Link exchange is a method of exchanging backlinks with another website. The purpose of exchanging links with others is to improve SEO rank or to provide more information related to the content on the webpage.
To understand what link exchange is and how it affects SEO, you must first understand how Google views link exchange.
Do link exchanges still work for SEO?
A few relevant link swaps between sites that serve the same readers are normal, but Google treats excessive link exchanges as link spam that can lower your rankings.
The Evolution of Link Exchange
In the past, linking to other websites to improve SEO rankings and the authority of a website was a legitimate SEO practice. SEO experts and website owners would build links to other websites in their space to gain page rank. Since the number of outbound links was important in the past, building links and exchanging links with others was one of the fastest methods to get to the top of the search engine results page.
The Onset of Spam Websites
However, Google and other search engines soon realized that a lot of spammy websites were popping up on the top of the search engine results page, simply building links to thousands of low-quality domains. The purpose of some of these websites was to make visitors click on any one of the hundreds of links on the web page to redirect them to another useless page.
As a result, Google changed how it ranks pages. Google launched Panda in 2011 to reward high-quality, original content and Penguin in 2012 to fight link spam, and later folded both into its core ranking systems. Google’s updates also made it harder for websites with low-quality content to reach the top of the results.
(Spam Website, Secure List)
Google’s updates also made website owners realize that spammy links could get their site demoted or dropped from search results. More importantly, SEO experts also understood that Google did not want low-quality links that were not relevant to the content on the website. For instance, if you owned a travel website and most of the outbound links on your website led to websites that had nothing to do with travel, such links were low-quality. Off-topic links like these were low-quality because they did not add value to the information on the website.
Did you know? Some links can hurt your rankings. Google says sites that break its spam policies, including its rules on link spam, may rank lower or not appear in results at all.
(8p Design)
The Era of Link Exchange Platforms
To adhere to the new Google guidelines, some webmasters began a link exchange platform. In a typical scenario, a website owner who ran a travel website would ask the owner of another travel website for backlink exchange using the link exchange platform.
The idea of a link exchange platform was to offer a seemingly authentic method to abide by the new rules of Google’s updates. The platforms seemed to work because website owners found it easier to exchange links that were not spammy and were related to their niche. However, the approach only worked until later Google updates began penalizing websites that had too many reciprocal links. A reciprocal link is an agreement between two webmasters to provide hyperlinks on each other’s website.
(Example of a link exchange platform. (Netvantage Marketing)
Google had a genuine reason to believe that such reciprocal links were damaging the purpose of providing quality content. SEO Experts explained that such link exchanges were harmful because they were mainly created for marketing reasons instead of providing relevant information that would add value to the content.
Even if such reciprocal links directed the customer to a website that would enhance the knowledge of the visitor about a certain subject, platforms that promoted such exchange of links were considered detrimental to the free flow of information. From a wider perspective of SEO, link exchange platforms didn’t make sense because link building would be restricted, which would give an unfair advantage to few people who could access these link exchanges. There were also a lot of other problems that are out of the scope of this topic. In short, Google didn’t want webmasters to subscribe to such link exchange platforms or build links just for the sake of marketing.
Does Google Really Hate Reciprocal Links?
After reading the short history of a link exchange, you would question the legitimacy of Google guidelines because exchanging links with similar websites seems practical and fair. If backlink exchange is not a good idea, how should you create backlinks that are loved by Google?
Google does not penalize every link exchange, but its spam policies list excessive link exchanges as link spam, along with buying or selling links. The spam policies name these practices:
- Excessive link exchanges (“Link to me and I’ll link to you”) or partner pages exclusively for the sake of cross-linking.
- Buying or selling links for ranking purposes.
Google emphasizes the repercussions that could result from excessive link exchange. As explained earlier, search engines don’t want link exchange platforms that will buy or sell links. Similarly, they don’t want links that are made just to be exchanged.
