Search Engine Optimization Tip: Do Not Exchange Links with Link Farms

Google started it, but more and more search engines are following suit and using link popularity as an important part of their ranking algorithms. Many webmasters responded by joining reciprocal link farms and stuffing their sites with as many Reciprocal links as possible for search engine placement. But all links are not created equal. In fact, bad reciprocal linking strategies may get you banned from some engines.

Boosting Link Popularity Doesn't Grow On Farms

A reciprocal link farm consists of sites that link to other sites for the sole purpose of increasing their link popularity score. Unlike perfectly valid links to sites with related information, sites that participate in link farming contain links to totally unrelated sites. This practice is also referred to as link stuffing.

Google hates reciprocal link farms and labels the links they generate as spam. In fact, Google gates them so much that some sites get removed from the index if they're affiliated with link farms. Spooked, some webmasters are considering removing all outbound links from their sites.

That's an overreaction that decreases the site value to visitors and hurts the Web in general because cross-linking is a basic tenet of the Internet. Links are fine - even encouraged - if they are related to your topic, but link farms rarely provide useful content to visitors.

If your site is devoted to your favorite rock band and you include reciprocal links to the band members' personal sites, other fan sites, and reciprocal links to stores that sell the band's music, that's not a link farm. You're providing access to other sites that will probably interest your visitors.

But if you signed up with a service that promises to generate two hundred inbound links to your site only if you agree to add two hundred outbound links in return, then you've planted a link farm. Instead of linking to related information of value to your visitors, you're instead sending them to sites about herbal supplements, children's clothes, pet rats, and other totally unrelated (possibly X-rated) topics.

Search Engines Choke On Link Stuffing

Search engines have gotten wise to these search engine placement techniques and are taking a hard line against them.

AllTheWeb's spam policy is to:

disregard Link Stuffing when building the index and computing static rank, and to reduce the static rank of the documents containing it.

Google warns against "artificial linkage" (translation: link farms and link stuffing) and warns that if you link to spam sites, Google's algorithm may penalize your site.

AltaVista's spam policy warns that sites may be deleted from the index if they "contain only links to other pages."

Inktomi's editorial guidelines warn against "excessively cross-linking sites to inflate a site's apparent link popularity."

Search engines won't penalize you for good reciprocal links, but they've gotten pretty good at recognizing bogus ones and are quick to punish sites that try to spam them with unrelated  Reciprocal links.

Use Good Linking Strategies

We can sum up a good reciprocal linking strategy in a single sentence. Link to related sites that offer content, products, and services that will help and interest your visitors and increase your link popularity the right way.

All link submissions are required to reciprocate, Feel free to add your site to our link directory today

Add Link Exchange Free  Here