Link exchange
A link exchange is an agreement between two or more websites to link to each other in order to gain visibility or improve search rankings
What it means, how it is used and where it comes up, with its related concepts.
What it is and how it works
It was a common link-building tactic when the number of inbound links weighed heavily in algorithms such as PageRank. It may be reciprocal, from one site to another and back, or chained across several sites to disguise the reciprocity.
Google considers excessive link exchanges made solely to rank to be a link scheme that breaches its policies, and may ignore or penalise them. However, related sites naturally linking to each other because their content is useful to the other's audience is not a problem. Intent and scale are what matter.
Also known as
Reciprocal linking, Link swap
Topics