Is the Reciprocal Link Dying a Slow Death? - The Origins of Reciprocal Linking
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The definition of a reciprocal link is simple to understand:
“A hyperlink you put on your website that leads to a partner website. This partner website also has a link back to your website. The link is 'reciprocated'. Reciprocal links are usually assembled into a link directory. Webmasters use powerful software that handles the assembling and managing a reciprocal links directory.”
Its origin dates back to birth of the civilian Internet. Due to the interlinking nature of the Internet, where sites link to one another to form a “web” of hyperlinked websites, industrious webmasters began exchanging hyperlinks to one another’s sites in the hope of improving their search engine position. The other basic function was to attract targeted traffic from one site to another. This is one of the oldest Web promotion tricks in the book, and laid down the foundation for more elaborate SEO schemes such as the classic “Web ring.”
Reciprocal linking in its purest form actually helps make search engine results more relevant, and gives the Web user additional resources that might not be easily discovered through the use of basic search engine queries. For example, a site about American football (NFL, etc.) might reciprocate links with a site about “soccer” football. The reciprocal hyperlinks will help improve SERPs because both sites will receive a boost in their rankings because they are being linked to by a “football” related site, and of course, they both contain legit “football” content. In addition, the Web user who may happen to be browsing the American football site can click on the link about “soccer” football if he/she is interested in gathering information about that version of the sport.
Next: The Evolution of Reciprocal Linking >>
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