Link building is an integral facet of search engine optimisation. While content can help get your site indexed for the most appropriate keywords or terms, it is your search engine link profile that will ultimately determine how well your pages rank within the main results. As such, marketers and website owners have long been on the lookout for ways to generate links for the websites under their care.
The Problem With Reciprocal Links
Reciprocal links were once considered the most effective and efficient means to develop links for any website. The principle was simple. Two websites would provide links to one another, both thereby gaining benefit for their link profile and boosting their search results. The problem with this technique, in the eyes of the search engines, was that these links provided no measure of the quality of the pages. Mutual benefit was provided for both websites but not necessarily for visitors.
Value Of Reciprocal Links
While they may have once provided great benefit for a search optimisation campaign, the value of reciprocal links has declined markedly in recent years as search engines have tweaked and improved the algorithms that they use to determine the value of a website. As such, webmasters and search optimisers are now better served looking for ways to create high quality, inbound links.