In simple words, it’s OK to ask another webmaster to share a link with you if the link is relevant. From an SEO perspective, if you try to build natural backlinks, reciprocal links will be only a small part of your overall links. Unless you want to spam search engines, it’s almost impossible to get a very large percentage of links from a website and ask that website to link to you. In a nutshell, trading links at scale takes a lot of time and effort.
Did you know? Google asks site owners to mark any paid or sponsored link with rel=”sponsored”.
What the Research Says About Reciprocal Links
As a rule of thumb, keep link exchanges a small part of your overall link building. In a 2019 Ahrefs study of 140,592 domains that each got more than 10,000 monthly visits from Google, 73.6% had some reciprocal links.
The same Ahrefs study found that 27.4% of those domains had at least a 15% overlap between the sites they link to and the sites that link back to them.
However, Ahrefs notes that penalized websites were likely left out of the sample from the start, so the study does not prove that link exchanges are safe.
Ahrefs ran a second study on about 10,000 searches and found that 43.7% of the 112,440 pages ranking in Google’s top 10 results had some reciprocal links.
The Ahrefs results show correlation, not proof: those pages may rank in spite of their reciprocal links, not because of them. Some reciprocal links happen naturally when related sites link to each other, but a link swap made only to rank still breaks Google’s rules.
To lower your risk of a Google penalty, avoid the following three practices:
- Purchased Links
Avoid paying a webmaster to link to your page. Google’s spam policies list buying or selling links for ranking purposes as link spam, and any paid placement should carry rel=”sponsored”.
Google can also penalize a webmaster who sells links. If the website containing your link is penalized, your site may feel the after-effects. A future Google update may also catch paid links that slip through today, which can undo months of work.
- Link Exchange Websites and Link Baits
If you search Google for the best link exchange sites, you will not find relevant results, because Google and other major search engines do not endorse link exchange platforms that exchange links just for the sake of exchange. These link exchange websites do not provide any real value to the website visitors. Link exchange websites that still exist are usually already penalized or sit at the bottom of the search engine results page.
Likewise, if you get an email from an anonymous source who asks you for a link exchange, be very careful. Even a reputable website is not immune to hackers and spam. If a site you link to is hacked later, your link can send your visitors to spam or malware.
- Low-Quality Web Directories
In the old days, web directories were a common way of building links to a website. Listing your site in well-known, relevant web directories is still fine, but avoid low-quality or paid directories that will only harm your link building efforts.
So, what are the best practices for link exchange? Here are some important guidelines to help you decide if a link exchange is worth it.
When Link Exchange Makes Sense
A small number of relevant link exchanges can help your SEO when they genuinely serve your readers.
- A link exchange with a quality website can send you real visitors. A single well-placed link on a busy, relevant page can bring steady traffic over time.
- A link exchange makes sense when the other page gives your readers more information on the subject. A link to an infographic, research study or another similar resource is great because it adds value to the subject.
- A link from an authoritative, clean website helps most when its topic is relevant to your readers. Links that are only remotely relevant add little value.
- Exchanging links to other websites, which are not in direct competition with you, can provide additional traffic to your website.
Here are a few guidelines that will help you keep safe when exchanging links:
- Exchange links with websites that get steady, real visitors. Traffic is not a perfect way to judge a website, but a site’s traffic can hint at how many visitors a link may send you over time.
- Check the other website’s Domain Rating (DR), Ahrefs’ 0 to 100 score for the strength of a site’s backlinks. DR is a third-party estimate, not a Google metric, so use DR as one clue alongside relevance.
- A link exchange with a similar website can offer value to the website visitor. Before placing a link on a particular page, just make sure that it does not interfere with retaining your visitors. If you want the reader to buy a product from your website, a link to a similar website may take the potential client away from your website.
(Anchor text, Neil Patel)
You should now have a clear idea that there are no “best link exchange sites”. On the contrary, you should be concerned more about the webpage that you’re linking to. If the webpage is authoritative or it is relevant to your website, you can gain traffic and trust with search engines.
