Moz Q&A is closed.
After more than 13 years, and tens of thousands of questions, Moz Q&A closed on 12th December 2024. Whilst we’re not completely removing the content - many posts will still be possible to view - we have locked both new posts and new replies. More details here.
Trading Backlinks a good idea?
-
New to the "backlinking" party. Wondering if its 'good practice' to trade links with other websites within a like-industry.
We've been receiving a lot of emails from other websites asking us to trade links. Is this a good link building practice anymore?
Thanks!
-
Thanks, Branagan. This is what I meant by "..a little knowledge being dangerous..." I've been reading a lot here and there (plenty here in SEOMoz) about the dangers of link exchanging and taking it as a hard and fast rule to never exchange links that is rather new due to recent Penguin updates. What I was missing was "excessive" or unnatural and that if it makes sense, is approached wisely and isn't done in bulk, it's still ok.
-
Might be worth checking that if they say they are going to link to you that they actually do so and that they leave it up. Hopefully if they are decent enough sites they wouldn't do that though...
As others have said, definitely only link with decent sites and only if it would make sense from a human point of view to do so.
Might be worth checking in GA to see if the site then refers you good traffic. It may help you decide which ones to link with in the future.
I wouldn't go mad with exchanges though.
-
Hi Gina, If it isn't clear enough in the comments, check the first video I posted and the sixth point in this one:
10 Myths That Scare SEOs But Shouldn't
Cheers!
-
Jumping in here with some confusion and probably an example of a little bit of knowledge being dangerous. Can someone please explain this to me? I thought that complimentary link exchanging has become a no- no. What am I misunderstanding?
-
If it makes sense to put their link on your site, then go for it. If it fits naturally and isn't out of place, then yes. Otherwise, no.
Basically just use your common sense. If it looks spammy on your site, don't use it.
Also, avoid having a page full of links. That's a huge red flag and could end up hurting you. And if they are putting your link on a similar page, you are better off without it.
-
I never really do link exchanges unless they are part of a blog post. Also, I don't link to sub-par websites or unrelated websites. It's okay to link to another site and they link to you. One example is I have my BBB Membership page point to my site and I point many links from my site to that single BBB Page.
Look at the site you are going to link to and ask yourself, "Can this potentially cause a problem in the future? What's the risk?" I have turned down MANY sites wanting to link exchange, but if they are willing to write a high quality guest blog post, then I'm fine with it whether I get a back link from their site or not.
-
Trading links with other quality sites in your niche is a great way to get links. Just make sure the sites you're linking to are high quality (not spammy, have pagerank, aren't using shady link tactics). A quick backlink check of the sites using OSE or Majestic is probably a good idea.
I usually like to put together a "Partners" or "Resources" page where I add all the links from people I trade with:
http://www.salsabythebay.com/resources/
Hopefully you can use the initial link exchange to begin a relationship with some of the other players in your niche, so you can collaborate on other projects too, like guest posting, interviews, etc.
-
If you exchange links with quality sites, relevant to your niche and in a useful manner from the user point of view, you should be on the safe side and could probably benefit from it.
Check out this video for more info: Whiteboard Friday - Sitewide, Reciprocal, and Directory Links
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
-
Looking strategy for Backlinks
Hi, I'm a new bee here, Just wondering if we have some good but easy strategies to get a higher rank in PA and DA?
Link Building | | BeriCollection
My Store URL is [https://bericollection.com].
We are selling Shoes, Watches and smart gadgets.
We do shipping worldwide but need help from the community.0 -
How to get rid of bad backlinks
So I noticed my rankings going down and spam score going up. So under my spam score there are over 100 links for different websites but ALL redirect to semalt.com I researched it and it says they hijacked a bunched of backlinks but don't know much more. How can I get rid of all those backlinks? I was told I could use the disavow tool but apparently that can hurt my ranking as well. The semalt.com site has no backlink to me - it looks like the pages that have/had my backlinks, they've redirected to them. For instance this is one of the links http://www.oxvideos.xyz/indianantyphotoxxx 422005fb-9240-40a4-8b65-f5b1f5079dea-image.png
Link Building | | landlwoof40 -
Blog post outreach for backlinks
Hi all, My understanding of obtaining backlinks by way of blogpost outreach is that it's best to include several outbound links to related high domain websites within blog post copy (as well as a link to the website you're marketing, obviously) such as this post https://www.scoopearth.com/why-should-you-use-royalty-free-music-for-youtube-videos/ or this one https://small-bizsense.com/how-to-create-quality-content-for-your-business/. However, I've recently read a few articles that suggest that from a human perspective only having one clear link in the copy, such as this post https://www.clichemag.com/entertainment/movies/the-benefits-of-royalty-free-cinematic-music-for-your-videos/, increases the chance of the reader visiting the site in question. I guess the thinking is that if there's only one link to be clicked on it increases the chances of click-thru, as opposed to the reader possibly clicking on another external link that's only there because of current SEO advice. So is it best to follow SEO guidelines and include several outbound links within guest blog posts, or is it better to only have the one link to your client's site (to focus the readers attention on it)?
Link Building | | JCN-SBWD0 -
I want to know about the Impact of Do-follow backlinks and No-follow backlinks for increasing DA.
Have Do-follow backlinks and No-Follow backlinks same value to increase Domain Authority in Moz? Recently, I have created 290 profile backlinks which was do-follow. But from yesterday I have seen all backlinks are no-follow now according to the decision of sites' owners. My site's DA has already increased up to 35. Will this DA fall gradually from now? Apart from it, if I have created same backlinks for my another site; will my DA be 35? Please try to clarify it. My site is: Homeworkpaper.net Thanks. Waiting for your valuable answer.
Link Building | | darrellpc1 -
Different number of backlinks (Search console - Majestic)
Hi there, I saw a notable difference between the number of backlinks from ref domains to my website in search console and majestic. I basically have two questions: why such a difference? And which tool gives me the most accurate number between these two? Thank you!
Link Building | | skrauss0 -
NoFollow & Directory Scraper Backlinks
I was wondering how important it was to remove/disavow: NoFollow backlinks - many ("buy viagra" etc). Directory backlinks - many questionable/generic directories. Obviously the focus is the equity passing links but both of the above constitute a significant proportion of backlinks to the site - I've seen that "scrapers" are seen as natural and obviously NoFollow do not pass link juice - but does the sheer number have a bearing and therefore make them equally important to address? Thanks in advance for your responses. Regards
Link Building | | National-Homebuyers0 -
Press Release Sites for Backlinks
OK, I read a previous thread about whether people found press release sites useful (specifically I am considering a reputable pay for release service). I understand the knock on press releases in this digital age (namely that no one reads them and arguably never did . . . ), but I was interested in moving the discussion in a different direction . . . Do press releases services really help a sites performance based on increased backlinking? Is there a SEO benefit to PR services? My company is a local print company. I've done quite a bit of research on my local competitors, and specifically for a couple products we would like to dominate. The good news is that it looks like the hurdle would not be terribly high to really take over the web presence with a well planned and executed website/SEO campaign. My inclination is that for a relatively small company like mine (dealing with relatively small competitors) it WOULD benefit me to pay for the sheer number of backlinks a PR program would generate. The monthly cost is frankly about the same as the cost of this site, which OF COURSE I get value from (hey moderator, how about a couple extra MOZ points for that one!) Specifically, I am looking at this for myself, but feel free to expand the question to the broader topic.
Link Building | | damon12121