Sunday, August 30, 2009

Link Exchange: A Useful SEO Tool

By Cheryl L. True

A link exchange, swap or trade is a search engine optimization (SEO) practice which deals with exchanging links with other web sites. You can do this simply by sending an e-mail to the owner of another web site and ask for a link exchange. What happens is the person places a link to your site on his web page, typically on a links page, and expects the same thing from you.

Link popularity is one of the most essential factors that lead to a high search engine ranking. SEO experts believe that seeking the right link exchange partners will undoubtedly improve a web site's popularity. This eventually improves your search engine ranking, boosts traffic and increases your ROI (return on investment).

A link swap is a mutually beneficial SEO tool for the main reason that instead of purchasing or selling links, firms can just exchange links for their web sites. The benefits are many - improved search engine rank, big traffic volumes, and a huge potential for sales. If the links are plainly visible, both web sites will gain from improved traffic.

As there is no money involved, link swaps are as expensive as sending an e-mail - in short, they're free! Professionals will tell you that external and internal links are critical to SEO, making link swaps all the more necessary.

Unfortunately, link swaps can be very risky at times. It is not wise to randomly trade links. Before you do, keep these in mind: Exchange links only with targeted web sites and avoid sites that bear no relation to yours. Blacklisted sites are best avoided as you may find your site caught in a black hat undertow.

Don't link to or add links from link farms; these are spam sites that can create havoc on a marketing campaign. It's never wise to sacrifice an investment over a few notches on the rankings with a black hat SEO practice.

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