Search Engine Optimisation Articles

Reciprocal Links

Part of your daily routine as a webmaster will be either sending or receiving reciprocal links requests. A reciprocal link is where two websites will link to each others sites by mutual agreement.

This article will look at some of the issues surrounding reciprocal links and some of the approaches you can take in your reciprocal linkage strategy.

Remember your visitors!

There is no point in getting a link from a site that is unrelated to yours. The people using that site are unlikely to buy your products, so why have them on your site?

On the flip side of the coin, why have a link to another site that is not going to be of any benefit to your users?

Try not to think of external links as doors out of your site. They are part of your content - they provide added value for your users and as such they should be of a high quality and should be relevant to the people who will be using them.

Naturally the types of sites that you will link to will be different depending on what industry you are in, but on a whole they should be compatible with your site and not compete with it.

Asking for reciprocal links

A short, polite email to the webmaster of the site (or the main contact) should be enough. They are more likely to say no if you send a huge marketing pitch as to why their customers would benefit from a link to your site.

Information to include in your email should be:

• URL to be linked to
• Title of link (link text)
• Description (if appropriate)
• Link to the page with their link on it (if you are offering a reciprocal link, it is best to make the first move)
• Your name and job title

In addition there are other pieces of information that you can include that may help your cause:

• How you found the site (ie, in a search - what search term and what search engine?)
• The purpose of your site (mainly for information based sites - ecommerce sites tend to have fairly obvious goals)

At the end of the day, the webmaster may not see things the same way as you do, so may reject your request.

You are perfectly within your right to contact the webmaster and ask why they will not link to your site. But remember to take any feedback as constructive criticism and not as an insult!

Use the information you get to improve your site and your approach to asking for reciprocal links.

Saying "no"

It's gonna happen sooner or later.

You will be contacted by someone from a site that has little or no relevance to your own. You just don't want to link to them.

But they have read this article as well and have already added a link to your site in anticipation of a link back from you. And now you feel guilty!

Well don't!

This is business and you have to do what it is best for your users.

One thing to note though - don't be superficial! Judge other sites based on their content and their usefulness to your users, not on how they look.

If you have to reject a request, then a short email saying that you do not feel that it is relevant for your site, or that the area in question is already covered should suffice.

Also, don't be afraid to ask for more information from the webmaster before you make your decision - you're doing him or her a favour, so take your time.

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