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.