Link Exchanges:

A link exchange is a scheme in which two webmasters agree to add links to each other's websites.

Are link exchanges good or bad?

Are link exchanges worth it? Are they useful? In general, I will answer this question a resounding no: link exchanges, in general, are a bad thing. Link exchanges can negatively impact your website in a number of ways.

Link exchanges can harm your search ranking:

Google's guidelines on link schemes officially states that link schemes where webmasters "engage in link exchange schemes and build partner pages exclusively for the sake of cross-linking, disregarding the quality of the links, the sources, and the long-term impact it will have on their sites" will have a negative impact on search rankings.

Some webmasters arrogantly disregard these guidelines, thinking to themselves: "But how could google tell, algorithmically, whether or not you are engaging in a link scheme?" As I explain below, link schemes are very easy to spot, and there is little reason to believe that a resourceful company like Google is not able to design simple heuristic algorithms that can easily identify link schemes.

Link exchanges make your site look unprofessional to other webmasters:

Equally important as how Google and other search engines perceive your site are the way readers of your site, especially other webmasters, perceive your site. If your site has an overt link exchange scheme which shows little to no evidence of editorial selection of links, it sends the message that you are trying to promote your site unethically, rather than focusing on maintaining a high-quality site and letting the site promote itself. Link exchange schemes are easy to spot, as I will explain below.

Spotting link exchanges and other link schemes:

I recommend the following tips, which are useful both for spotting link schemes and using links on your site with the greatest integrity:

• Webmasters using link exchange schemes will tend to collect all external links on a single "links" or "resources" page, whereas the majority of pages on their site will have few or no external links. Legitimate webmasters will link to external sites from many different pages of their site, including links in natural contexts on the page which are useful to readers and enhance the quality of their site.
• Webmasters using link schemes tend to be very stingy with links, in an attempt to engage in "pagerank sculpting", based on the erroneous idea that having few or no external links will cause more PageRank to "flow" back to your site. Not only is this a black-hat technique, but I have never seen any evidence that it works. Legitimate webmasters link liberally to high-quality sites.
• Webmasters using link schemes will often approach you through email or a contact form, with a request that you link to them, and they will tend to emphasize things like the PageRank of their site, or the amount of traffic their site has. Legitimate webmasters will refrain from mentioning PageRank or traffic, confident that the quality of their site will speak for itself, and understanding that webmasters who engage in link exchange schemes run low-quality sites which have little to no value in terms of SEO or driving traffic.

I avoid link exchanges as a principle:

As a general rule, I avoid link exchanges. This does not mean that I will never link to sites that link to me, and it does not mean that I will not suggest or encourage sites that I link to to link back to me. But it means that if a webpage is worth linking to, that is, if linking to the site is relevant and useful to readers of my site, then I will link to that site regardless of whether or not that site links back to me. Similarly, while I welcome suggestions of improvements I can make to my site, including suggestions of relevant links I can add, I will never link to a site that I would not otherwise link to, in exchange for a reciprocal link.

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