Google Appears to Have Banned Reciprocal Linking

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.

5 Responses to “Google Appears to Have Banned Reciprocal Linking”

1. Steve Says:
   August 12th, 2007 at 9:11 am

   The above post was originally written on August 8, but when I looked at the blog today it was gone. I managed to recreate it using Google’s cached page, which fortunately eliminates any conspiracy theories
   Unfortunately any trackbacks and the couple of comments it had are now gone.

2. Startup BizCast #11 - Five Simple SEO Tips for Small Businesses (Steve Mullen) Says:
   August 15th, 2007 at 10:05 am

   [...] links mentioned in this week’s episode: EndGame Public Relations Google Appears to Have Banned Reciprocal Linking Digg Del.icio.us [...]

3. Media Viper » Google Guruji - I must be one!!! Says:
   August 17th, 2007 at 9:42 am

   [...] Google bans reciprocal linking [...]

4. Rose Says:
   September 1st, 2007 at 2:51 pm

   I think you misunderstood. No where in Google’s updated webmaster guidelines does it state that reciprocal linking should be avoided or do they state they have banned linking.

   It does say to avoid “link schemes.”

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

   Google’s terms state “Don’t participate in link schemes designed to increase your site’s ranking or PageRank. In particular, avoid links to web spammers or “bad neighborhoods” on the web, as your own ranking may be affected adversely by those links.”

   Quoting Google further “It is not only the number of links you have pointing to your site that matters, but also the quality and relevance of those links.”

   Linking is not against terms and having a blogroll is not against terms from what I understand, but you should pay close attention to how you link, why you link and who you link to.

5. Steve Says:
   September 1st, 2007 at 3:38 pm

   Hi Rose,

   Thanks for your comments. I’m not sure if you’ve seen the update to this post or not, but I realize the guidelines have been revised. Previously, however, they appeared to discourage reciprocal linking.

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