Are link exchanges bad for SEO these days? Also, is adding my site to free yet relevent directory sites a bad idea?
-
I operate a computer services company in Eugene, Oregon called "Eugene Computer Geeks". We do a lot of web design, and need incoming links to my site very badly.
Lately I've been asking clients if they would link to me, but they almost always ask for a link in return.
If we exchange links, does Google penalize my site? Would the incoming link be better for SEO if I'm not linking back to the other site?
ALSO
Is it possible that manually submitting my site to free, yet relevant web directories would hurt my rankings? It's not a big deal to me if it doesn't help my rankings, as I see a benefit to having my site listed, but wanted to make sure there wasn't a chance that it would hurt my rankings. As far as I know all the directories are free from SPAM, porn, warez, or anything like that.
Thanks!
-
A couple of clarifications here. Links from .edu (as well as .gov and .mil) are often thought to have more value because not everyone can register those domains, though there is debate as to whether they do have more value or not. Anyone can obtain a .org domain, no matter what its purpose.
Here's a good post from Cyrus on the SEOmoz blog about building links with directories:
http://www.seomoz.org/blog/seo-link-directory-best-practices
-
Cameron, You have services to offer, so you should also consider writing press releases about your company and your services. There are many free press release sites as well as paid ones. Most allow a link back to your site. Most allow you to use link text. Localize your releases and you should get visitors from them. make your releases interesting. Structure them well and they will help you These are one-way links.
-
Thanks so much! Such a well-written and helpful response. I will stop with the link exchanges and save up for Yahoo Directory. Really appreciate it!
-
Thanks so much for your response! Very helpful. I wasn't sure about getting into Yahoo directory, but will save up and do it. I'll stop with the link exchanges.
I posted on craigslist for professional writers and have had a ton of responses. I want to get really good articles on my site so that people will want to link to me.
-
Hi Cameron, First of all Link exchanges are programs in which one site offers to link to another site in return for a reciprocal link.The key component of a link exchange is the _requirement _for a reciprocal link.
Link exachange is good when the page to which your linking has a high authority, trust, meaning it ranks high in search engines, which will add value to your site as well. Usually sites having the domain extension ".edu"&".org"are considered to provide high value links. However links from authoritative sites are not easy to obtain.
Link exchange is good for incoming links as it bring lots of traffics towards your website and it does helps to navigate from one site to other to find valuable content.
Link exchange and reciprocal links are natural to some extent. On the other hand, obvious and massive link exchange schemes or networks can be detected algorithmically, so you end up penalised sooner or later.
Please check Google's policy on Link Schemes ( http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=66356 ) express that excessive link exchange is bad.)
I feel that
Limited link exchange is good.
Aggressive link exchange is not good.I think that submitting your website on free directories & not on relevant web directories would hurt you because If you are not on the same niche directories it will affects in your visibility & overall ranking as well. So keep in mind that keep submitting your website to all free directories & as well as same niche web directories.
-
First, I would think about changing the approach with clients. We do a lot of web design here, too and we rarely put ourselves in as a link to our site. It must have a reason beyond getting our company a link.
Will you be penalized for doing reciprocal links. I do not believe so unless you are doing it on a big scale. My belief is that you won't help yourself either. Why, well you need anchor text in the eyes of Google, etc. So, you have to do a bit more work. I do not know if this will help you or encourage you, but I really liked this post by Wil Reynolds of SEER: On Google Making Liars out of the Good Guys.
I personally would say if you do a few manual submissions it may help, but another place you can rock your own world is Local SEO: Google Places, Bing Bus. Portal, Yahoo Local, Citation sites like Yelp, Citysearch, etc. Here is a good list I was turned on to by Miriam Ellis of Solas Web Design: http://searchengineland.com/top-50-citation-sources-for-uk-us-local-businesses-104938
If you do the citation sites correctly, verify your listings on the engines, and maybe consider shelling out the $295 for Yahoo Directory, it would likely help you a ton.
Best
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
-
Quality Links From Web Directory Usefull ??
Hello, Am Planning to Buy Few links from directories. Really Is it safe ? Or Guest Posting is good for Link Building??
Link Building | | wiralgroup1 -
Site wide back links
Hi, One of our sites has a site-wide link from another site. So, Google sees 6700 pages from that site link to one of our pages. Is that something to be concerned about? The other site is http://www.daum.net/ We also have 2000 pages that blogspot.com links to us from. Both these sites have high domain authority, so I would hope all those links score well. But I certainly don't want to be penalized for links that appear spammy. Thank you in advance.
Link Building | | seotis0 -
Back linking to t foreign sites
One of our major competitors seems to be linking to an Asian speaking website that has a blog/product review formant. I was wondering how they are achieving this. Are there any non English /Asian sites worth submitting to and what is the best way to go about this if English is the only language you speak! And of course is it worth while doing this from an SEO perspective.
Link Building | | Hardley10 -
SEO Link building from zero in a practical world
Hi, I'm a web developer with good knowledge of SEO friendly web development etc. When it comes to link building Im not quite sure where to start. I have read heaps of articles about building links, but can you guys please tell me how to start building links from 'zero' in a practice world? Im not even sure whether I have anyone who can link to my website or my client's website either 🙂 Thanks heaps.
Link Building | | Uds0 -
SEOs and web developers frequently leave links to their site in the footer of their clients' sites. Does this negatively impact the site with the links?
Does this provide any SEO value to the receiving site? Has anyone experienced problems doing this?
Link Building | | KatMouse2 -
What are your views on link submitters / directory submitters?
I have no real opinion on them to be honest, I don't really have any experience with them personally: eg: http://www.fastdirectorysubmitter.com/downloads.html http://www.thelinksubmitter.com/ http://www.dumpblaster.com/ I presume they will be negative or a waste of time?
Link Building | | Benj250 -
Links per Site vs. Domain Authority
Here's a quaint one: 1. Posting follow links on another site helps increase one's domain authority. 2. If I post to the same site/forum with followed links each week, would my domain authority reap a domain authority increase benefit? In short, is there any domain authority benefit to continually post links to a site to which I've already posted a follow link?
Link Building | | GreenCupboards0 -
How many links per day to avoid sandbox
Dear Mozers, I start promoting my website www.buy-hosting.net on a daily basis now. I would like to know, how many links would you seed per day. As far as I understood, it is important to stay constant in the number of links to seed every day. But isn't there a danger of going to the sandbox, if the number is to high? The domain has no ibound links yet and although it is 2 years old was only parked until now. Thank you for your advice and kind regards
Link Building | | ie4mac
TImon Michael0