Calgary-Internet-Marketing

I keep getting e-mails on behalf of companies who are notifying me that one of my websites has just been added to their long list of on site links. It happens a lot. About 4 or 5 times a week.

Each message is similar. They tell me that a link has been placed on their website and that they would like me to reciprocate by adding a link to their website on mine. They inform me that it will be mutually beneficial and help improve my page rank as well as increase traffic.

Correct me if I am wrong, but reciprocal linking was removed by most search engines as a determining factor for the value of websites a couple of years ago because it was obvious that companies were selling the service to anyone who would buy it with no consideration of  a website’s quality or actual  value for searches. I have read that Google actually sees reciprocal linking as a negative.

For a while I would reply back telling the contact my theories on reciprocal linking and suggesting some more creative  linking approaches. To date only one has ever replied and agreed to a more effective linking strategy. They generally do not reply at all and that makes me suspicious. I always reply to everyone who contacts me with important news or responds to an email I have sent to  them.

Who are these people?

I think they are representatives for so called professional SEO companies who must still be selling the old reciprocal link scam to unsuspecting website owners who don’t know that it is outdated and not benefiting them at all.

So, if you are getting messages from people who have added a link to your website to their websites and want you to reciprocate, you need to check them out. Here are a couple of things you can do.

1. Find out the page rank of their site and the page you have been added to.  If it is lower than your current page rank, it is of no value for you to be added to their site.
2. Email them asking them why they are looking for reciprocal links when they are of no value. Ask if there are other sites you can add instead to create a 3 or 4 way link arrangement.
3. Make certain the page you were added to is connected through links from their main pages and not hidden with no connection to the site. I have seen this as well.

Or simply ignore them.

If you would like to find out how to effectively run a link campaign that will benefit your page rank and search engine performance feel free to contact us for as free evaluation.