My Link Exchange Policy
August 12, 2004 25 | Comments (Closed)
Summary: I get asked for link exchanges all the time, I thought it’d be good to publish my semi-official thoughts on the matter. Subject to change.
I’m often approached by “Webmasters” (they seem to use that term all the time, seems a bit outdated, but whatever) about posting a link to their site on my site. Usually this involves them also give me a link on their site. You scratch my back, I scratch yours, and all that.
The purpose of this, more often than not, it to help their Google ranking more than it is to help spread the word about anything my audience (or anyone else for that matter) cares about. I usually delete these messages. I’m not in the business (and don’t support) “tricking” Google. If I’m going to have a link on my site it needs to offer something of quality that is also relevant to my readers or an ad.
I’m not going to give a free link to anything for the purposes of a higher Google ranking or traffic. With all the spamming going on, if you want to leverage my site for Google ranking, you’ll have to pay or convince me your site is worth linking to on it’s own merits.
I want to give my readers quality links and referrals, and I don’t mind being let in on something good going on, but I’ll not give them irrelevant links or crap. Now, if we’re talking about advertising, that’s a different matter. My Google ads are usually pretty relevant, but at times they stray. I can live with that, they’re ads!
So, to boil it down, here is what I think about link exchanges and solicitation of links on Asterisk:
- In general I don’t do link exchanges.
- I find sites and articles I want to link to on my own.
- I don’t mind people asking, but don’t expect a reply.
- If it’s of interest to my readers I’ll be more inclined to look into it.
- If you have a blog you want me to know about, cool, but I want to read it for awhile before I decide to link to it. Don’t bug me about it.
- If it’s not of interest to my readers, you can probably forget it.
- I’m toying with the idea of text advertising for off-topic links and would be willing to discuss that option, but don’t expect anything.
Filed under: My Sites
Comments
1. Simon Jessey said:
It is funny that you should write about this today. Over the last few days, I have been approached (perhaps assaulted is a better word) by several companies and individuals looking to do link exchanges with me. Since my site is not particularly high in traffic, I am not sure what these folks have to gain.
My policy is much like yours. I don’t mind linking to blogs that I read, and if I think my readers will be genuinely interested in something specific, I’ll link to it within an entry. But as for links to gain ranking? Nah.
Posted on August 12, 2004 12:55 PM | #
2. Derek Featherstone said:
Linking is based on merit, not charity. If someone wants people to link to their site, then they have to make it linkworthy. Seems pretty simple to me – just good, honest, hard work to create quality content/sites.
I can’t imagine people that run blogs actually asking for a link exchange – it just shows that they fundamentally don’t get how blogging works. Are these people asking you to promote products for them, or their blogs, or something else?
Posted on August 12, 2004 01:26 PM | #
3. David Schontzler said:
My sentiments, exactly.
(I had a lengthy reply, but this works much better.)
Posted on August 12, 2004 01:42 PM | #
4. Joe Grossberg said:
Derek:
“Are these people asking you to promote products for them, or their blogs, or something else?”
Often they’re bloggers who are relatively new to the scene and looking for ways to get readers.
It’s a really hard “market” to crack, and your design and/or content has to greatly surpass that of the already-established blogs if you want a readership.
They’re just like anyone else who’s “advertising” their product instead of just relying on word of mouth.
Posted on August 12, 2004 01:53 PM | #
5. Scrivs said:
Funny this comes up as write about the Great Blog Review. If you want to “crack” the market this might help a little bit, but nothing beats hard work. Ask Keith. Ask me. Heh, in my eyes I am still a nobody. Never worked for a large company. Never created a website that shocked the world. Just put my work in. Got linked. Life is grand.
Posted on August 12, 2004 01:57 PM | #
6. Christian Gloddy said:
I’ve been trying to link to only a very few sites that I definitely like. Insanely long link lists seem to be built to be ignored. I also don’t see any reason to point out the obvious with my links like linking boingboing, which I like, but am I really adding anything by creating yet another link to them?
