If you’re looking to increase your website traffic, one method you may want to consider is SEO link exchange. In a nutshell, this involves partnering with other websites in your industry or niche and exchanging links with them. This can be a great way to get more exposure for your site and attract new visitors. Of course, as with anything related to SEO, there are some things you need to keep in mind if you want to make the most of link exchange.

In this blog post, we’ll give you some tips on how to approach an SEO link exchange so that it benefits both parties involved and helps boost your website’s traffic!

What is SEO Link Exchange?

A link-building strategy is when two or more websites agree to share links. This is usually done through guest blogging and content creation.

In simpler terms, link exchanges, or reciprocal linking, is when one website links to another in return for the other linking to them.

According to an Ahrefs study of 1,000,000+ websites, 73.6% of them have reciprocal backlinks.

Many websites and online businesses out there are requesting links from other websites in exchange for links to their own.

We understand that exchanging both incoming and outgoing links is a popular link-building technique, but we don’t know if it’s a good practice.

So what’s wrong with it?

Is Link Exchange a Sound Strategy?

Most search engine optimization experts will advise against exchanging links, especially those that aren’t well-versed in the ways of building backlinks. This can be seen as manipulative by search engine algorithms and may result in a penalty.

But, as I’ve seen firsthand, the landscape of search is constantly changing and those involved at the highest levels of search engine optimization (SEO) will look for ways to take advantage where they can.

This technique can work wonders for landing some high-quality, authoritative links.

Private Influencer Networks

A few years back, popular blogger and SEO expert, Glenn Allsopp, wrote a very popular article about building links privately.

It talks about how some large companies like Cosmopolitan and Marie Claire are using private influencer networks for link building.

Glenn’s graphic illustrates how some of the internet’s biggest tech publications have risen together by exchanging backlinks with one another regularly. This shows how helpful these types of networks can be for boosting rankings.

Glenn showed how major publications helped each other by exchanging links to boost their rankings.

What if there was a group of websites that all linked indirectly to each other? The ultimate goal would be for all the sites in the group to grow together.

This is a pretty advanced method of swapping links and I found Glenn’s insight to be pretty groundbreaking. It’s something to think about if you’re looking for ways to grow your website.

From my own experiences in link-building and talking with content creators in just about every industry, I can say that big companies are implementing some very similar tactics, but in lower key ways.

What is Google’s Take?

The guidelines that Google has laid out for webmasters are clear: Excessive linking is against their rules. But it’s interesting to see that they use language like “excessive” and “rules”.

Even Google is aware that it’s normal for sites to naturally link together. If a friend of mine were in the marketing industry, I’d definitely be linking to them.

If I were organizing a trade show, I would make sure my sponsors and vendors had links back to my website. This is common practice and helps both my vendors and myself.

Link exchanges are common when businesses mutually benefit from each other.

When to Avoid Link Exchange?

Link exchanges can be great for your search engine optimization, but they can also bring negative effects.

Link exchanges were all the rage in 2010, but in 2022, we’ll be doing them differently.

Primarily, avoid doing link exchanges on sites that:

• Are far from your target niche or content: Meaning, if someone with a marketing site wants to exchange with your gardening product site—it’s probably best to pass. Take a look at the type of content to see if it’s at least a close to the story you’re telling (and take a look at quality while you’re reviewing the content).
• Seem to place a lot of links each day/week/month: PBNs are all the rage nowadays, but they exist. And often these sites disguise themselves very well. One way to tell if you’ve got a link farm is by checking how many links they’ve received and given over the past few months. To do this, use a tool like Ahrefs, SEMrush, or others.
• Are sites primarily focused on sourcing content (not creating it themselves): If more than 50% of the content on the site wanting to link to you is from someone else (guest and sponsored posts), then you may want to steer clear.

How Reciprocal Links Benefit Your SEO Strategy

Links are an essential part of a successful search engine optimization (SEO) campaign. Even link exchanges can be advantageous when used correctly.

The goal is to enhance the customer experience while on the website.

Here are the main benefits of using backlinks for your search engine optimization.

Enhance Customer Experience

Reciprocal links, or links to your partners, can improve the user experience on your site.

Linking to other sites will help increase your engagement, which will get noticed by search engines.

Establish Authority

Reciprocal linking is when you link to other websites and they link back to you. This can help you gain the trust of others and increase your credibility.

Giving your customers and prospective customers access to more relevant content shows them that you understand them and their problems and that you’re confident in what you offer them.

Search engines like Google can recognize this, so moving up in search results becomes easier.

NOTE: Interlinking between posts on your own site is a great way to improve topical authority, especially if you target a number of similar ideas and informational keywords around a particular subject.

Increase Web Traffic

Links to your site can introduce your brand to new customers, who may not have otherwise heard of you.

Increasing traffic to your website is another way that tells Google and other search engine algorithms that your business is gaining popularity. This increases your ranking on search results pages.

While links from other websites can boost your search engine ranking, they are not the only factor that determines your rank.

Linking to helpful resources can help your customers and potential clients, and this, in turn, can have a positive effect on your engagement, which will have a positive effect on your search engine rankings.

Conclusion

If you’re looking to increase your website traffic, one method you may want to consider is SEO link exchange. In a nutshell, this involves partnering with other websites in your industry or niche and exchanging links with them. This can be a great way to get more exposure for your site and attract new visitors. Of course, as with anything related to SEO, there are some things you need to keep in mind if you want to make the most of link exchange. In this blog post, we’ve given you some tips on how to approach SEO link exchange so that it benefits both parties involved and helps boost your website’s traffic!