Reciprocal links are also known as “traded” or “exchanged” links. They used to be very popular, but the popularity faded over the years. Even though they aren’t as popular, they are still commonly used. They are different than they used to be since their evolution follows the evolution of search engines. The fact that they didn’t die out shows that they are useful and that you can still benefit from them. Here, you’ll have the opportunity to see their history and their benefits for your search engine rankings.
SEO techniques in the past
When SEO techniques weren’t this developed, the big division was into “white hat” and “black hat” categories. When it comes to white hat SEO, the kind of linking to relevant authority websites is included. All of the links are built in an authentic strategic way. The problem with this was that websites would take advantage and rank for popular keywords. They wouldn’t add any values to the engine user. Because this approach to SEO was so simple, it wasn’t hard to take advantage of it.
This is why black hat techniques would result in pages of little value, which stopped them from achieving a higher rank in SERPs. Some of the most common black hats techniques were keyword stuffing, page swapping, and using invisible text to increase keyword density. On the bright side, Google has adapted and the situation is different today. Google, as well as other search engines, are have mastered catching black hat techniques and penalizing the users of such techniques. Reciprocal links have always had a special position in the division.
Follow vs. no-follow links
You can choose whether you want backlinks within your content. If you want to direct the search engines to follow the backlinks within your content, you can do it easily through "no-follow" HTML tags. You can also do it through the blog plugin or marketing automation software. Once you choose the “no-follow” tags, search engines shouldn’t index that link.
On the other hand, if you choose “follow links”, your SEO will benefit. When you’re writing blog posts, if you backlink to external sites, you should use “follow” links. If you want to avoid too many backlinks, then choose the “no-follow” option. This way, you won’t let the search engine see this as an SEO tactic. When it comes to ad links or some irrelevant to your content links, “no-follow” is still the right choice.
What is reciprocal linking?
When it comes to reciprocal linking, it represents an agreement between two webmasters to link each other's websites. The aim of such an agreement is for both parties to increase their search rankings. The situation with reciprocal linking has changed over the years. Before, it was possible to purchase backlinks on higher authority sites. Since search engines have evolved in the meantime and they can now spot inauthentic linking methods, this practice has lost its popularity.
After Google has introduced its algorithm that obliterates the spamming of webpages with links to increase rankings, both paid and unpaid linking has changed and adjusted to the new algorithm. This is exactly why “follow” and “no-follow” links are important. If you want to drive more traffic to your site, consider affiliate linking. Using this kind of linking, a webmaster pays the commission to people who backlink to their site.
Is reciprocal linking good or bad for SEO?
Even though the practice of reciprocal linking seems to die out, it’s still very useful and it shouldn’t be disregarded. Since the search engine rules have changed, the SEO techniques had to change too. This, in no case, means that this kind of linking has disappeared. It has just adjusted to the new rules. Avoiding penalties from the search engines is a priority and it’s exactly what webmasters are trying to do.
What you should consider when it comes to search engine ranking is how relevant is the information, are your content and web page elements of high quality, and what is the situation with the authority. If you make sure to follow these guidelines, you’ll have no trouble in creating content. Make your content valuable and update regularly to keep this agreement working. Anchor texts are also very important for linking strategies. Once search engines start crawling your page, they will be very interested in the relevancy of the links to the content.
How to use reciprocal links
Quality SEO in Melbourne is not at all hard to find. If you decide to invest some time in building reciprocal links, do it with authority sites that are relevant to your website and that are creating high-value content. Don't forget the high ranking either. For start, identify the authority sites within your niche and check whether they would like to backlink to your page. This way, you’ll easily start practising good link building.
You can start by creating a report that you will later email another webmaster. All you need to do is make sure that the link is valuable and useful for blog posts of the webmaster you’re emailing. You can even include that you have already backlinked some of the content that you've found valuable. Choose the sites or pages based on their ranking. You will definitely benefit more from a higher authority page or site than you would from a lower one. One of the most important things to keep in mind is that relevancy is crucial. Your backlinks should be relevant to the reader, they should be relevant to your content, and they should be relevant to your website. If you just remember this and find some high authority pages to backlink, your future will be much brighter when it comes to search engine rankings.
Conclusion
If you want to increase your rankings on search engines, it really isn’t that hard. You should just keep in mind that search engines keep evolving and that your linking strategies should too. You should follow the latest changes and updates and act accordingly. If you do this, you’ll always be successful in your SEO rankings.