Posted on August 12, 2004 03:00 PM | #
7. Joe Grossberg said:
Scrivs:
I’ve put plenty of work in. I’ve got a decent, clean, original design. I write my own content and link to other sites on a wide range of topics.
Yet, after a year and a half and more than 1600 posts, I still don’t get linked much and I doubt I have 50 regular readers.
It doesn’t bother me much (after all, I blog as a rewarding hobby, not because I want to be an online celebrity), but I can understand why people would be frustrated with their lack of an audience.
(Incidentally, I’m subscribed to 249 feeds through Bloglines, including yours and Keith’s. So I’m not saying that your blogs aren’t good, and I’m not unfamiliar with the blogosphere. But how to get a bigger audience still remains a mystery.)
Posted on August 12, 2004 03:04 PM | #
8. Taco John said:
Or you can be like me and link to sites on your blog just so you can find them later. Like bookmarks I can always get to.
Posted on August 12, 2004 03:21 PM | #
9. Lachlan Hunt said:
If you write it, they will come! There is no point to try and solicit links to your own site or blog — the web is an amazing place and people tend to have no trouble finding new and interesting content.
I’m fairly new to the blogging scene, and have only made about a dozen posts, but already I’ve had more readers and comments than I expected any time soon. I may not be the best writer out there, but I enjoy doing it and I’m confident I’ll build up a fair amount of regulars sooner or later. There’s no chance I’ll ever ask, or respond positively to anyone else that asks for a link.
In general I have a problem with advertising on blogs, especially those annoying google ads that appear on a few that I read, but at least it’s clear that they are advertisments. If bloggers did start soliciting links, it would greatly reduce my trust in the quality of their content, and the content they were linking to.
Posted on August 12, 2004 04:46 PM | #
10. Tristan said:
It’s just a big aristocracy, isn’t it? Reminds me of High School, really – everyone has their little circles and we all link to each other and life is good, until someone comes along and tries to get his foot in… </half-sarcasm>
Seriously now, your policy is good; if that someone turns out to be a nice guy, sure, let him in.
People like popularity. We like to feel a part of a group; it’s in our nature. And the best advice for those looking for links? Like in High School – “just be yourself” – quit focusing on being popular and start focusing on being real. People might eventually find you; and if they don’t, who cares? It’s just a web site for god’s sake. Keep things in perspective.
Posted on August 13, 2004 01:09 AM | #
11. pixelkitty said:
Pimping for links happens to me daily. People think that because I have a long list of links on my site, I will link them if they ask. Most don’t even ask nicely.
That list on my weblog just happens to contain a bunch of people who are real friends, write great content, are fantastic resources and/or who make me laugh. I read each of them every time they publish. And there are around 200 odd more in my Bloglines feed that I read occasionally.
I’m not sure why people think they are entitled to a link exchange just because they have a weblog. It no longer surprises me, but it does frustrate me.
Seems no one wants to start off from the bottom like everyone else did.
Building a readership takes time, not link-whoring.
Posted on August 13, 2004 04:17 AM | #
12. David Bisset said:
Not a week goes by with at least a couple of requests. But I would like to take this time and say if you haven’t checked out flex-mx.com (got two feeds), then feel free. Not asking for a link, just trying to increase my readership (and since I don’t run any ads or after search engine rankings, then I assume this will sit pretty). :-)
Cheers
Posted on August 13, 2004 04:53 AM | #
13. nick said:
I was going to make a point that David almost hit with his plug:
each time you post a comment in someones [well-known or otherwise] weblog, you have the opportunity to link to your page/blog/etc.
if you really want to get into this ‘scene’, and gain readership, it takes hard work. as it was already mentioned, you need a good blog, design helps, content is king however.
Contribute to the blogs you read regularly - leave your unique insights, and make a contribution, other than offering a link from your [unkown?] site to their [well-known?] site.
as people read, and like what you’ve got to say (or hate it, because people read passionate writing) they’ll check out your website.
