Backlinks

[BetterBusinessFunding]

Hey there -

We are looking for tips on how to get relevant, reciprocal backlinks to our site. I've explored subscriptions for high PR backlinks, but I'm told that's not the most ethical way to go about it. Any thoughts from the experts would be greatly appreciated.

If anyone on here has a site or blog that's somehow relevant to small business loans and financing, we'd be happy to exchange links.

Thanks.:D

[billbenson]

Why do you want reciprocal links? They won't help your SERPS or PR. They did years ago, but not any more.

[vangogh]

Seeking reciprocal links is not the best way to attract links to your site. It isn't that hard for search engines to figure out the links exist only to manipulate results, allowing them to discount the links at best or penalize the site at worst.

That's not to say to websites or even web pages can't link back and forth between them, but if you're seeking reciprocal links you'll quickly find yourself in bad linking neighborhoods. If most of your incoming links are reciprocated it's obvious the links aren't legit recommendations and exist solely to manipulate search results.

The best way to gain links is to start by having something worth linking to. Accept that the vast majority isn't going to link to product and sales pages, because there's little reason to ever link to them. The majority link to information content so you need to create compelling informational content.

Your blog and news section are the most likely parts of your site to attract links. Think about who you're writing for and who would be interested in the content in those sections. Figure out where you can reach those people and then build a presence in those places. Promote your content in front of those people and in time they'll subscribe to and link to your content.

[BetterBusinessFunding]

Gotcha - thanks for the advice. I'm trying to learn as I go.

[SnellExperts]

What do you mean by "reciprocal" backlinks? I know usually articles with relevant content to your keywords is a good place to start as far as back linking. There are tons of sites that offer distribution like that for free, so its an easy and cost effective way of spreading quality back links.

[vangogh]

Reciprocal links are when 2 web pages each link to the other. In years past search success was tied to more links. Whoever had the most did the best, regardless of the quality of the link. So people would trade links with each other. The problem was that there was little thought to where the links were pointing so lots of sites ended up with pages of links pointing to random places.

It was also clearly an attempt to manipulate search ranking, which search engines didn't like. They can now detect reciprocal linking and discount the links or in the worst cases penalize a site. Also winning the rankings game is no longer about getting more links at all costs. Quality trumps quantity. So the site that manages to acquire a handful of good links will usually rank ahead of the site that builds a large quantity of low quality links. Reciprocal links tend to fall into the lower (or no) quality category.

[DeniseTaylor]

Hi

The best strategy for backlinks is one that is diversified. Choosing one or a few types of links and focusing on those can be detrimental to your site's health (example: those who overused article marketing lost much of their rankings when Panda wiped out article sites this year).

Lesson learned: don't depend on one kind of link.

High quality, original content is your best generator of links because they are natural. Making your site as high quality as possible is the best, safest strategy.

[vangogh]

High quality, original content is your best generator of links

Yep. That's absolutely the best way to acquire links. I think too many people focus on the link building without giving consideration what they're actually driving links to. If the content is bad then the links don't really matter since it will drive people away as soon as they arrive.

You can't just build it and think they will come. Some promotion is necessary, but if you start out with the idea of creating the best content you can then others will think it good too and they'll want to recommend it to the people they know without you having to ask.

[SnellExperts]

Reciprocal links are when 2 web pages each link to the other. In years past search success was tied to more links. Whoever had the most did the best, regardless of the quality of the link. So people would trade links with each other. The problem was that there was little thought to where the links were pointing so lots of sites ended up with pages of links pointing to random places.

It was also clearly an attempt to manipulate search ranking, which search engines didn't like. They can now detect reciprocal linking and discount the links or in the worst cases penalize a site. Also winning the rankings game is no longer about getting more links at all costs. Quality trumps quantity. So the site that manages to acquire a handful of good links will usually rank ahead of the site that builds a large quantity of low quality links. Reciprocal links tend to fall into the lower (or no) quality category.

So are link wheels an example of this?

[Business Attorney]

So are link wheels an example of this?

It depends on what "this" is. A link wheel, in its purest form, avoids reciprocal linking, so if "this" means reciprocal linking, the answer is no.

If by "this" you mean "an attempt to manipulate search ranking" then the answer is yes. A link wheel is just another way that a website puts its efforts into building its own self-serving links from controlled sites rather than spending the same effort to build good content which will attract links organically.

