Do Reciprocal Links Hurt You?

Most SEO specialists out there try to get as many of those coveted reciprocal links which are supposed to rank you at the top of Google "in no time". In doing so, they nearly forget how overdoing such linking campaigns can be harmful. Do you think there is such a thing as "overdoing-reciprocal linking can harm you" phenomenon?

Yes, there definitely is. For example, if you have a brand new website, which has done no other linking except reciprocal linking with websites in the same market, you stand a very good chance of getting penalized. If you think the chances of excessive reciprocal linking penalizing you are many, you are right!

Reciprocal links used to help in the past, when the search engine algorithms were not that sophisticated. But they carry minimal weight now. Why? Because doing this kind of linking on a large scale is like asking Google to come and take notice..in a bad way. And Google has very sophisticated spam triggers, which can cause severe penalties to your websites.

Do reciprocal linking partners link to each other on merit? Not at all! They link out to each other with the sole objective to increase their link popularity and nothing else! Google knows this already and is cracking down on such practices, and I strictly believe that if you overdo your reciprocal linking campaigns, you can easily get penalized.

If you think an SEO company which is only building reciprocal links for you is helping you out, you might want to reconsider. Most SEO companies only try to do reciprocal linking because it costs them next to nothing, and all they have to do is send out an email to another webmaster to ask for the link.

In the end, if you want to build reciprocal links, make sure they do not constitute a bid percentage of your link profile. Try to diversify where you get your incoming links from. If you are relying on only one or 2 different methods to rank high online, you will be solely disappointed!

By Yasir Y Khan

About the Author: Get higher website trust and search engine rankings by using our link service. Also, check out our SEO blog.