I’m more likely to look for interesting new blogs/sites through comments sections as I read, than I am at the blog-rolls that people post. Unlike Asterisk - others may very well be ‘pimping’ other sites for link-backs and nothing more.
all that said, click my site if you like. I’ve got 2 blogs that i RARELY keep up. I’d rather read what others have to say and comment occasionally.
my sites are there for me to experiment with, and my family (so they can watch my boys as they grow - sorry, pwd protected)
hope this insight improves the quality of blog for all concerned parties.
cheers
Posted on August 13, 2004 08:48 AM | #
14. Kim Siever said:
I agree with Taco John. That’s mostly what my links are for.
Oh, and thanks for the post Keith. It gave me some inspiration to write a post on my own blog about something that’s bothered me for a long time—the title of “webmaster”.
Posted on August 13, 2004 10:32 AM | #
15. Liz said:
I sometimes wonder if these emails from link whores aren’t just really really REALLY well disguised s|p|a|m. I don’t get a whole lot of them, but just yesterday I recieved one from some cooking website asking for a link exchange. I don’t think I’ve ever even mentioned food in my blog. Just like I’m not a guy nor am I looking to increase the size of my… well, you get the picture. It’s too random for it to be real. But then again, I’m paranoid.
Posted on August 13, 2004 10:46 AM | #
16. Richard said:
I highly recommend that you all read Malcolm Gladwell’s book The Tipping Point or, short of that, Six Degrees of Lois Weisberg at his site.
Some people and their weblogs are what Gladwell calls “connectors”: they have the right mix of interesting new and original content with links out to things that are new to you and because of this, you might go back to their site often.
Some people are connectors offline and can’t seem to make that happen online (it doesn’t always seem to translate).
And I don’t think it’s a formula: there are many different types of connectors and so, many different types of popular weblogs.
There’s no doubt about it: being cool is about not giving a shit about being cool. The more concerned one is the more it shows and the more un-cool one becomes. Amazing. And Gladwell studies many instances of this in his first book and this and other articles at his site.
As has been said many times above: do good work and contribute constructively to the work of others (comment). If nothing else it will make you feel great and that’s enough. If others follow your links and comment at your site, wonderful. If not, go hang out with them.
Posted on August 13, 2004 11:13 AM | #
17. Taco John said:
Like what I said in a comment about successful blogs, if you’re just doing something for readers, or PageRank, it will stand out like a sore thumb. Experienced blog readers will see it. There’s a difference between a diverse group of links and one’s to which there are no rhyme and reason. I guarantee if you stumble across a site with links which don’t seem to make sense, clicking them will lead to sites which have links back to where you came from.
Posted on August 13, 2004 06:02 PM | #
18. John Lemp said:
I understand what you mean and it sounds like you aren’t totally against link exchanges. I think people should trade links with fellow quality sites - its the only way to keep SPAM out of Google. Its a shame Ive noticed a slight decline though in Googles effectiveness as people ‘learn’ how to abuse the system more.
Thanks and nice site
btw: your site comes up first when searching for “web design blog” so you must be doing something right with Google :-).
Posted on August 14, 2004 02:27 AM | #
19. Thalwil said:
Hmmm - no one’s ask me to link to their site yet. Is this a good thing because I don’t get all the annoying requests you people are suffering - or is it a bad thing because no one’s reading my blog (not even those annoying link-requesting types!)…
Seriously: Too many useless links on a blog are almost as bad as spam. I think that in order to remain credible with readers you shouldn’t link to irrelevant or off-topic sites just for ranking or profit. Advertising links should be clearly marked and should still be relevant where possible (another of Google’s great achievements).
Posted on August 14, 2004 05:40 AM | #
20. jm said:
As someone who got into this for the fun of it, and only stays in it for the fun of it, I’m rather depressed about all this “link me” talk. When did blogging become so political? When did it become about ratings? Because if I sense a blogger is motivated by that…I tune out.
