Lately, it seems more clients are receiving emails asking them to exchange links. Our response is usually, be careful! An unsolicited link exchange request that you receive in the email is usually suspect at best. Link exchanges which do not favor your website will often harm your search engine ranking.

What to look for:

Before agreeing to exchange links be sure to ask where they would like you to place the link to their site; your homepage or a subpage. Likewise, you need to ask where the link to your site will exist on their site. This is important because the deeper you are in their website, the less traffic you will receive from the link exchange. Let's give an example: All-Linksite.com (a directory site) vs CNN.com ( a reputable news site).

All-Linksite.com does not generate the interest or the traffic that CNN.com generates. Generally, a good rule is if you have never heard of the website before, then don't trade links. A link deep within All-Linksite.com will do nothing for your site, however a link from your website to All-Linksite.com will likely generate more traffic to them, then from them. In which case you lose.

When to make an exchange:

Find a reputable site that people in your industry use. For instance, Imulus is a member of the Colorado Software and Internet Association, a well-known local industry group. This link exchange benefits both CSIA and Imulus. If you are a member of local business groups, ask them to send a link to your site, and return the favor.

Perhaps you have partnerships with other companies; make exchanges to benefit both parties. Insider Tip: If you want to know who links to your competition then you can use Google to gain a competitive edge. Here is how. Do a search for the competitor (ABC Company) in Google. Find the web address / URL of the competitor's website. Using Google, type in the search box "www.abccompany.com" without the quotes, and you will see an index of all sites Google is aware of that are linking to www.abccompany.com. This will allow you to see where your competition is recieveing traffic and these are the sites you should be exchanging with.

George Morris is co-founder of Imulus, a internationally recognized design + interactive agency located in Boulder, CO. Imulus is one of the fastest growning web design + interactive agencies in the Denver area. George is interested in emerging technologies, website usability, and search engine marketing.

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