What is a Link Exchange?
(This article was originally written in 2020 and updated on 4-10-2023. As you will see below, link exchanges are still working just as well as when this was first published, so long as you take the right precautions)
A link exchange is simply when two websites agree to link to each other. This is also referred to sometimes as reciprocal linking.
The biggest difference between those two terms is that reciprocal linking refers to an exchange between two websites, whereas a link exchange can involve multiple websites.
Like many other tactics, link swaps have one main goal – to increase trust and authority to attract more organic users. This is based upon the original statement from Google indicating that links are essentially seen as a “vote of confidence” when editorially placed.
Looking for An In-Depth Guide on Link Building? Check Out The Definitive {Process-Driven} Guide to Building Links
As such, spammy tactics (such as setting up Web 2.0 websites) have been killed off over the years because they are not editorially vouched for, they are simply created by the person promoting the website, much like a press release.
Editorial link placements are those that are added and “vouched” for by the websites adding them, which is what Google wants to see.
We will get more into that shortly, but for now, let’s look at why this is one of the more debated SEO linking strategies.
How Links Lead to Growth
Link building is one of the most powerful tools for improving your position in search engines. Consoles like Google see backlinks as votes of confidence in the relevance and authority of your website.
The goal of every search engine is to provide the most useful results to users, and a web page with a strong backlink profile demonstrates multiple votes of confidence, so search engines will rate it higher.
Typically, the more incoming links you have to your own website, the better your search rankings. However, quantity does not matter as much as quality. A quality backlink on a guest post from a quality site carries far more value, or “link juice” than ten links from less authoritative websites.
Avoiding a Link Scheme
Just as low-quality links will not serve your website very well, manipulative tactics, sometimes called link schemes, can be damaging to your SEO power as well. Some examples of link schemes include link farms, public blogging networks (PBNs), and automated link placements. There are other types of link schemes as well that should be avoided to prevent your website from being ranked lower.
Now that we have covered why inbound links from other sites are important for your business, let’s talk about exchanging links and reciprocal link building. You might have questions about whether or not reciprocal links are safe, let alone effective.
Below, we will talk through the ins and outs of exchanging links and how this strategy could either help or hurt your SEO efforts. As with most marketing strategies, it all comes down to how well you conduct research and the resources you are willing to devote to this initiative.
Are Link Exchanges Safe?
On Google’s link schemes answer page, they state the following:
“Any links intended to manipulate PageRank or a site’s ranking in Google search results may be considered part of a link scheme and a violation of Google’s Webmaster Guidelines. This includes any behavior that manipulates links to your site or outgoing links from your site.”
Followed by this point specific to link exchanges:
“Excessive link exchanges (“Link to me and I’ll link to you”) or partner pages exclusively for the sake of cross-linking”
On Google’s Webmaster Guidelines, also talk about guest posting campaigns with keyword-rich anchor text links, buying links, and several other things that could get you into trouble.
Now, if you have been around the SEO space for long, you already know that what Google’s guidelines say and what they do are not always aligned. You also know that sometimes you have to read between the lines to really understand what they are getting at.
When it comes to link exchanges, just like guest posting or any other type of link building, there are going to be risks.
If you look at the history of link building, you may recall that pre-2012, the best way to rank for keywords was to use them in your anchor text often. Post Penguin, the opposite is true.
The key to using this tactic is very similar to using guest posting effectively – focus on quality and relevancy. While this will not remove all risk, it will greatly reduce it, just as it will for a guest post.
Taking the time to research potential link swap partners, and looking at the “big picture” will help you make link exchanges safer, even though no link building is 100% safe, outside of posting great content and hoping for links.
What to Look At When Considering a Link Exchange
Link building is a major part of SEO, but organic rankings are not the only benefit.
If you get mentioned on popular, well-established sites, they can help you build brand recognition, trust, and are often a great source of referral visitors.
Link Exchanges for Referral Traffic & Brand Building
Looking at the big picture, which is to grow your business, the right link exchange could be golden, even if not for SEO’s sake.
