. The cost is nothing apart from putting their link on your website, so your time doing it. Reciprocal linking gets visitors to your website that might bookmark it for consideration or recommendation. The worse thing about reciprocal linking is to always ensure that those you have traded links with keep their side of the agreement so to speak. That is to say, that you may trade a link with a website and six months later, I would recommend checking that the website is still linking back to you. Without the other link back to you, the other website has an inbound link from you to them. The best ways to obtain reciprocal links is to trade your links through other websites many of which are free to join. Often these third party websites will keep an eye on the links you have on your website to ensure that the links still exist in six months time. If the other website removes the link to your website, the third party website advises me that a link has been removed, thus resulting in me sending an email to check etc. Reciprocal linking should be considered as part of your linking and SEO development. Every week I ensure that I create 2 or 3 hours to add and generate links, both reciprocal and inbound, to my websites, and the rest of the time is spent marketing my website and developing it further. It has also been suggested that reciprocal links are considered by search engines as it shows the development of the website in question. If you have a website with hundreds of inbound links pointing to it and no reciprocal links pointing to it, it has been considered that search engines pick up on this and consider that you have only just bought links and not developed or considered the relevance of them. Therefore, I would always suggest to have reciprocal linking as part of your linking strategy. A combination of reciprocal and inbound links is considered favourably by search engines and most of all, reciprocal linking costs very little.