I had an email exchange with an SEO client today after his webmaster called him pushing reciprocal linking software (when all this web designer was after was to generate some extra work from a client that hasn't needed him for awhile). Then that client called me after he received my email de- nouncing the software, fully convinced by a follow-up phone call from his web designer that the reciprocal linking soft- ware WAS valuable.
He had been assured that the spamming, er - I mean, linking software, would increase his visiblity for an inside page on a hot topic currently in the news. He didn't want to hear my unpopular opinion that reciprocal linking is DEAD! Halloween is over people! We don't need the mummies of yesterdays' linking schemes haunting our Thanksgiving too! Oh, it must be a Thanksgiving TURKEY! A reciprocal Linking Turkey! Can reciprocal linking Santa's be far behind? OK, I'll drop the holiday metaphors.
I tried in vain to convince this client that he didn't need that software for his review of the new Myriad Pictures flm, "Kinsey" about early sex educator Professor Alfred Kinsey.
We had just that morning distributed a press release online which is now posted on over 100 high visibility news sites and Yahoo news picked it up!
These are hugely valuable ONE WAY inbound links that will vastly improve his search engine ranking immediately due to the topical nature and excellent timing of the release. This client is a sex educator and runs an educational web site about sex and love. His press release put down the idea of the use of the new Intrinsa© testosterone patch to cure the low sexual desire of post-menopausal women and praised the new film Kinsey. He'll be top ranked for two highly desirable and valuable (to him and his web site) keyword phrases within the week.
By the way, I HIGHLY recommend this approach for those with newsworthy issues they want to promote to the press. will send your newsworthy press release to over 100 top news sites, hundreds more radio, television and newspaper reporters, and tons of journalists who have signed up to receive them. Ereleases.com is syndicated by major news organizations and you can gain hundreds of links while generating interviews and even television appearances, all for only $400! Some people will pay that much for worthless reciprocal linking software and installation by webmasters having a slow week. ;-) Back to our story...
I re-affirmed my opposition to the use of the software as we ended our call and he hung up disappointed because he wanted my support and assurance that the sales pitch he got from his web designer on the reciprocal linking software was accurate and that it would do more for him than this press release.
Unfortunately, we'll never know because he bought the sales pitch from the web designer, installed the software and immediately sent out a sp*m - AHEM, er, I meant to say - email to his newsletter mailing list announcing the availability of reciprocal links and asking them for links to his newsworthy new pages.
When will this linking insanity end?
Following is my reasoned - and decidedly calmer than I am now - email response to him.
Dear Gary,
This link generation scheme is standard for reciprocal link software. The value of "Reciprocal links" is far lower than the value of the ONE WAY links you already have from that press release distribution and the posting of the press release on your site which, by the way, includes linking instructions at the bottom of the relevant pages.
I've written an article call "Linking Psychosis is Treatable" which discusses the foolishness of links pointing all over the web.
It doesn't address reciprocal linking so much as the insanity with which webmasters persue them. Your press release has ALREADY generated a huge number of inbound ONE WAY links that will increase the visibility and rank of both Kinsey Film Review and Intrinsa© Testosterone Patch pages.
Doing the reciprocal page will initially LOWER your rank because it is RECIPROCAL. There is a concept called "Authority Site" that search engines use where ONE WAY inbound links are ranked VERY highly and reciprocal links are devalued BECAUSE of software like that being promoted by link-crazy folks not willing to do the hard work of generating the more valuable one-way links.
The search engines know about the software available from linking fanatics and DEVALUE pages that use it. Ultimately it can increase your visibility, sometimes, over the long run, but it just isn't that helpful in most cases.
I've taken a hard line about this and get a lot of flack about it from those without SEO experience or knowledge. But smart professional SEO's agree that reciprocal linking schemes - AND ESPECIALLY SOFTWARE GENERATED PAGES - are not worth much in search engine rank. The search engines are reducing the importance of those type of pages daily because it is too easy and too commonly used by scores of webmasters looking for an easy ranking.
I have written in the past that "Reciprocal Linking is Dead!"
in which I outline my linking policy and encourage all reciprocal links requests to submit articles to be used on my site and that I'll link to them through the resource box of their articles - IF I decide to publish them - but that I just don't do reciprocal linking - period. I don't even require them to link to me, but I point out that I have over a hundred fifty articles on my web site available for use on their site if they use my resource box, provide author credit and link to me through my resource box.
