I’ve been getting a lot of link exchange requests over at Webmaster-Talk in a “Joke-Thread”. These people don’t seem to understand the irony I was trying to form, so I decided to give my views on why they aren’t important for SEO, rankings, etc.

10. Give an “Unprofessional” feel
Have you ever seen a site that does many link exchanges? And does it make you feel welcome, or someone you would want to do business with. All the professional sites do not have random links on their site, taking their visitors to mystery locations on the web, that probably have nothing to do with the original site in the first place.

9. Most partners are clueless
As I pointed out in the intro, most people looking for link exchanges have no knowledge when it comes to SEO. By no means am I claiming I am an “SEO Expert”, but they don’t even seem to think twice about who they are trying to do business with, or why.

8. Google is cracking down on them
According to Google’s Blog, they admit that their algorithim has been altered so that much less weight is placed on SERP’s. Webmasters’ SEO strategies should be focused on optimizing for site visitors, NOT search engines.

7. “But what if they’re relevant, or 3-Way?”
This doesn’t matter, as the search engines’ cache is huge, and they know what sites are linking to each other, and whether they’re linking back or not.

6. No Traffic is Obtained
If you think about it, how can you gain traffic from a link exchange? You send traffic away from your site through links, not the other way around, it’s simple math.

5. The PR Myth
Some may argue that gaining high quantities of links helps build and increase your site’s PageRank. Whether this is true or not doesn’t matter, just read Steven Bradley’s “Toolbar PR and Why It Isn’t Important“.

4. No Long-Term Value is created
If anyone can tell me just how link exchanges provide any lasting value to a website, please just comment below and tell me.

3. Bad form of Internet Marketing
Despite the fact that basic link exchanges require next to no effort to execute, hardly anyone clicks on links obtained through exchanges. There are plenty of better ways to market your website, such as building a reputation (through mediums like forums and blogs).

2. “But I’m just starting out, what other choice do I have?”
If you are looking for a way to get some good, quality links, avoid link exchanges. Some tips I can provide for you are to submit to blog carnivals (if you run a blog) and create website exposure (such as what I mentioned in point 3). If you still aren’t getting any links after that, then go back to the drawing board, your website just isn’t worthy of links. Create something people *want* to link to.

1. They De-value the Web
The purpose of the world wide web is to provide us with information, and we navigate through all the different sites and pages through hyperlinks. We click on other links to arrive at a certain webpage, something we are looking for. Would a user really want to go somewhere that has next to nothing to do with where they previously were? I don’t believe so.

So think twice next time you think about starting or participating in a link exchange program, are you really furthering the value of the web and your website with that type of system?