Google Revises Reciprocal Linking Rule


Posted: August 23rd, 2007 | By: Steve Mullen | Filed under: SEO PR Tactics | 3 Comments

I’m a bit late to the party on this one but you’ll have to give me a break. I was on vacation last week!

In the post previous to this one, I commented on Google’s decision to outlaw reciprocal linking. Now, they’ve clarified the situation somewhat. They added the word “excessive”, essentially saying that reciprocal linking is okay so long as you don’t go overboard. Here’s the original wording of the guideline, which was grabbed in a screen capture and posted at Search Engine Roundtable:

Examples of link schemes can include:

Link exchange and reciprocal links schemes (“Link to me and I’ll link to you.”)

Here’s how it’s phrased now:

Examples of link schemes can include:

Excessive reciprocal links or excessive link exchanging (“Link to me and I’ll link to you.”)

It’s a subtle change, but it makes a world of difference. The previous wording would have penalized, for instance, me linking to Startup BizCast and then linking back from the podcast site. The new wording does what was intended originally — weed out some of the sites designed for purely spam reasons.

Google Appears to Have Banned Reciprocal Linking


Posted: August 8th, 2007 | By: Steve Mullen | Filed under: SEO PR Tactics | 5 Comments

It’s been a staple of link building for websites for … well … forever. You find a site that is complementary to yours, and you ask if the owner wants to exchange links. Unfortunately, Google is now putting the kibosh on that. I picked up on this over at seostreet, which linked to a post at Threadwatch Threadwatcher. Here’s the updated language in the latest guideline from Google:

However, some webmasters engage in link exchange schemes and build partner pages exclusively for the sake of cross-linking, disregarding the quality of the links, the sources, and the long-term impact it will have on their sites. This is in violation of Google’s webmaster guidelines and can negatively impact your site’s ranking in search results. Examples of link schemes can include:

  • Links intended to manipulate PageRank
  • Links to web spammers or bad neighborhoods on the web
  • Link exchange and reciprocal links schemes (”Link to me and I’ll link to you.”)
  • Buying or selling links

Personally, I think this is idiotic. If a webmaster or blogger of site 1 wants to point out good content on site 2, and then the owner of site 2 decides to link back … that’s a violation of guidelines. Google has gone too far.

Some advice: If you have a “links” page on your website where you’ve built up reciprocal links, you might want to remove it. I don’t have one on the site for my public relations firm, but I do have one on a side business where I do sports graphics. I’m thinking I’m going to delete it tonight, or at least remove the bulk of the links.


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