Have you heard of the quid pro quo arrangement? You give something in return for something. That’s what reciprocal links are in the SEO space, and as one of the leading providers of Bradenton SEO services, we have some insights that’ll help you know how to use them strategically.
Reciprocal links are an agreement of link exchange between two brands/sites to boost SEO and site authority. Although they are technically against Google’s guidelines, they have been an SEO hack since the early 2000s.
Google calls it a link scheme and strongly advises against it. So, are reciprocal links shady?
Well, it depends on how you use it!
Reciprocal links, today, are a natural byproduct of owning a website. Brands develop relationships with other brands through authentic outreach. Hence, when you link to their sources without any expectation of reciprocation, they might discover your link and reciprocate organically.
Can Reciprocal Links Hurt Your SEO?
Reciprocal links can hurt your SEO if;
- You’re trying to manipulate search results by exchanging links. It can lead your website to be penalized by Google.
- You’re linking to sites that are irrelevant to your content or have low domain authority.
- You’re linking to your direct competitors.
- You have a ridiculously high number of one-to-one links.
- Your anchor text is unrelated to your content.
