Should you always link back?

[WiredCanvas]

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?

[MarieHaynes]

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.

[DougRoberts]

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.

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[Debdulal]

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.

[JarnoNijzing]

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

[donford]

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.