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What Is Link Trading  or  Reciprocal Linking?

Link trading, sometimes called reciprocal linking is a web promotion strategy used by webmasters and site owners to increase qualified traffic to their sites.   Webmasters search the Internet for other websites that have the same type of visitors and contact those site's webmasters by email requesting a link trade.   If a site's webmaster agrees to the trade, they then link to each other's websites in order to share traffic.

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How Search Engines Work:  

Search engines don't actually search the web every time you ask them to find a topic:  Most search engines create a data base by examining the web sites submitted to them.   They may also find you on the web on their own.   They search each submitted web site (and the other sites they find) and add data to their own computer files.  (Some search engines, such as Google use a slightly different approach)    Technically, the process is called spidering.   

When you go to a web directory and type in a word such as "Wedding officiant" and then click search, the search engines don't actually go out onto the web looking for anything.   They merely search their own data base.   

So, if you have not submitted your web site to that search engine and your web site has  not been spidered, no resultant data is in their data base.  You  can search all day and you'll never be found.  

You can have the world's greatest web site, but unless  you have some connection to other web sites or are listed in some search engine data bases, your presence on the Internet is invisible.

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Some (Not Very) Technical Stuff:  

1)  Use Words Not Pictures:   When you actually do create your links, use an HTML text link (say it in words)  rather that using a graphics link (images such as your logo).   Why?   Because the search engines simply do not recognize text contained in graphics.   They read  HTML text, so if you want to be noticed, speak in HTML language.   

2)   Special Links Page:   Because the intention is to play win/win, we suggest that you set up a special links page and have a clear link on your homepage directing viewers to your links page.   Ask that those with whom you exchange links to do likewise.  

For most businesses on the web, there is actually no shortage of customers.  The problem is usually that too few potential customers are viewing your web site.   So playing win/win via reciprocal links can be a big financial boost to everyone involved.   

3)   Invitation Page:  On  your own website, create add an "Invitation to Links with Us" page and invite others to exchange links.   Be sure to add a link on your home page to your invitation page.    

4)    Promote Links:   Promote your specific Reciprocal Links Page URL address in all the major search engines.  Add  Title, Description and Keywords to your links page, then when the search engines spider your web site, your interest in exchanging links will be part of the data in the search engine files.

In your browser (such as Firefox) look in the View menu and click on Source.   This will show you the html formatting for the page you are viewing.   At the top of the page, you can see the Title, Description, and Keywords used by the creator of that page.   Use these as examples of what you can also do.

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Priority listings:  One of the factors that places a web site higher up in some of the search engine lists is the number of links it has  from other web sites.   Every major search engine uses link analysis as part of their ranking algorithms.    So setting up a reciprocal links page and linking with other web sites will help you to get a better listing position in the search engines.   The more relevant links you have, the more traffic you have, so the more relevant links the better.

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Appropriate links:  Be sure that the sites you link to are appropriate for your website.  Search engine link analysis is not about getting lots of links from just  anywhere.    It's about getting links from good web pages that are related to the topics for which you want to be found.

For example linking a fishing gear website to a knitting circle web site would not be appropriate.   For example, on our websites offering  Wedding services we direct our attention  to a specific audience.   Be particularly sensitive if you are dealing in adults products.

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Compare Link Exchanging with Search Engines:

Speed:  Search Engines take weeks or even months to get your web site data into place where web surfers can find you.   

Link  exchanges can be completely set up and fully functional 
within a single day.

Cost:  Search engines range from free to about $200 per year.  

Link exchanges are completely free.

Making Changes:  If you make any significant changes in your website description, title, key words, or to the site itself, you have to re-submit your site to all the search engines and then your looking at another wait of weeks or months before they reflect those changes.  

Make changes within your site has no affect on how your reciprocal links function.  The changes on your site are  visible to viewers  as soon as you upload them.

Time Involved:   There are literally dozens of search engines,  so you can spend hours submitting and re-submitting your site.  ( And if your not technically minded, you  could be measuring the time in days, not hours.)   Then in a couple of months you need to do the whole thing all over again.   

Some site submissions will trigger responses that require technical answers or answers that confuse people.   This can be a stone wall between you and your customers.  If you get too technical or too confusing you'll turn off unsophisticated people and lose links    Losing links  equals no listing equals no site viewers equals no sales equals no profits.  Avoid this problem  by including an explanation and a "How to. . ." regarding anything that might be confusing.    

After you have you links page set up, link exchanges can be done in a matter of minutes.  Minimum technical knowledge is involved, AND  YOU  ONLY  DO  EACH  LINK  ONLY ONCE !    

A follow up every few months is a good idea, also because this keeps dead links off your site and insures that the other side of your link exchange is still active.

Who's in Charge:   With a search engine, a mainframe computer somewhere or some unknown technician is in control.    Your site may be rejected for a reason that you could easily rectify, but you'll never know if or when or why your site was rejected.  After all the waiting, it simply won't show up.

With link exchanges, you  and one other person communicate via e-mail are the only two people involved.   By mutual agreement, you decide what you want to do and how to do it.

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