10 Easy links exchange Ideas & Why You Should Care

10 Easy links exchange ideas; but why should you care? The importance of link exchanges has been dumbed down by Google right? People think along the lines of simple reciprocal link pages on dozens of different sites – no real value to visitors, no value to Google... just one big waste of time really!

But there are ways to reap massive rewards from links exchanges by making them relevant, in-context and valuable to a reader both ways – and give Google what it is looking for; a sign of reciprocal credibility.

Links are credibility. Unlike Googlebot, humans can judge a page based on features directly appealing to them and not just mathematical formulas. Links are human verification that your website is up to scratch.

The concept is becoming more and more dependent on who is giving the links though; if recognized experts in your industry links to your site via their ‘authority’ websites or blogs, then you’re in business! So what happens if two experts link to each other? Does the world melt into a 2 inch ball and explode?

Google will understand that two experts recognize each others work, in a way which adds value to visitors. In a way, it leverages there existing credibility to essentially ‘verify’ their credibility.

But perhaps you don’t consider yourself an expert – yet. The system is a leverage of your existing link credibility. They can bring in extra links themselves, but the concept becomes more and more effective the better your link building program is already.

** PageRank is not important here: For those who take notice of PageRank it is apart from anything else a visual indication of the number of ‘numerical authority’ of a webpages backlinks. Does PageRank make any difference to the quality of the website? I thought not... take a read of this case study on Wikipedia: Link Building and PageRank.

With all that ‘theory’ nailed, here’s my 10 Easy Links Exchange Ideas

Easy Links Exchange

#1 – Article Exchange

This is the most basic progression of a link exchange to increase value. The idea is to each take an article you’ve already written and possibly distributed, and rewrite it to make it more specific to your link partners website. Your partner then does the same – both articles have embedded links in the content.

The idea here is it’s a low maintenance way of recycling your existing content and building links. You could say quality links is all about adding value to other sites; so why not use your existing material?

#2 – Interviews

Interviews are hot, and they generate content for the publisher with little physical effort on there part. The trick is to immerse yourself in a community and through discussions and meetings there, ask people for a quick email interview. Choose a topic that interests them as much as your readers, be polite and be incredibly patient. People won’t drop everything just to sooth your hunger for answers. It an easy links exchange idea, but it takes a bit of patience to execute.

Forums are a great base to establish contacts and figure out who knows there stuff. Similarly, if you’re a regular follower of a blog and you like their content then ask them for an interview if it fits your site. People are more often than not flattered to be asked – so flattered that they may tweet or blog about there new found fame and in doing so drive their own followers to your site.

Interviews also act as link bait - they make GREAT content. If you’ve got someone important particularly, but if the interview is just damn good then people will want to share it.

Be realistic though; everyone wants to interview Mathew Cutts from Google. Get one or two big names, but otherwise focus on finding people who ‘know there stuff’.

Give content and link hungry bloggers something to bite on and give them a prepared blog post for them to use. The advantage of this over something like an article exchange is your follower base will merge provided you have two highly related and high-quality blogs. It may take a handful of posts for each partner to benefit enough from each others subscribers – but if each blog truly adds value then this shouldn’t be a problem.

Try to limit the direct referrals to your partners blog though; two at the most. Make the links contextual – see my article on contextual link building – and be part of the post. Any article should be complete without contextual links, but the links allow users to look at specific points of interest

#4 – Blog Comments

Although much more subtle than guest posting, exchanging lots of blog comments with a link partner can be very beneficial. If your comments are really perceptive and on-topic then you can weed in some contextual links with relative ease. Don’t promote though – you only want those prospects to click through who are truly interested if you’re looking to drive traffic from blog commenting... which you should. An easy links exchange that takes barely seconds of your time.

#5 – Link back on Link Bait

If you’ve got a piece of link bait and someone takes that bait, reference it – particularly if the site has high link partner value. It may encourage more people to link your webpage, but it also shows that the original linker thinks something of your website. If there website is anything to go by, then why not try and cement an even stronger relationship?

#6 – Testimonials

Testimonials mean nothing if they cannot be referenced, so provide testimonials with a link back to your website on other people’s sites who have provided you products or services. They’ll be delighted to share the link – this idea works best with businesses who work closely together all the time.

Perhaps include a review or your testimonial on your own site linking to them to ‘complete the circle’. The likelihood is that your link partner will link to any credible reference off their site such as a positive review as well.

#7 – Social Networking

Use professional social media profiles such as those on LinkedIn or Twitter and link to each others websites. Keep the look good; no posting about your shenanigans at the weekend on Facebook!

Link exchanges of this type are best when you have a genuine relationship your link exchange partner. Perhaps try and implement this after you’ve successfully exchanged links already.

#8 – Resources

Okay, don’t confuse this with a ‘links’ page…

Your ‘Great Resources’ page can be in its purest form an easy links exchange, but a resources page is different in that it is a list of credible and useful links for your visitors. That means writing a bit about each resource your listing, add an image or two – possibly embed a YouTube video ... nothing like hard work eh? ;-)

#9 – Syndicate each others news and feed

Add their RSS feeds to your website showing their latest information in an appropriate place. Use FeedBurner to copy their feed and use their ‘BuzzBoost’ tool to embed the feed into your page using a little bit of html code you can copy and paste across. Publish articles relating to each others press releases or other news if you have any also.

#10 – Embed contextual links

Another really easy links exchange idea is to simply reference your link partner’s articles as your own. If you’re familiar with their site and their content then if you remember something they’ve written, link to it – provided they do the same. Think of it as two experts recognizing each others content.

Always remember that a links exchange is dependent on a quality partner website; an easy links exchange is dependent on the link partner ;-)

Like this easy link exchange article? Share it! And check our Top Ten Link Building Techniques and my interview with Collin Lahay on Effective Link Building. Get more articles like this 10 Easy Link Exchange ideas straight to your inbox with my Web Bulletin for free :-)

Return from Easy Links Exchange to Link Building Techniques

Return from Easy Links Exchange to How to Build A Website