[vangogh]

Yep, just what David said. The idea behind a link wheel is to exchange links with people, but not have the link exchange be directly 1:1 in order to make it harder to detect. Site 1 links to site 2 which links to site 3 and then site 3 links back to site 1. No two sites are directly linking to each other so there's no direct reciprocal linking involved, but it's still the same attempt at manipulation. Reciprocal linking is actually a link wheel with only 2 players involved. The thinking behind the link wheel is that the more sites involved in the wheel the harder it is to detect.

However once you figure out any part of the wheel is involved in search manipulation all the other spokes on the wheel are easily detected. It's best to avoid.

[billbenson]

The webmasters that build lots of sites, product sites, affiliate sites etc. did that for a while when google could only detect direct reciprical links. It didn't take long after that for Google to figure those out as well. Remember Google is also a domain registrar and looks at your whois information in determining link spam. If a group of domain owners, or similar ip's etc has linking between sites Google will detect it. All of the professional webmasters who did this sort of thing years ago don't do it. They don't think much of directories or buying links either. Those days are gone. Stick to good content and natural links.

[J from Michigan]

I give those of you who do SEO professionally credit... I bet it's tough.
As a single site owner, I couldn't imagine having to do 10-20-100 times what it takes for ME alone.

- what I DON'T give credit to, is the spammers with their automated "thanks for good post, me much appreciate" posts on forums.

[vangogh]

The tough part is that it's a lot of ongoing work. I think a lot of people see seo as make a few changes on the site and place the magic words in the magic places and the riches will come. Unfortunately it doesn't work that way. It's really just marketing or rather a subset of marketing. There are some technical things you need to know and do on your site, but after that it's not that different from marketing.

Where most go wrong is in their approach. People look for the silver bullet that will bring them instant success instead of seeing it as the longer term commitment. Sadly that desire to find the magic silver bullet helps make the spammers profitable. They promise the magic bullet since many want to believe it exists they buy into it.

[J from Michigan]

"Magic Silver Bullet"- that's pretty much it.
I get a lot of calls and emails soliciting that Silver Bullet.
I think they assume that since I run a [insert small business here] company, I would have no clue what they are up to.

[vangogh]

Sadly those are the people most likely to contact you. I don't think it's entirely their fault though. It's also sad that there are a lot of people looking for the magic bullet, enough to make a large market that makes it cost effective to send out the spam emails. I get the same emails and I sometimes want to reply to ask if they ever looked at my site to realize what kind of work I do.

[AshleyWhiteBusiness]

It is sad to know that reciprocal linking do not work anymore.

[vangogh]

It is sad to know that reciprocal linking do not work anymore.

Why is it sad? The links we're talking about aren't helpful to real people. They exist solely to manipulate search rankings. I'd much rather visit a site that links out to useful things than a site that links to anything that links back. Devaluing reciprocal links was a good decision by search engines.

[billbenson]

Why is it sad? The links we're talking about aren't helpful to real people. They exist solely to manipulate search rankings. I'd much rather visit a site that links out to useful things than a site that links to anything that links back. Devaluing reciprocal links was a good decision by search engines.

That's exactly what I was thinking.

[vangogh]

Yeah, to me it's a good thing. Regardless of how search engines see links, the idea behind a link is to recommend something to the people.

[greenoak]

last year ,swapping links was mainstream advice in many many places...thus a big goal for lots of businesses.... we never went there...so i guess that was a good move...

[billbenson]

ann, it's been quite a few years now since link exchanges were a good way of improving site placement. That's why you need to study and be careful of what people are telling you. I'm sure there are people out there with sites that rank high and got there 5 years ago doing recip links. The thing they don't tell you and may not even know, is that the reason they are still ranking well is they have a domain that has been around for years and over the years they have built up good content.

[greenoak]

i heard it alot and never did it....in your world it might have been obvious long before it filtered down to the non tekkie world....but whatever, i never bought into it, as i said....
. what you descrilbe is how our site has grown....good content..organic growth...and longevity..
.now the same idea is moving around on facebook...a popular idea ~~you like my page and i like yours.... and maybe your like list grows , imho, but you end up with a lot who arent really what you are hoping for...