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://website101.com/download/link-popularity-software.html
Culver prom limo ..If you're feeling a bit of confusion and frustration about... Read More
Finding quality traffic though effective website promotions is the number... Read More
Building a web site is only the first step in... Read More
There are three main sources for you to get the... Read More
Why on earth would anyone want to install a piece... Read More
Increasing your online business hinges on your ability to optimize... Read More
Dear Friend,Many people like to listen to all the graphic... Read More
Webmasters look for ways to get a higher ranking with... Read More
There's no shortage of ways to spend money promoting your... Read More
Did you know that according to alexa, www.eBay.com is ranked... Read More
Though traditional marketing methods cannot be ignored, having a website... Read More
A reciprocal link is when a web site links to... Read More
The results of the social bookmarking experiment I have been... Read More
Well, an effective link building strategy is not building some... Read More
A lot of website owners work tirelessly at increasing their... Read More
I just had to get into the fray! I'm new... Read More
All of us want to increase traffic to our web... Read More
You have just uploaded your web-site and it looks great!You... Read More
1. Add a message board to your web site. People... Read More
How to Build Web Traffic DailyI - Introduction II -... Read More
Every website needs a link exchange program. Every week, set... Read More
Who else wants traffic that buys? I for sure do,... Read More
Does anyone really enjoy the tedium of spending hours upon... Read More
Many websites have great ideas, excellent content, brilliant deals and... Read More
Some of the best advertising available online would be getting... Read More
Wood Dale limo ..Today Internet has over 36,000,000 web sites, and statistics says... Read More
Well, an effective link building strategy is not building some... Read More
It is worth looking at some values and strengths of... Read More
There are many easy ways to get your name out... Read More
Google might not dominate the search engine world like it... Read More
Asking another webmaster for a reciprocal link is standard practice... Read More
Using an e-signature is one of the easiest, most effective... Read More
For many years now, getting traffic from search engines when... Read More
In the real world when you buy real estate the... Read More
Link development can be an absolute nightmare. It takes up... Read More
For the sake of this article let's forget about search... Read More
Digital Economy : What Is e-Marketing : Internet Search Engines... Read More
This is the third in a series of three articles... Read More
There are 1001 ways to drive traffic to your websites.I... Read More
Targeting traffic for your website is as easy as knowing... Read More
1. Hunt for Catchy Domain Names and Get a Quality... Read More
Are you attempting to become a Google junior by adding... Read More
"How do I get more traffic to your site?" That's... Read More
When people look to submit their sites to the major... Read More
It used to be that simply having a website meant... Read More
If you're feeling a bit of confusion and frustration about... Read More
There's nothing new about using joint ventures to get traffic... Read More
The desire of every webmaster and in fact anybody with... Read More
Creating a simple links page to exchange links for the... Read More
Sending out link requests is a time-consuming business. So wouldn't... Read More
Traffic Building |