Comment spam and “link to me” emails are the latest plague…we had to put in a “delay” feature on our comments to weed out spammers. That’s so sad.
If I link to someone, it’s because I feel that they are relevant to the topic or I’m interested in their blog. Worse, because we’re writing about the renovation of our house, we get product manufacturers who want us to use their stuff and promote it. They get a polite “no”. Lord knows we could use the cash, but freebies and reciprocity take away my ability to speak my mind guilt-free.
I value the ability to spout off or be silly or use poor punctuation or confess my mistakes too much to have that purchased out from under me.
Posted on August 15, 2004 05:33 PM | #
21. Keith said:
jm – I totally agree. One of the reasons why I decided to even think about advertising on my site is because of all the spam I get. I figured that if people were going to “take” advertising I might as well sell it. But yeah, I’d never let that stuff change the way I wrote and what I talked about.
I too value the ability to spout off or be sill or use poor punctuation. ;)
Posted on August 15, 2004 10:34 PM | #
22. god said:
mostly i link to blogs i read only. occasionally if someone with a blog asks me to link them, i will, even if they are just mildly interesting, because it just makes their day to be linked on god’s web site, but not always. i am quite honored to be linked by other people however, as any blogger will tell you, it’s a wonderful feeling to be held in high regard by new readers.
Posted on August 16, 2004 03:12 AM | #
23. Ryan Saghir said:
Getting link solicitations is simply a product of having a popular website. Many of these ‘Webmasters’ are reps from SEO groups going through and performing what they like to innocently call ‘Web Relations Programs’. These are generally performed by companies who manually go through hundreds of websites daily looking for methods to link from one site to another. All in the name of PageRank. That’s all fine and dandy, and I’m sure it works to a degree (or else they wouldn’t be spending the man-power to do it), but I rarely see SEO groups working in a targeted fashion, and that’s my biggest gripe.
Think about it, if you’re on a blog about Persian Kittens, are you really going to click on a link for Auto Insurance? And even if you did (by mistake) would you purchase the product? Probably not.
The same applies for blogs and getting links to your own blog. If you want to have your blog ‘advertised’, begging for a link is not the route to choose - because if you DO get that oh-so-precious link (doubtful), it’ll be buried in a pile of other not-so-precious links. Who the hell wants that? No, if you want your blog to be known to the world, you just need to participate in other blogs that are related. People who are interested in that topic, will click on links to other blogs in a related topic. Simple as that.
Posted on August 16, 2004 05:47 AM | #
24. John Hoke said:
Hmm.
I tend to only link to sites that I read on a daily basis, and I organize them by type … a categorization that may only make sense to me, but what the hell, they only may be read by me. Plus when I see a list of more than 10 or so links in a blogroll, having some sort of breakdown is nice to have, even if it is arbitrary or random.
I may link to 30 sites, but they are not because I expect them to be reciprocated, but simply because I like them or I read them regularly.
Like many others, I never understood the link begging syndrome. I may not be a popular blog, hell, I may have only 5 readers (not counting the 5000 pseudoreading spambots), but I post because it allows me to vent. If someone stumbles on my site and finds something that they may not have found otherwise, thats cool enough for me.
Thanks to the other commenters for various tips/suggestions … one day I may grow up to be a popular blog, but I don’t wanna grow up, I’m a blogs-R-Us Kid… er… :)
Posted on August 16, 2004 01:08 PM | #
25. Scott Johnson said:
I have a few pages with rather high PageRanks, so I get these types of requests all the time. And what amazes me is that the requests aren’t even fair in terms of PageRank. Typically it’s a PR3 or PR4 site that wants a link from a PR7 or PR8 page. That’s not in any way a fair exchange.
And besides, as Keith stated above, the links are normally completely irrelevant to my sites. And more often than not, they are spam links for viagra or some other common spam topic.
Posted on August 25, 2004 02:31 PM | #
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