While the true effectiveness of reciprocal links (or exchanged links) is certainly debatable, they still count for something.  And while I wouldn’t focus very much of your link building efforts on exchanging links, a few here and there won’t hurt.  So for those times when you are tempted to request a link exchange (even if it’s a three-way exchange), here’s one rule that you simply must adhere to: Don’t spam people.

A Brief Example

We’ve all received them, a generic email from someone you don’t know from Adam that wants to exchange links.  They may have even taken the initiative and already placed your link on one of their pages.  And while a more personal email would have been nice, at this point, it’s not a big deal.  You might ignore them or briefly consider doing the exchange.  But where it begins to get out of hand is when you receive the exact same email the next day.   And the next day.  And the next and the next!  So you reply and ask to be taken off their list.  And what happens then?  You get almost the exact same email the next day from “someone else” requesting a link for a different site.

2 Reasons Why This Doesn’t Work

First and foremost, spam emails like this just aren’t very effective.  They don’t grab your attention, and aside from the “highly valuable” link (I hope you sense my sarcasm), they don’t offer you anything of value.  Imagine how much more effective your request may be if, for example, you informed them of a number of broken links on their site.  Or maybe you informed them of a valuable tool related to a recent post that they could inform their readers about.  Build a relationship first, request a link second.

The second reason why spam emails don’t work is because they’re just plain unprofessional.  I find it ironic that their purpose in emailing multiple times in a row is to entice or remind you to actually give them a link.  In reality, by getting that second (or third, or fourth) email, it does the exact opposite.  Any consideration that I was giving them before has now gone out the window because they were actually unprofessional enough to spam me.  No one likes spam – so why start off on the wrong foot from the get go?

Requesting link exchanges can certainly be a (small) part of your link building campaign.  But make sure that you adhere to polite and professional standards when requesting them.  If you think of your website as your own personal business (rather than some anonymous entity), you’ll likely be able to see your link building efforts more in terms of business development, which is really what link building is all about.

Anyone who’s been involved with SEO or link building for any period of time has heard the phrase, “quality over quantity.”  It is now well established that in order to be successful in your SEO efforts, you must focus on getting quality links first and the quantity of links second.  In most cases, getting a handful of very high quality links will be more effective than getting hundreds of low-quality, essentially worthless links.  This important rule will only continue to become more true as time goes on and the search engines’ algorithms get smarter and smarter.

I wanted, however, to bring up one small exception to this rule regarding the need to focus primarily on high-quality links alone.  If a website is currently one that you would classify as providing a low-quality link, has the potential to, or is likely to increase in popularity and authority in the future, I’d consider it a well-qualified candidate for a link.  All websites and blogs have to start somewhere.  And there is sure to be loads of new websites that will make some big waves in the future as they grow older and bigger.  That “low-quality” link today (a PR0 for example), may become a powerhouse one day (a PR6).

So, by building a relationship with such a website early on can end up paying big dividends when it “makes it big.”  Having said that, however, I wouldn’t plan on dedicating any certain level of energy into activing searching for such websites.  But rather, I’d simply integrate those efforts into your constant “sharpening of the saw” that you do to find new information in your niche.  By simply keeping an eye open for up and coming websites, you’ll be able to recognize opportunities when they cross your desk.

The mantra “Quality over Quantity” remains true and strong.  But don’t disregard all link opportunities just because they’re currently below a PR3.

Anyone who has used link exchanges as a means to get backlinks has certainly had the doubt, “I wonder if they’ll keep my link up on their site…”   And anyone who has actually spent (read: wasted) the time going back to those sites periodically to check on those links has likely found that that doubt became a reality and that some of their links are no longer there.  And while I’m sure that most of you are far too busy to actually verify that your links are still live, you can’t help but be a little frustrated by the fact that they could always drop their end of the deal anytime by taking off your link.

This frustration was one of the reasons I started Backlink Reporter.  I wanted a tool that could quickly check all of my backlinks and tell me if they were still live or not.  I couldn’t find such a tool, so I created one.

Now with the click of a button I get a complete report of all the backlinks I’ve chosen to track.  The first item in the report?  Whether or not the link is still live.  If it’s no longer showing up, I can simply click on the contact email for that website owner and email them asking why it’s been removed.