That's my story and I'm sticking with it. ;-) No matter how unpopular it makes me with software vendors selling programs or link fanatic webmasters looking for extra income and easy solutions.
Don't be a linking turkey! Happy Thanksgiving!
About The Author
Mike Banks Valentine
Here's some free link popularity software: http://website101.com/download/link-popularity-software.html
This article written about experience with SEO client Dr. Gary Schubach, of and is used with his permission.
You may reproduce this article on your site if you make all llnks live, maintain this resource box and provide author credit. This article available online with working links.
http://realityseo.com/2004/11/reciprocal-linking-turkeys.html
If you have any experience of work with your web... Read More
There is a new tool available that promise to do... Read More
Large companies tend to spend huge amount of money on... Read More
PageRank (PR) is Google's way of measuring the quality and... Read More
It's a strange world, this place we call the internet.... Read More
How to get FREE traffic and vistors to your website... Read More
The subject of referral traffic may be a bit elementary... Read More
Building a web site is only the first step in... Read More
Wouldn't it be great if your website was listed on... Read More
Traffic Exchanges. What are they? How do they work? What... Read More
Though traditional marketing methods cannot be ignored, having a website... Read More
We all need traffic. It's the life-blood of an online... Read More
Generating traffic for your mini-sites is the challenge.Search engines look... Read More
Why Award Sites?Award sites are, in essence, directories that hand... Read More
If you are looking to increase the number of visitors... Read More
When you are trying to promote your website, you want... Read More
I am not a web designer or search engine optimizer,... Read More
Is website traffic convertible to cash? The answer is yes.... Read More
Search engines have become so intimidating lately - most people... Read More
In-bound links from other web sites to yours provide two... Read More
Do you want to generate more orders at your website?Here... Read More
Writing LinksIn the first part of this article we learned... Read More
The results of the social bookmarking experiment I have been... Read More
It appears that most webmasters have come from the world... Read More
Have you noticed that your banner ads rarely get clicked... Read More
There are many tactics you can use to increase traffic... Read More
OK boys and girls. Today we're having a pop quiz.I... Read More
If you don't create a successful strategy for marketing your... Read More
If you are only looking at Search Engines too send... Read More
You have just uploaded your web-site and it looks great!You... Read More
One problem with websites is that they often go neglected... Read More
For all the seeming "intelligence" displayed by its system, Google... Read More
There are 1001 ways to drive traffic to your websites.I... Read More
Yes, if need more web traffic, this free list building... Read More
Linking - what a mess if you don't know what's... Read More
First off all let's define what is a link exchange?... Read More
One of the most popular ways to generate free traffic... Read More
Start building an interstate highway to your website. You're going... Read More
I cannot stress the importance of targeted traffic for the... Read More
Recently I came across a web site with the heading... Read More
Why Award Sites?Award sites are, in essence, directories that hand... Read More
If you have any experience of work with your web... Read More
There are many ways to promote your website for free... Read More
Traffic. We all know that without it our sites will... Read More
So we gather in all the relevant information we can... Read More
You can create more traffic for you and your business... Read More
In the old days of the internet, links were the... Read More
The number one question among webmasters is "How can I... Read More
"How do I get more traffic to your site?" That's... Read More
One of the most important steps you can take in... Read More
Once again I used my wacky test marketing strategy to... Read More
1. Vary the keywords in your link 'anchor' textUnless you... Read More
Our Story A few years ago, we were struggling... Read More
I don't know about you, but when I first entered... Read More
Bill Huang sits down at his computer. As he connects... Read More
Creating a simple links page to exchange links for the... Read More
Increasing your online business hinges on your ability to optimize... Read More
Would you like to get in on one the Internet's... Read More
I don't know about you, but when I built my... Read More
Online marketing is an area where you can find a... Read More
Increasing your website traffic does not have to be a... Read More
Do not pay anyone or any service to submit your... Read More
This is the 3rd day of "Free Traffic Course".This day... Read More
Webmasters have so much information available to them on the... Read More
As the saying goes in the business world "The Customer... Read More
The world wide web or www is a wonderful, inspiring,... Read More
Traffic Building |