Trading Backlinks a good idea?

[asa-php]

New to the "backlinking" party. Wondering if its 'good practice' to trade links with other websites within a like-industry.

We've been receiving a lot of emails from other websites asking us to trade links.  Is this a good link building practice anymore?

Thanks!

[Branagan]

If you exchange links with quality sites, relevant to your niche and in a useful manner from the user point of view, you should be on the safe side and could probably benefit from it.

Check out this video for more info: Whiteboard Friday - Sitewide, Reciprocal, and Directory Links

[TakeshiYoung]

Trading links with other quality sites in your niche is a great way to get links. Just make sure the sites you're linking to are high quality (not spammy, have pagerank, aren't using shady link tactics). A quick backlink check of the sites using OSE or Majestic is probably a good idea.

I usually like to put together a "Partners" or "Resources" page where I add all the links from people I trade with:

http://www.salsabythebay.com/resources/

Hopefully you can use the initial link exchange to begin a relationship with some of the other players in your niche, so you can collaborate on other projects too, like guest posting, interviews, etc.

[Francisco_Meza]

I never really do link exchanges unless they are part of a blog post. Also, I don't link to sub-par websites or unrelated websites. It's okay to link to another site and they link to you. One example is I have my BBB Membership page point to my site and I point many links from my site to that single BBB Page.

Look at the site you are going to link to and ask yourself, "Can this potentially cause a problem in the future? What's the risk?" I have turned down MANY sites wanting to link exchange, but if they are willing to write a high quality guest blog post, then I'm fine with it whether I get a back link from their site or not.

[jesse-landry]

If it makes sense to put their link on your site, then go for it. If it fits naturally and isn't out of place, then yes. Otherwise, no.

Basically just use your common sense. If it looks spammy on your site, don't use it.

Also, avoid having a page full of links. That's a huge red flag and could end up hurting you. And if they are putting your link on a similar page, you are better off without it.

[gfiedel]

Jumping in here with some confusion and probably an example of a little bit of knowledge being dangerous. Can someone please explain this to me? I thought that complimentary link exchanging has become a no- no. What am I misunderstanding?

[Branagan]

Hi Gina, If it isn't clear enough in the comments, check the first video I posted and the sixth point in this one:

10 Myths That Scare SEOs But Shouldn't

Cheers!

 

[Houses]

Might be worth checking that if they say they are going to link to you that they actually do so and that they leave it up. Hopefully if they are decent enough sites they wouldn't do that though...

As others have said, definitely only link with decent sites and only if it would make sense from a human point of view to do so.

Might be worth checking in GA to see if the site then refers you good traffic. It may help you decide which ones to link with in the future.

I wouldn't go mad with exchanges though.

[gfiedel]

Thanks, Branagan. This is what I meant by "..a little knowledge being dangerous..." I've been reading a lot here and there (plenty here in SEOMoz)  about the dangers of link exchanging and taking it as a hard and fast rule to never exchange links that is rather new due to recent Penguin updates. What I was missing was "excessive" or unnatural and that if it makes sense, is approached wisely and isn't done in bulk, it's still ok.