The tool doesn’t just verify the status of the links, however.  It’s also a great tool to track your anchor texts, date added, PR, price paid, and more.  It’s become an integral part of my link building as I can now quickly see the keywords that I’ve focused on and where I need focus next.

To learn more about Backlink Reporter, simply click on the link at the top-right of this page or go to www.backlinkreporter.com/.  It’s a free service that’s sure to help you better manage your link building efforts.

If you’re at all engaged in promoting your website, building links, or building business relationships through forums, blogs, link exchanges, carnivals, etc., then you know how much time you can spend doing those things.  Often, much of that time is spent trying to find good places or opportunities to request links, start a conversation, or promote your product or website.  Well how would you like to received a constant stream of these opportunities right in your inbox?  The tool has been around for quite a while now, but I suspect many haven’t been using it for these purposes.  That tool is Google’s Alerts, and it can drastically cut down the time you spend looking for related websites and content that can prove to be a resource in your website promoting journey.

What is Google Alerts?

For those that aren’t aware, Google Alerts is a tool provided by Google that automatically sends you links to content on the internet that contains certain keywords or parameters that you define.  For example, if you have a website about hair care products and you’re interested in getting alerts about web content related to the latest and greatest hair dryer (the DryFast2000), you can set up an alert that notifies you anytime the term “dryfast2000″ is newly posted on the internet.  You can choose to get these alerts instantly, once a day, or once a week.  Among other things you can also choose the type of web content that you want to receive alerts about (web, blogs, video, comprehensive, and more).

If you have a Google account, it’s extremely simple to set up your Alerts.  If you don’t have a Google Account, it just take a few quick seconds to set one up for you.

How to Use Google Alerts

At this point, it may be an obvious point that receiving dozens of notifications each day about highly targeted and related websites can be extremely helpful in finding opportunities to promote your website (either through link building or simply spreading the word about your product, service, or website).  It’s a simple thing, but one that can save you loads of time.  In addition, it may even help you stay abreast of the latest developing information in your niche or industry.

One of the most common ways to get backlinks to your website is through link exchanges.  For those new to SEO, a basic example of a link exchange would be when two website owners agree to post a link on their website that points to the other’s website (this is referred to as a reciprocal link).

While an incoming reciprocal link does carry some value, it’s value is diminished because you are also linking out to that same website.  Sometimes, however, you can do a three way link exchange, which is much more valuable.  In a three way link exchange, site A links to site B, site B links to site C, and site C links to site A.  While these are usually a little harder to get, this results in a more valuable incoming link.

How to Get Link Exchanges

One of the most common ways to find an opportunity to for a link exchange is simply by finding related websites and contacting the webmaster to request an exchange of links.  This can sometimes turn into a lengthy process, but is usually the best way to get high quality links from some authoritative websites (assuming you go about requesting the link in the right way).

Don’t be discouraged when you don’t hear back from every one that you’ve contacted for a link exchange.  In general, you’ll send a lot of emails before you get someone to trade with you (especially if they are a more authoritative site).

There are also some networks out there that can help facilitate both reciprocal and three way link exchanges.  The value of such networks vary greatly, but can be another resource nonetheless.

A Common Problem with Link Exchanges

One of the difficulties with link exchanges (and with all link building for that matter) is that there’s no guarantee that your incoming link will stay live on the other person’s website.  While we like to believe that most people are honest in their dealings, it’s not entirely uncommon for your link exchange “partner” to take off your link a few weeks or months after you’ve done the link exchange.  By this time, you’ve gotten dozens of other links and have likely forgotten about that particular website.  Besides, who has time to continually check and verify that all their incoming link are still live?

Should this discourage you from doing link exchanges?  No.  It’s just the nature of the beast and the game that all people play in order to climb the rankings of the search engines.

A Solution to the Problem

There is, however, a tool that automatically checks each of your incoming links and verifies if it is still live on other website.  All you have to do is input your link information when you receive it and at any given time with a click of a button you’ll know exactly which websites still have your incoming link and which ones have taken them off.

In addition, the tool tracks the PR (Page Rank) of the site linking to you, the anchor text of the link, the contact information for the webmaster, how much you paid for the link (if applicable), and much more!

The tool is completely free.  In order to use it, all you have to do is post a link that the tool provides for you.  It’s called BacklinkReporter and can be found at www.BacklinkReporter.com.