Link exchange is a mechanism that all website owners have heard of. It is almost as if it is an expectation. You have been approached by link sellers and intermediaries brokering link sales. Every one out there believes that getting links is the be-all and end-all of search engine optimization.

On the one hand I have to agree with the importance of links in getting your site to rank better, on the other, I am not comfortable with some of the methods used. And to add to the already grey area of buying links for the purpose of altering your search engine ranking is a directive from a major search engine, the most major one actually, that they will be devaluing purchased links!

So, let us look at some of the basics of purchasing links that will, quite likely, be the smart way to get links.

First of all, I think that it is not natural to have many sites giving you sitewides. Why would a normal site want to give you a link from all of its pages? Ok, for a coupe of sites there might be some reason, but for the most part it is unnatural. As a consequence, if you buy links, buy them on a specific page, probably the homepage, and not on all pages of a site.

Second, make sure that the sites linking to you are of all types. If your link building campaign revolves only around directory submission, or article marketing, or high PR pages, or the like, search engines might start seeing a pattern and devalue your links.

Third, make sure that your links are being added over a period of time, unless your destination page is newsy. I am not saying that getting a thousand links in a week is too many. But a thousand links in one week and close to no links for the next few weeks might look strange.

Fourth, and this one is well known, make sure that you are not being linked to from a page that is running riot linking to all and sundry.

Fifth, ensure that your links look like natural links. How would that be? Well, on the one hand, try to have varying text in the link (this text is called the anchor text). On the other, you can try and get links to the homepage as well as to inner pages. This will make the links appear "natural."

Sixth, focus on the topic or theme of the page that is linking to you. Focused links are quite likely more valuable. But do not focus manically on this. Unrelated links have value too. But the one thing that you should avoid is getting links from pages that link to a lot of "bad" pages. True you cannot control who links to you. But at least avoid knowingly getting links from "bad neighborhoods."

Seventh, reciprocals are dangerous. Reciprocal linkage is common in the interconnected world of blogs and may not be the poison pills that they are often known to be. But, reciprocal links should be a small component of your backlinks. Search engines might otherwise classify you as a spam site.

Let's discuss this on the DP forums. Also get offers on free links and find out the best way to buy links for great SEO.

Tags: search engines, search engine optimization, anchor text, search engine ranking, period of time, expectation, consequence, link exchange, article marketing, directory submission, grey area, intermediaries