Should you always link back?
-
I am asking this for two reasons:
- Courtesy: Is it common courtesy to reciprocate with a link back if somebody has linked to your site?
- SEO: Does linking back affect your rankings at all?
A blog has linked to one of my clients' sites as part of a round-up of "top 100 best" within their industry. They have also sent us an email suggesting that we add a link from our site saying that we've been listed. Of course, I understand that it is in my clients' interest for us to advertise on their site that they've been listed in a Top 100 list...
However, it got me thinking (as more of a general question) - does reciprocating a link ever affect it's value at all?
ie. Is two-way linking ever considered part of a link exchange in the eyes of Google, and does it penalize you at all for that?
-
I agree.
The company that contacted you is doing something called ego bait. When ego bait is done well it can be very effective. Their goal is to write something about industry leaders and then hope that the industry leaders like it enough that they link back to it. But, actually asking you for a link in return is kind of sad IMO.
Personally I would probably not link back but it depends on the source. If the Wall Street Journal wrote about the 100 best websites in my niche and I was included I would write a whole blog post about the fact that I was included! But if a site made a list of 100 websites, and asked me to link back to them then I would treat that as a glorified reciprocal link exchange request. I might possibly tweet about it depending on how good the quality was.
-
Whenever I see one of these "100 best websites" lists, the cynical part of me (95%?) suspects that someone is link building and looking to get 100 relevant links to their site.
Take a good look at this list with a discerning eye. Are these really the best 100 sites? Do you or they really deserve to be listed? Does the person/site/business building the list have any authority to make the judgement in the first place?
If a reputable trade journal had an article on the top 5 businesses in your niche and you were one then it would be significantly more valuable than a small website that nobody has heard of trying to get some links!
From an SEO perspective, if you want to look at two was linking such as the 100 best listing, then also think about the value of the link. What's the page authority of the linking page and how many links is this being spread across (100+). Then think about the one link you're going to provide back - is that worth more?
Are you going to get any direct traffic from this list? Is it being promoted? Is it on a well known, high traffic site?
It's quite common for businesses/sites to have two-way links for example where a legitimate relationship between the sites (this can be many things, such as topic, industry, shared market demographic, business relationship for example supplier/customer) This is something the happens naturally (just look at the big SEO sites and how they link to each other in their blog posts etc...)
What you need to be cautious of are those link opportunities that require or ask for link just for the sake of getting the link.
<object id="plugin0" style="position: absolute; z-index: 1000;" width="0" height="0" type="application/x-dgnria"><param name="tabId" value="ff-tab-23"> <param name="counter" value="854"></object>
-
It is perfectly OKAYED as long as you are not doing it with some malicious intention in mind to manipulate the ranking of the SERP. However, if you are concerned that Google might take it otherwise, you can apply no follow attribute against the links. Believe me no animals will be harmed [just kidding]. However, what I believe is that when you are doing it with the sole intention of sharing something interesting with your visitors, there is nothing wrong with it. Just do not go extreme and start offering 10 or 15 links to any websites that come your way.
-
Wired,
One of my own websites lists camping sites in the netherlands. In return for a free page we ask them the enlist our website on theirs. From our guestpage we make for them we'll link to their website. Never before has this harmed our website but rather is has improved our site.
Not only do you need to think about search engines but more about users that come across a website. Is this resource usefull for the visitor of that site? Yes? Then you should link back to them. Is it truly an Honour to be in their top 100 sites? Yes, then you should embed something something like a badge or something on your site linking to the top 100 to prove that you are true.
So question 1: Is it common courtesy to reciprocate with a link back if someone has linked to your site? ONLY if you think it will help your visitor or if you need to prove something (for instance that you are telling the truth or something)
Question 2: Does linking back affect seo rankings at all? Yes, it does. A link on a page pointing to another website is a vote for that website. Should you always insert a link back for Seo purposes only? No way..