A no follow link from an exchange, sponsored post, or guest post on the right website can generate a great return on your time or investment. So, start by looking at how a link from the websites you are considering an exchange with can benefit you.
Here is a practical example:
Let’s say that you own a dog grooming business in Nashville, TN and you are approached by a veterinarian in Nashville about swapping links on your resource pages.
You both are in the same location, you both will have a similar audience, so the likelihood of someone finding and contacting you from the link (for both of you) is realistic.
Think of this as the online version of leaving your flyer in the lobby of the vet and displaying their flyer in your lobby in return.
This is a good example of a link exchange with benefits beyond SEO.
SEO Link Exchange
Some websites are just not likely to send referral users, even if they are popular and relevant to your business.
Even major websites like Forbes or Business Insider can contain links that just don’t send many visitors. This could be because the article itself hasn’t gained much traction or it could have to do with how many other resources are linked in the same post.
This can also be the case for local websites as well. Using our above example of the vet and dog groomer, let’s pretend that no referrals were generated in either direction. Does that mean the reciprocal link was a waste?
Nope!
When it comes to link building, especially local SEO link building, that link is a home run. It is Geo-relevant and niche relevant. Repeat that process and you will be attracting more visitors from local searches in no time.
What if you are not a local website? Well, then it depends.
Here are some examples:
If you are a national site that has city landing pages, like an apartment rental search tool with a pet-friendly filter, then that link is still good, because of the geo-relevancy.
If on the other hand, you do not have a localized landing page, the value of that link is going to come down to topical relevance and authority.
Topical relevance is simply the topic of a website and how well that topic relates to your own.
When considering sites for a swap, this should be one of your first questions – is it relevant to what I am doing? If it isn’t, don’t do it. This looks unnatural and it isn’t going to be all that helpful for either one of you.
The second part of the process is looking at authority. By authority, I am not referring to Domain Authority, specifically, although it is a popular metric. You may use metrics from Majestic, Semrush, or Ahrefs instead.
The purpose of this check is to make sure that you are getting a fair or favorable exchange, whether it is for guest post swaps or other types of reciprocal links.
For Example:
If your site has a Domain Rating (Ahrefs metric) of 70 and an organic traffic estimate of 25K (also Ahrefs) you would want to make sure the websites you are exchanging links with have similar or better metrics.
Once you have established that it is relevant and of similar authority, you should look at the page they are offering a link on, and the site as whole.
You should be asking questions like:
- How many outbound links does their page have?
- Where will your link be located? (main text, footer, sidebar, resource page?)
- Are the other outbound links on this same website also to relevant sites?
- How is the general appearance and content quality?
- Do they have a large banner advertising link exchanges?
Not all links are created equal, nor are all link placement locations. Sidebar and footer outbound links, for example, are less valuable (and riskier in many cases) than natural links in the main content of a page, offering lower link popularity.
When it comes to the other quality checks, look at how it compares to your site in terms of design and content quality. Avoid sites with poorly written content and especially sites broadcasting that they offer link exchanges (or sell do follow links), as this is pretty easy for Google to identify.
If you take the proper precautions, you can find some really beneficial link exchange opportunities, be it for referral visitors or SEO value.
Here is one method that works pretty well, if you decide to include link exchanges as part of your overall strategy.
3-Way Link Exchange
There is plenty of debate as to whether or not reciprocal links are harmful or have less value than links obtained through other channels.
A study by Ahrefs found that 73.6% of a group of 140,592 domains had reciprocal links. In order to get the full picture, you need to read the study, because they do bring up some good points about why that data may not tell the full picture.
That being said, if you opt for a 3-way instead of a reciprocal link, you can steer clear of that debate, although 3-way link exchanges are often the topic of debate as well.
As the name implies, a 3-way link exchange is simply when:
Website “A” links to website “B”
Website “B” gets a link to website “A” from website “C”
When this is done between relevant websites with similar authority it can be very beneficial and it is more difficult for Google to identify as anything other than a naturally occurring editorial placement.
This is one of the safest and most effective ways to use a link exchange as part of your link building strategy in 2020.
So, is a link exchange risky?
As with any link building tactics, they come with some risk.
