Matthew Bredel
Subscribe to the inside the Internet Marketing Mind RSS Fed

SAVE YOUR MONEY!

Don't Buy Another Money Making Product Until You Watch These FREE Videos!

First Name: Last Name:
Email:

Inside the Internet Marketing Mind

Just Ask Matt - Answers

Do Link Exchanges Still Work?

QUESTION: (Gerald) I have a number of people asking me to exchange links. I have read that this is good, but can’t find anywhere how to do it. Any suggestions, or is there an article you have that would help me. Appreciate it.

Good question, Gerald, because we really don’t hear as much about link exchanges as we did in the past.  I think the big reason for it is it’s effectiveness (or lack thereof).  Search engine spiders are much smarter than they were 2 or 3 years agos.  And most will recognize a “link exchange” rather easily.

For those who don’t know what a link exchange is, it is when you approach another website (usually with similar content to yours) and ask them to place a nice, keyword-rich anchor text link back to your website.  In exchange, you will do the same for them.  Remember that an important part of SEO is backlinks (i.e., receiving links from other websites pointing back to you).  A few years ago, a lot of this “linking power” was represented by a Page Rank.  Getting high Page Rank websites to point back to you effectively will increase your own page rank.

Personally, I think Page Rank is a bit of a farce these days (at least the public one).  I do think the major search engines (like Google) have there own ranking system based on popularity, but it would not be public.  Still, getting links from “authority sites” with relevance (to your niche) is always key. 

Now getting back to the question…I think link exchanges (or “reciprocal linking”) is really not going to help or hurt you.  Any backlink (in most cases) usually will help you.  But if there is a reciprocal link, the spiders will usually recognize this and probably not give you proper popularity for it. 

Again, like everything SEO, this is speculation, but I know there has been a lot of abuse of link exchanges over the years (like link farms, paid text links, etc.) to draw a lot of attention to it.  I used to do it quite a bit.  I don’t really do it any more (unless I am quite friendly with the website and we exchange primarily for the traffic, not the SEO).  I think your efforts would be better suited to article writing/submission, press releases, even directory submissions. 

You can also consider n-way link exchanges.  For a 3-way link exchange example: Site A links to Site B, Site B links to Site C, and Site C links to Site A.  You can do this rather deeply, too.  But still, the search engine spiders are smart and may start recognizing the linking footprints.  The larger the “n”, the better off you are…but of course, this is a hell of a lot more work and requires some skillful coordination.

Personally, I have become somewhat of an a-hole about link exchange requests.  I don’t get as many as I used to, but when I do I usually ignore them. 

cheers…matt

P.S. If you want to know more about Getting Backlinks, check out SEOExciter.com.  (There are 10 free videos over there that shows you how!)

More Questions & Answers...
GOT A QUESTION?

Who is Behind Marketing Mind?

Matthew BredelMy name is Matthew Bredel and as of March, 2007, I am a full-time, work-at-home internet marketer. For close to 10 years, I worked for a defense company which was an OK job, but I was so uninspired in life and frankly, I needed some more money. That is when I first discovered internet marketing! Now I admit that I didn't start making thousands in my first couple of months (in fact, I lost my shirt!), but I finally saw the "internet light"...

Read More about Matthew Bredel
GURU STUFF
Interviews, Guest Posts & More

Exposing the FTC Regulations on Endorsements and Testimonials

Over the past month, I have felt a lot of rumblings throughout the internet due to the lasted FTC rulings on Testimonials and Endorsements. This IS going to change the way we market online, but who really understands this? Here, I sit down with expert internet law attorney Linda Goodman (from TheGoodmanLawFirm.com) to help me understand the fate of my own websites and its affect on this internet marketing world.

Read Full Post >


GEEK CORNER
HTML, PHP, MySQL
& Other Geeky Stuff

Htaccess & Other URL Redirect Methods

(Sonya) I came to this site by clicking on a “learn more” link that redirects to this page - what I want to know, although be it very basic, is how do I get a link to look like that? For example this web page url is http://www.matthewbredel.com/just-ask-matt, however I just clicked on something that said “learn more”. I want to know how I can title my links whatever I want with hidden url links in the exact same way you have!

Read Full Post >

You are Browsing the January 2009 Archive:

eBay: Not Oversaturated Despite Rumors

In my last post, I talked about Women in Internet Marketing. Today, I’m looking at the Sydney Johnston’s product: Auction Genius. People still look to eBay when they want to buy something online.


Who is Rhea Perry and What Can You Learn from Her?

As more and more women are coming to the forefront of Internet marketing, Rhea Perry is one name that is at the top of the heap. Her annual Entrepreneur Days events are creating a buzz in the online world, particularly for those who are interested in building a family home based business.


Do Women Rule Internet Marketing?

What do I have in common with Lisa Suttora, Lynn Terry, Sydney Johnson, Deborah Carney, Rhea Perry and Rosalind Gardner? I’m a girl who gleefully makes her living online.
Some women who make money online start off in assistant or supportive roles, but many of them aren’t satisfied with that for long before they decide to [...]


What is Funnel Marketing?

After my blog post last week called Is Funnel Marketing Obsolete?, I got a few questions from people wanting to either understand what funnel marketing is or how they can apply it to their own business.
As I explained last week, it is the simple process of initially offering something of high value at little or [...]


Niche Marketing on Ustream

OK, so I finally did it!  My first UStream Video!
I’m beat, though!  I did WAY too much talking.  (I need to shorten it down a bit next time)  And THANKS for those who stopped by to ask questions.
So in case you missed it, I have embedded the recording above.  And today, I babbled on (and [...]


Is Funnel Marketing Obsolete?

I was reading over an email this morning from Gary Ambrose posing the question:
“Is Funnel Marketing Obsolete?”
Of course, this went on to talk about someone who think so, check out there product, yadda-yadda-yadda.
That is fine, but the question is an interesting one, especially in this new era of Social Marketing.
Is the Funnel dead?
The answer: ABSOLUTELY [...]


“Is Formula 5 Right For Me?”

 My number one question is currently:
“Is Formula 5 Right For Me?”
And I think it is a totally fair question, too. This is NOT your
type online product that we have seen and because of it,
there is a lot of confusion over what it will do for you.
Now there are plenty of pages of success stories and
testimonials [...]


No Money Marketing: Can You Really Have An Online Business With No Money?

Can you use free stuff online to launch a successful home based business?  You betcha! In fact, Matt and I wrote the book about this very subject not too long ago and if you join TheWebReviewer you can have a bonus copy of No Money Marketing, which shows you how to make money online utilizing [...]


What Can Stompernet’s Formula 5 Do for You?

Have you been searching for that one product that is going to help boost your business in 2009? Many people are saying Stompernet’s Formula 5 is the one to consider. Online reviews abound and what people are saying is good for Paul Lemberg’s latest product.Formula 5 is being touted to be the ultimate business development guide [...]


Affiliate Summit West 09 - Aftermath

So I just drove back from Las Vegas and Affiliate Summit West 2009.  I was a bit hesitant to go this year, actually.  Last year was the first time I attended the Affiliate Summit event and I came home rather frustrated and confused.
It was no fault to the conference, but rather my expectations.  Entering into [...]


« Previous Entries