Link Trading Myths Uncovered

by Al Bert, 8/17/2007

Google has just sent the Search Marketing world into a frenzy of hair pulling and nail biting. Its latest shake up of its algorithm has put paid to unrestrained link swapping. It had gone overboard like Meta tag stuffing before it. Even before this latest revision, all signs indicate that the Search Engines were beginning to devalue reciprocal links and forum signatures in their SERP's. So what is a harried webmaster to do? Are backlinks still relevant to search rankings? If they still count, how do you acquire them without running afoul of the SE's?

The answer to that is Link Trading. Link trading also known as Link Renting, is simply paying to have a link pointing to your site from another site, usually, with a high or higher page rank. In essence you are buying the linking site's traffic and, if your own site is related, its search relevancy.

Link trading came into vogue even before the current SE upheavals because it was often the only way a new or lowly ranked site could get any links from authority sites. Its principle advantage from a search rankings point of view is it is a one-way link - the most valuable kind - and thus constitutes a high quality link.

Secondly, link trading or renting if well executed can pull in significant amounts of traffic. If you target a site with relatively high traffic, you are likely to benefit from the overflow - obtain traffic you would not otherwise have gotten.

Link trading also has a viral or branding effect leading on from its traffic-generation benefit. More web surfers get to see your link and if you properly optimize the link's anchor text, your site profits from the resultant visibility. You also profit from being associated with the site hosting your link, and if its reputation is good, this will yield a powerful networking advantage. The downside is clear - a site may have negative connotations for your visitors, so researching them thoroughly before buying your link space is critical.

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