Link Exchange

Main Points to consider:



1. You need to get links from relevant web pages. Links from irrelevant pages may result in a penalty being imposed upon you by the search engines.

2. The greater the number of relevant links to your pages the better.

3. The number of links to the sites that are linking to you is also to be taken into account. If a site has only a few other sites linking to it, then its value to you as a link partner is not nearly as great as a site that has a thousand links pointing in its direction.

4. When considering someone's web page as a potential link partner, check the PageRank of the page that you wish to exchange links with (using the Google Toolbar as described above). If the PageRank is 5 or greater (the rankings are measured out of 10, the higher number being a higher ranking), then it is a worthy contender for consideration.



How to actually go about arranging the link exchange:



1. Do a search in Google using your keywords (to ensure that relevant websites appear on the search page).

2. Check the PageRank of the site (being on the first page of listings probably means that its PR is OK).

3. Confirm that the site will exchange links (check to see if it has a links page).

4. If all is well then find the email contact details of the webmaster. Send him/her a nice email pointing out what you like about their site, and why you feel that an exchange of links would be of mutual benefit. Be sure to include your site name, a description of your site, your URL and contact email address. The actual linking text that you want placed on their site should include your principle keywords.

5. Check the link pages of sites that you wish to link to, because here you have a ready made list of (presumably) relevant links that you should also be considering.



If you would prefer the linking process to be automated, then it is worth considering automated link exchange software. Two software programs worthy of consideration are Arelis and Zeus. Another idea is to list with a link exchange. A free exchange that is well worth a look is Ken Evoy's SiteSell Value Exchange.