Asking For the Link Exchange

With over 7 years of marketing on the web and SEO, I've seen it all when it comes to asking for link exchanges. What's so amazing is that the honest and straightforward approach is really the best. I've developed a number of email templates and tested multiple versions of emails asking for a link back to mysite or a link exchange.

When you can provide something of value to a website or offer a valuable link in exchange for a link to your site, your chances of being successful are high. My recommendation is to research the potential partner's website and determine whether or not your site is a fit. Here is a sample letter (email) I've used in the past when requesting a link or link exchange:

Dear Webmaster, My name is ___________ and I am the webmaster of http://www.yoursitehere.com/. I have visited your site http://www.theirwebsiteurlhere.com/ and believe it would be a valuable resource for my website browsers. I’d like to exchange links with you and have already added a link to your website on my partners page at http://www.yourlinkspage.com/. I would ask that you provide back to my website. Doing so would offer a valuable resource to your website’s visitors and increase website popularity for both of us.

If you are interested in exchanging links, please add the following details to your website and let me know when you have done so. The details of our site are given below: Title: Your keyword phrase here | Second keyword phrase here URL: http://www.yourwebsite.com/ Description: [Place a description of your website here. Make sure you include your primary keyword phrase at least two times in a manner that seems natural]. Alternatively, you can just copy the html code Your keyword phrase | Second keyword phrase Place a description of your website here. Make sure you include your primary keyword phrase at least two times in a manner that seems natural.

If you are not interested in completing a link exchange at this time, please let us know and we will remove your link from our links page. Thank you for your consideration.

Kind Regards[your first name]webmaster@yourwebsite.com

Use this as a template for starters and add your own flavor to each email. The key is to be genuine and make sure the website you're requesting a link from would be a good fit with your's. Customize each email appropriately and you will be successful in acquiring both one way and reciprocal links.

To learn other SEO secrets visit The Webmaster's Book of Secrets.

7 Tips for Effective Reciprocal Linking

Reciprocal linking...does it work? Yes it does. One can debate the value of reciprocal linking compared to other linking strategies. And without a doubt, one way links far outway the value of a reciprocal link. However, if done correctly, reciprocal linking can be a powerful SEO strategy for your website (See Search Engine Optimization Specialist for additional tips).

Tip #1
Search for reciprocal links from pages that have a Google PR equal or greater to your own. By doing so, you are enhancing the quality/value of the reciprocal link improving your overall success in the eyes of the search engines - especially Google.

Tip #2
Exchange links only with sites that are related to your site/industry in some way. For example, don't link to web sites about athletic clothing if you're selling hardware. Sites that you're exchaning links with need to be contextually relevant.

Tip #3
Make sure that your anchor text, the text that comprises your link contains your keywords. For example, a link to my primary site should look like this: Internet Marketing Expert Marketing Secrets instead of http://www.marketingscoop.com/.

Tip #4
Your links page should never include more than one hundred links. Keeping your link quantity below one hundred ensures that search engines do not discredit the value of your site or challenge it as SPAM.

Tip #5
Check your partner's websites on a regular basis to ensure that they are still linking back to you. Often I've exchanged links with a site only to find that they removed the link back to my site only days after the exchange. You can do this manually or utilize software to do it for you ( I use SEO Elite).

Tip #6
View the title of the links page where your link will be placed. You can do this by visiting the link page and then pressing "view" on your browser menu bar. Then select "view source code" and find the meta tags. The title tag should include keywords relevant to your site. It doesn't have to, but if it does, the more valuable it becomes.

Tip #7
Quality over quantity. When you being the process of building reciprocal links for your website, go for quality over quantity. Once you get started, you will undoubtedly have numerous sites looking for an exchange. If the sites don't meet your linking criteria, you must say no to the link exchange.

In summary, make sure your reciprocal link program includes relevant links that have an equal or greater Google PR. Check your links often and make sure not to include more than 100 links on your link exchange page. Follow these tips and you're well on your way to successful reciprocal linking! For an example of my reciprocal link page visit http://www.marketingscoop.com/links.htm.