If you still want to find some great options to exchange links, here are some legitimate methods to acquire them:
Top Link Exchange Methods
Local Links
You can find several types of link exchange through local directories and websites. These local resources provide information and details about businesses in the area. Many of these local resources are trusted, which makes their links valuable. Similarly, a free Google Business Profile (formerly Google My Business) helps you show up when people nearby search for what you offer, and your profile can link to your website.
Guest Blogging
A lot of highly reputable blogs allow others to write guest blogs for them. If you’re not a writer or you don’t have the time to write, ask a freelance writer to write an article for you. Just search Google for a variety of guest blogging opportunities. Write guest posts to help the blog’s readers, not to place links: Google’s spam policies list guest posts stuffed with keyword-rich links as link spam.
Web Directories
There are many trusted business directories, and getting a link from a good directory is usually easy. Just make sure not to submit your website using link submission services, which promise automatic listing on hundreds of directories for a small fee. The problem with automatic submission is the inability of the software to submit according to the Google guidelines. The result is low-quality links. If you can, always try to link manually.
(Web directory, Search Engine Journal)
Photo Sharing
Websites such as Flickr are another great resource for getting quality links. If you allow others to use your photos using a Creative Commons License, people will link to your website by attributing your photo to your website.
Social Community Profile
If you don’t have a presence on social media, you’re missing out on lucrative marketing opportunities. Even if you have no intention to market your products using social media, it helps to maintain a passive presence on major social media channels to promote brand awareness. Social media profiles that show a few of your products give people another way to find your website and link to it.
Blog Comments
Savvy website owners use blogs to get traffic to their websites. Try to comment on a blog that also lets you create a profile. If you can share a piece of good advice, lots of people will click on your profile and may visit your website. Sometimes, blogs also allow you to leave a link under your comments, but Google’s spam policies list blog comment spam, so leave a link only when it truly helps. Thoughtful comments on reputable blogs can bring a steady trickle of visitors over time.
Forums and Message Boards
Just like blogs, try to participate in forums and message boards relevant to your industry. Useful posts on message boards and forums will let others know that your website exists and you’re an expert in your field.
After reading this, you should have a pretty good idea of how link exchange works. Just remember, link exchange is a byproduct of your link building efforts. Whenever you build backlinks, make sure that link exchanges and reciprocal links are only a small share of your overall links, and never trade links just to rank.
(Forum, LiveAgent)
How can diib help you check the quality of your links?
diib monitors your backlinks in one dashboard, so you can see which sites link to you and spot spammy links early.
If you are a website owner, diib can help you further your link building strategy by providing you with quality backlinks. Our services include:
- High Quality Guest Posts
- Backlink Analysis/Cleanup
- Linking you to reputable, high authority sites
At diib, we provide all the tools needed for your business to flourish. diib members can also bring questions to diibLive office hours with diib’s growth experts. Click here for a free 60 second site scan.
FAQ’s
Link building falls into two broad groups. Safe link building earns links naturally from relevant, reputable sites because your content helps their readers. Risky link building uses link schemes, such as buying links, excessive link exchanges or keyword-stuffed guest posts, which Google’s spam policies say can lower your rankings or remove your pages from results.
To find spam links, first list the sites that link to you, using the Links report in Google Search Console or a backlink tool. Then look for links from off-topic sites, link exchange networks, paid placements or hacked pages. Google’s spam policies treat links made mainly to manipulate rankings as link spam.
The best way to build links is to publish useful content, such as original research, guides or infographics, that other sites want to cite. You can also earn links from trusted local directories, relevant guest posts written for readers, and photos shared under a Creative Commons license that people credit with a link.
Internal links are links between pages on your own website. Add them inside your text where they help, linking related articles and pages together with clear, descriptive anchor text. Good internal links help visitors find more useful information and help search engines understand which pages on your site are related.
An occasional link exchange with a relevant website is normal when the link genuinely helps your readers. Google’s spam policies list excessive link exchanges, such as “link to me and I’ll link to you” deals or partner pages made only for cross-linking, as link spam. Keep reciprocal links a small part of your overall links.
