Hello, everyone...

In the short period I've been here, I've noticed that not many Webmasters give much attention to Link-Exchanging as a way to increase their Websites' ranking on Search Engines. I thought that perhaps the value of link-exchange is not well known to many. So I decided to give a little bit of information about it...

Link-Exchange is a process where a Webmaster puts a link to another Website on his own Website, in exchange for a link to his Website put on that other Website.

Link-Exchange has been claimed to affect the ranking of Websites on SEs. But the problem is that, just as it can increase your ranking if you link to and get links from good quality sites, it can also decrease it if the links are to or from poor-quality Websites.

But the problem is that, for link-exchange to really work, you have to find high-quality Websites that have a similar theme to your own Website's, AND are willing to link back to you.

I found a community that provides this exact service. It's a Website where Webmasters who are interested in link-exchanging can post their Websites for other Webmasters to review and, if they're interested, link to your Website. Here's the link to this community: Value Exchange Program

The great thing about this service is that it ONLY accepts Websites that have good-quality. This ensures that everyone involved will get higher rankings at the SEs. And it's a totally free-community; you don't have to pay any fees to join.

I hope this post is helpful. Good luck! .

Wow, that's great.
By the way what is the criteria for being deemed as a good quality website?

Well, CaptainRon, there's no definite criteria, which I suppose is the way everything connected with Search Engine Optimization is . But here are a couple of things I always find Websites that acquire higher rankings at the SEs have in common...

1. They're Theme-based, i.e.: they focus on a specific theme, and let every page on this Website focus on a certain aspect of that theme.

2. They're optimized for Search Engines, i.e.: they conform to the criteria most Search Engine propose for a Website to have higher ranking.

3. They provide high-quality information to their visitors.

4. They don't try to cheat Search Engines by incorporating SE-baits.

5. Almost all of the time, those Websites have their own domain name, i.e.: they don't reside on free hosting services offering a sub-domain or the like. It seems to be a criterion most SEs give special attention to.


The points 1 and 2 need a detailed discussion, so if anyone is interested, perhaps we could talk about them in separate threads. The points 3 and 4 are pretty much straight-forward. Point 5 could be discussed quickly here...

It's understandable why SEs would prefer Websites that have their own Domain Name to sites that don't. A domain name is considered an indication that this Website takes itself seriously... It's not a hobby site, created by an amateur who wants to make a quick buck out of it.

And although domain names have become really cheap nowadays, there are Websites that offer free domain names in exchange for posting at their forums, similar to what AstaHost does with hosting. There's this forum, HostBidder, which offers such a service and in which I personally am a member -- this link is actually my own referral link to the Website. Its forum is active, and it doesn't take very long for someone to acquire the required points for a domain name registration.

Hopefully that helped a bit. Good luck!

This post has been edited by Transcendum: Apr 2 2006, 11:24 AM

Actually instead of going through your acutual article (abt SE). I signed-up a HostBidder account from your referral link, thanks a lot I nned a domain. Keep listing these kinds of links every where, I'll keep a track of your posts. Especially yours. Thanks a lot anyway.

Well, ganeshn11, I'm glad to have helped you in whatever way. I'll try my best to keep mentioning interesting Websites as I stumble into them .

Well, I registered with VES so, I hope they will accept my web, and hopefully I'll linkexchange with someone
...Im waiting link aproval email now...

I cannot imagine a reason why they wouldn't accept your Website, finaldesign. You have an amazing Website there, and I personally love it.

Good luck!

I had link exchange for months. In something like 60,000 exposures I got about
116 clicks to my web site.
I have dropped them and the web site downloads three times as fast. My
evaluation is that LE is not worth it.

wojta

http://www.net-promoter.com have some utility (PartnerLinks)