How carefully you screen and execute potential link swaps will greatly impact the amount of risk. If you choose poor-quality sites and swap backlinks in high volumes, it is probably not going to work out well for you.
However, if you use the tips above to avoid excessive link exchanges and pick only good opportunities like quality guest posts, you can likely benefit from this approach now and in the foreseeable future.
Tools to Analyze Potential Link Exchanges
In the best of circumstances, a poor backlink will have no effect on your search engine rankings. But there is also a worst-case scenario where a toxic link actually damages your ranking and moves you down the search engine results page. If time or money were spent on acquiring that link, then those resources have gone to waste.
Fortunately, there are many link building tools that can help you evaluate whether or not a potential link can help or hurt your SEO efforts.
SEMrush BAcklink Audit
The Backlink Audit tool is useful for both current backlinks to your website and potential backlinks. If you want to consider an exchange for links, you can evaluate the backlink profile of the other site to see what their domain’s authority is like. This can help you avoid exchanging links with a risky site that will not boost your position.
Moz Domain Authority Checker
Moz has a free tool where you can get a quick domain score for any website. It will give you insights into page authority, ranking keywords, and more. Using this tool will help you decide if an exchange of links with a particular domain is worth it and will benefit your website.
Stellar SEO Can Guide You Through Link Exchanges
Whether you are looking for inbound links with more link juice, trying to understand Google’s guidelines, or want to learn more about link exchanging, Stellar SEO is here to answer your questions.
Our team has plenty of experience finding quality sites for website owners to acquire better incoming links for their brand’s online presence.
If you want quality content creation for guest posts that will reroute visitors from multiple sites to your own, we can come up with a quality backlink strategy that works for you.
If you are trying to exchange links with well-established sites but are not sure how to get your foot in the door, we can help with that too.
We specialize in building a customized link strategy with a technical SEO audit, the creation of quality guest posts, and tracking progress.
Our team will talk through various strategies, such as reciprocal links, guest post swaps, broken link building, and outreach to private influencer networks.
Our services have proven successful time and again for many of our clients, propelling them to the top of search results and driving more traffic to their websites. Contact us today to get a free consultation about your business needs and a winning SEO strategy.
Link Exchange FAQs.
When done correctly, exchanged links can be a source of valuable information that helps both websites. Below, we are going to look at a few common link exchange questions.
Are Excessive Link Exchanges Risky?
When you decide to exchange links with other websites, you should do so in moderation. Your overall link building strategy should include a diverse set of tactics. This will keep your link profile looking natural and healthy. The various tactics, like submitting a guest post, each offer unique benefits, so don’t limit yourself to a single tactic.
Is it Better to Exchange Links than Ask for Reciprocal Links?
As mentioned above, a-3 way link exchange is different than a reciprocal link, in that the same two websites are not linking to each other. That makes this method appear more natural and avoid creating a footprint – so generally speaking, a 3-way link exchange is the better strategy.
What Should Be Included In Link Exchange Requests?
In a link exchange email, you should let the other websites know why you are interested in making the swap – even if it is just to help each other gain some quality backlinks. You should also highlight how your request is helpful to their readers. Last but not least, you should offer a few ideas of where you could secure backlinks for them as well, to show you understand the value of their site.
What types of Sites Should I Exchange Links With?
When it comes to exchanging links it is important to do so in a way that won’t incur the wrath of Google’s webmaster guidelines. Swapping links, like submitting a guest post can be done in a manner that provides valuable information to both web pages. SEO value aside, improving the value of your website can help you get more free users via improved SEO.
The process of selecting websites to offer a link exchange to should be focused on quality. Look for other business websites that have good SEO power and outbound links to other related sites. Websites ranking for related keywords to what you offer are usually a good target for a link exchange. Even a private influencer network could be a great resource for high-traffic links, so long as you understand the risks that come from using a PBN.
If you are considering a link exchange, use the tips above to do so in a manner that helps both websites involved and you are on the right track for continued growth.
If you are not comfortable with exchanging links, there are plenty of other link building tactics that work very well, whether you hire a link building agency or decide to handle it yourself.
