New Method Of Reciprocal Linking

Is this the new way forward?

[netnerd]

As many sites appear to be losing their PR, it would appear that the time honoured tradition of reciprocal links pages may not be enough for google any more.

I have got many sites to number one and two for their (competitive) search terms using this method, and indeed they are still there, but it looks like withought high PR links pages, people will no longer want to swap links.

What now?

Do we try to do link swaps to similar themed , but not exactly the same topic, sites EXCEPT that we try to work the links into text on our pages?

How similar can a theme be without being accused of linking to sites which are too similar?

[crobb305]

I don't think Google or any search engine likes the idea of link "swapping". They prefer a link on a page to be a "vote" for the quality of the page linked to, without payment or request (theoretically). Link "swaps" may be considered artificial votes (scratch my back, and I will scratch yours, so-to-speak). Inktomi, for example, discusses it's negative view of link exchanges in it's SEO FAQs. Most who do link exchanges try to temper the appearance of the exchange by minimizing the number of outgoing links on a single page, and by calling the the links page something other than "link partners"...perhaps something like "Useful Resources" or "Related Resources".

C

[Oaf357]

Which is exactly why I obtain links from related sites and link to sites with related content. I call my link partners, partners and explain why they're partners. Because our content enhances theirs and vice versa in most cases.

It's easier to be honest and get related links than it is to lie and get hordes of worthless links.

[netnerd]

I try to swap only with related sites as well. I like to keep the links in links pages as it is less likely to draw away traffic from my site.

I can see that this may have to change in the future alas.

[mil2k]

EXCEPT that we try to work the links into text on our pages?

That is not so bad idea. Really. I can imagine the dilemma of ecommerce sites but you can consider of having a small text based link , something like :-

Hosted by Westhost.com

which you find at the bottom of this page.

Only the really curious will go to explore that site. Also you can analyse your logs to check out if visitors are lost from some pages due to these links.

Another method will be to give links from content of your site which has more probability of losing customers.

As for the link pages use it to point to the really authority sites.

There are many other ways. You just need to use your imagination and keep a step ahead of the engines ;)