I was wondering, if websites are doing reciprocal links any more!

I am requesting for reciprocal links in many sites but getting almost no reply.


What is your feedback?

Oh, they still happen, but they don't confer any benefit, cost you traffic, risk you linking to a bad neighborhood, and violate Google's webmaster guidelines.

Yep, reciprocal links are still happening...but requesting through e-mails are always ignored...the best is posting in forums and joining reputable link exchange sites...

but absolutely NO link exchange PM spamming allowed here

I used to make 3 way linking: a to B and B to C.

Oh, and would be better to be contextual.

it's better if you ask for a link exchange but not through email.

I don't think these are the kiss of death, but they're also not helpful for SE reasons.

I have two sites. One, we'll call A, is my personal site, portfolio, stuff like that, mostly there to feed my ego, while B is trying to get people to commission me to shoot their portrait. A links to B, and I need to make B link to A. People who find my personal site, if they happen to be in my area, might want to look into having a photo like these created of them. People on B should see my other work, so linking back to A is like showing a resume.

But I would be doing the recip links in that particular case if there were no search engines ... in fact, I think they would be more useful in that case. They're on different servers ( read: IP addresses ) only because I don't want any traffic to B slowing down A.

Originally Posted by psylocke

it's better if you ask for a link exchange but not through email.

So what is the best possible way for doing reciprocal link exchange?

The best way is to build a quality site that people naturally want to link to, and when you notice this from a site you like and think your visitors would also enjoy, you link back to them.

yes, it is still use by webmasters but maybe the reason why you can't have some link partners is that your site is not related to most site handled by people in here or your site is not that good for them...

Originally Posted by jontu

So what is the best possible way for doing reciprocal link exchange?

do what paladin said.

Get yourself a couple of websites besides your main website. Put links on those 2 websites and let the websites link to your main website in exchange.

As everybody said, request on some forum is the fastest way.

Originally Posted by Juggernaut

Get yourself a couple of websites besides your main website. Put links on those 2 websites and let the websites link to your main website in exchange.

We're talking about the best way to get links, not the best way to get banned from Google.

reciprocal linking is almost dead... Google now values one way linking more than reciprocal

I think two way reciprocal links do not bring any ranking benefit in SE, but do not cause penalization or ban either.

jontu: if you made a reciprocal link request to me, I'd either laugh at you or I'd screw with your head.

Why?

Because good sites get links without having to ask for them. I link openly to sites that are of use. And people link to my sites. That's "reciprocal link exchange" in its purest form...I help users, and users help me in turn.

Silly link exchange requests accomplish nothing in that regard.

If I get an email begging for a link exchange, 99 % of the time I hit spam without opening it. When I find a good site, and it makes sense for my visitors to be aware of it, I give the site a link. It hasn't happened, but I'm not writing off the possibility that I could find out about a new site through a personal email from its owner. I get a lot of emails from people who live in the Rockies or California, or are going there, and want advice on when to visit what parts of which mountains. If I had a blog, I'd run a section like Adam's site of the week.

There's a huge difference between semi-unsolicited email and spam. I have a photo of a wood duck, pretty and colorful, and got an email once from an old lady in Omaha ... I think? ... saying how she used to see them every fall when she was a kid, and they haven't come around in decades, and that it lifted her spirits to see one and know the wood ducks are still doing their thing. That was it. If someone took that approach to ask for a link to a site about the history of bird watching I wouldn't be interested, but if someone had a non-profit site about ways people can lessen their impact on the environment, I'd consider linking to it, certainly at least give them a bit of advice.

Google is not going to penalize you for doing recyprocal links. Anyway, why don't you try submitting to directories that are just beggining, they always let you add your link without asking for a recyprocal

blogginginc you may want to rethink the idea that Google won't penalize for reciprocal linking. In most case of irrelevant reciprocal linking they'll probably just not count the links, but sometimes they may penalize an entire industry like the way they penalized real estate sites for reciprocal linking.

I'm not saying this will happen to everyone who exchanges links, but you shouldn't try to exchange links with any site that will link back to you.