Remember that Google is trying to index websites more and more humane as they probably can. Does a link to a site that is already pointing to your website harmful? Not per definition. Is it useful? Not per definition. It all depends and your visitor. Start out by imagining that you are a blank visitor on your site and try to find out if a reciprocal link is useful or not. If so, you should embed it in your site.
If you have any questions please ask.
Hope this helps
Kind regards
Jarno
-
Hi Wired,
I leave my thoughts on the subject.
It would be difficult to try and link to every site that links to you, and you wouldn't want to do that anyway from an SEO perspective unless maybe you were a search engine of some kind...
I try to look at these things from the users perspective first, then a SEO perspective. From a users perspective is there any value to link to the website linking to you? If so, and you have a natural place to add the link it would be fair, if not then don't, and if you're so inclined let them know why you decided not to add their link. The idea is to appreciate the link they gave you, while maintaining focus on the users.
As far as a this sort of thing getting dinged by Google, I highly doubt it. Yes, it technically is a link exchange but the point of the exchange isn't to manipulate search ratings rather to help each sites users. In most cases when its all said in done, if you look at things this way and follow SEO basics it is hard to go wrong.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Linking between properties
I own 3 domains. One is my blog, one is my photography business site, and one is my graphic/web design site. They are all hosted on the same VPS account. I link between each site. Also, since the links are either in the nav, footer or sidebar, all pages from one page link to the homepage of each other. Is this an issue for SEO? Should I not be doing this? Would it be beneficial to use a no follow link instead if I'm to keep them?
Link Building | | studio35design0 -
Blogspot links valuable?
I've had quite a few requests recently from bloggers on blogspot requesting to post my content. Are these links valuable post panda/penguin? I see blogspot has a domain authority of 68. Are these links even dofollow?
Link Building | | SamCUK0 -
Sidebar Links
If I have x number of posts with sidebar having popular posts. Will each post acts as a link to popular posts? or will be penalized for site wide links? Thanks, Venkee
Link Building | | Venkee0 -
Link building
i want to ask a question. i am sure this is kind black hat seo. look at this web site http://www.199999dollars.com/ if we also create website like this and put a banner as domain for sale and in the footer put back links to our domain ? thanks
Link Building | | idreams0 -
Link Building....confused!
Hi Guys, I'm after some advise please. We have a client who offers self catering accommodation to let on his website. We are looking at ways to increase links to his site and one idea we had was to possibly affiliate ourselves with local companies within the areas of the specific accommodation. Our client is looking to partner with local business's in each area of said accommodation (probably two of each kind) and then send the details of these business' with whatever special deals they will offer customers on every confirmation that goes out to the clients. Obviously, in return, these business' will then link to Room-B. What I'm trying to find out is if linking to partners via an email delivered from thewebsite is safe in terms of link juice: it's important that Google doesn't index any outbound links to partners from us at all. Any advise would be greatly appreciated! Thanks
Link Building | | SoundinTheory0 -
.edu links
Hi mozzers, I've had some great success reaching out to many .edu webmasters. Often they are professors and such. My question is, i'm guessing during the summer holiday period, reaching out to these webmasters won't be so fruitful. I'm not in the US and was wondering when the US Summer holidays are for universities over there? Also, does anyone have experience outreaching to these webmasters over the holidays? Peter
Link Building | | PeterM221 -
Panda Update: Isn't a link still a link?
I was doing some link building and some SEO's said that the Panda update affected many websites. I am going to use eZineArticles.com as my example. EzineArticles was affected by the Panda update and does not show up in the SERPs as much as before. But they still have doFollow Links coming from the articles I am submitting. QUESTION: Regardless if EzineArticles was affected by the Panda Update, isn't a "Follow Link" still a "Follow Link" OR am I completely wasting my time on this devalued website? Edit: Yes I know a PR 0 page is not as valuable as a PR 9 page. I am asking from the standpoint of the affected Panda Update domains overall.
Link Building | | Francisco_Meza0