To Do Or Not To Do – The Dilemma That Shadows Reciprocal Link Campaigning!
The basic problem that people have with SEO is in their approach. They prefer a list of established SEO rules and follow them blindly even without thinking what they are, why these should be followed, how they affect the ranking. One of such prejudices still exit when discussion begins on Reciprocal Link Campaigning.
Reciprocal linking is one of the highly controversial issues in the search engine optimisation world. There are several believes involved in the controversy. Some says reciprocal links are good for search engine ranking; some argues that it is a waste of time; and some even justifies the benefits of reciprocal linking, if it is done within a certain limit.
Here goes a thorough explanation of all three individual factional believes:
1. Type 1: reciprocal links have no influence at all on the ranking of a webpage in the Google SERPs (Search Engine Result Pages).
2. Type 2: reciprocal links are as normal as any other form of inbound links so far as their functions and effects are concerned.
3. Type 3: there's a limitation. This means you cannot obtain back links in reciprocal form completely without acquiring any other form of links (i.e. one way back links).
Now it’s really difficult to identify which section is saying right which one is wrong. The Type 1 is absolutely rejecting reciprocal linking concept, where as the Type 2 affirms the concept. I would like have further introspection into the Type 3 belief. Limited reciprocal links is good for website is the overall outcome of the Type 3 section. In other terms, we can assume the high volume of reciprocal links is spam and it hampers website’s ranking in search engines. The sole intention is that it is not beneficial for a website to have 100% back links in reciprocal form. Of course, one should not have all links in reciprocal form as it can be recognised a spam technique to acquire back links by search engines. Link building expert Eric Ward has a different view on this aspect of reciprocal linking. He says, “For some sites, it is normal to have a high reciprocity percentage.”
Recently Eric has conducted one test to verify whether it is justified to have almost 100% reciprocal links without being stamped as SPAM. “The South-eastern Bat Diversity Network - an organization with a goal to ‘conserve bats and their habitats in south-eastern North America through collaborative research, education, and management.’ Very noble indeed! I've always felt bats needed help.
If you take a look at other top sites within this subject area, you start to notice something. The other sites devoted to bats have a tendency to link back and forth to all the other sites devoted to bats. While this should not be surprising, many people miss a key point about what this means. Reciprocity link spam cannot be determined by a fixed number. A reciprocal links percentage cannot be set in stone. What's reciprocally spammy for one topic is perfectly natural in another topic." (Courtesy: EricWard.com)
Now you must be eager to know what you should opt for. “To do Reciprocal Link Campaigning or not to do” is the dilemma. You need not to think that a reciprocal link is bad or good. Even you should not think that reciprocal link campaigning will be beneficial for your site or not. If you think a reciprocal link as any other link then you will certainly see the benefits of the reciprocal link campaign. “Too much of something is good for nothing”, you should remember this pro-verb. Be judicious while obtain reciprocal links and concentrate on quality rather quantity.
