recipricol link placement

[dazd2d]

Is it beneficial to build up recipricol links and if so where is the best place to put the recpricol links as i thought it would look scruffy with a list of these links.

[ajwalsh]

As far as SEO purposes, reciprocal linking carries much less weight than it used to. You might want to try to set up a special links page (something like "Recommended sites/blogs") instead of making them site-wide. You could try to get others to reciprocate, but definitely go for quality, relevant other sites.

[matbar20]

I just created a "People We Like" page, and placed reciprocal links in there, but also plenty of other links to sites that were relevant my sites content and could be good resources for my readers

[ChickenFreak]

Scruffy? Why would it look scruffy to present a list of the sites that you eagerly and regularly read, the ones that give you valuable or amusing or delightful information and that your readers will be excited to know about too? Because you'd never dream of putting up a link _just_ because the owner of that site put up a link to your site, right? Of course not.

OK, OK, sarcasm aside: Don't put up links to sites that aren't interesting and valuable to your readers. If you stick to that rule, there's nothing scruffy going on.

[BossBozz]

That's not how Google sees it, large site wide blogrolls are seen as unnatural links and therefore subject to penalty. If you decide to have a long list of links in one place then be sure to no-follow them or risk be deindexed.

[PassiveIncomeTeacher]

If there are sites that would be interesting to your readers and you believe they are good, then link to them. If they link back to you it will be good for you. This is not unnatural, on the contrary, it is what Google expects.

[BossBozz]

Unfortunately that's a very old view of the way things work. Sitewide external links should be nofollowed. Too many webmasters sell sitewide links and too many sites swap reciprocal links, these are not naturally created votes but an exchange between webmasters.

What is the difference in Googles eyes between a blog that sells spots on its blogroll and a blog that links out to a lot of sites because they like them? They both look the same. Many webmasters have been penalised for excessive blog rolls.

If you're creating a long list of sitewide links then add the nofollow attribute to avoid being seen as a possible link seller.

[ChickenFreak]

I doubt that Google is going to deindex high-quality blogs based on them having a blogroll. In my niches (perfume, sewing, gardening), it's a rare blog that doesn't have a blogroll. It would be impractical to deindex the entire niche. ("Wanna read about costume making? Too bad! They had blogrolls, they're outta here!")

_Selling_ links, yes, that should logically result in deindexing. And an excessively tidy one-for-one linked-to-each-other-around-the-same-time nearly-matching-SEOs reciprocal link pattern? Yes.

But a real, honest blogroll is unlikely to have those sorts of patterns. In an honest blogroll, people link up to more popular sites and down to less popular sites and sideways to sites of similar status. They link when they discover a site, not as a result of completing a negotiation for a reciprocal link.

I suspect that Google's analysis is smart enough to be able to deal with a practice that is so commonly used in a real, organic way.

[PassiveIncomeTeacher]

Google, as well as other search engines, want to stop people from manipulating the search results. They are all for having you tell them what is related to your content and for others to say when your content is related to theirs. If you are not participating in linking schemes, linking to bad neighborhood, and doing other things to just manipulate the results, you don't have anything to worry about.

With that said, no site should have an excessive blogroll. It is not useful to the reader and it is possible that search engines may see this as a form of manipulation.

Selling links should not result in de-indexing. All the search engines sell links and most of the major sites as well. Any kind of advertising is a purchased link. Many believe that it is a good practice to mark the link as "nofollow".

[Lindsey]

I created a blogroll and have sent emails asking others if they would link to me. I have learned that asking is not really the way to go. Instead I started linking to people and then emailing them saying that I have included them in my blogroll. Then I ask that they check out my site and if they like me to link to me too. This has had a much better response.

Check out my blog at link removed