When requesting a link from another Web site it is common courtesy to offer something — usually a link the other way — in return. Reciprocal linking — the concept of exchanging hyperlinks between Web sites — is a commonly used and sometimes successful method of boosting Web site visibility. If used wisely, reciprocal linking can be very effective, but the mere existence of an inbound link will not necessarily have any measurable impact on a Web site's search engine performance.
Back links, i.e., links that point to a Web site, play an important role in the search engine optimization process. Several top search engines, including industry- leader Google, consider a page's back links the most important element when they determine the rankings for indexed content. Google, however, mainly focuses on the quality of the back links, i.e., the relative importance of the pages that contain the back links.
Google sees organic linking as the truest means of assessing the quality and relevance of online content. Consequently, reciprocal links — having been forged through mutual agreement between Web site owners, rather than stemming from a Web site owner's genuine appreciation of another site's content and unilateral decision to link to that page — tend to receive a relatively low rating in Google's ranking calculations. Reciprocal linking, however, often is necessary. Generally speaking, Google prefers to see one-way links, rather than reciprocal ones. In a perfect world, Webmasters across the Internet would automatically find, peruse and appreciate your Web site and instantly link to relevant pages from their own high-quality Web sites. However, although such organic linking does happen — particularly for Web sites whose pages contain truly unique or pertinent content — it takes time. Thus, actively pursuing back links for your Web site pages usually is a necessity. And the most probable way of succeeding in building links is by offering to reciprocate the ones you ask for.
Because top search engines, including Google, may consider reciprocal links of lesser quality than one-way hyperlinks, some Web site owners have explored triangular linking as a means of clouding the vision of search engines that rely on meticulous link analysis. In a nutshell, triangular linking is the concept of using three Web pages for reciprocal linking, rather than two. For example, in requesting a link from another Web site, you would ask the owner of the targeted site to point his link to a particular page on your Web site. However, the reciprocal link you are offering him/her in return would originate from a different page on your Web site. The back link thus is not directly mirrored by your reciprocal link. Triangular linking often is used in an attempt to make reciprocal links appear more organic than they actually are, thus, theoretically, influencing the search engines' rating of such links.
Triangular linking is not considered link spamming, exactly. Indeed, there can be very legitimate reasons for relying on that concept (such as placing all of your outbound links on a single page, while requesting that inbound links point to the pages that contain your site's actual content). However, search engines are acutely aware of the concept of triangular linking and often wary of the intentions of Webmasters that use it on a large scale. Consequently, triangular linking at best will have a minor impact on your Web pages' search engine ranking.
In determining link importance, search engines usually zoom in on both the ranking of originating sites, the link anchor text and the context in which the link is found. If the anchor text and context appear to support or indicate the nature of the page a link is pointing to, that link might be considered more important than it would have been if the context did not support the destination. For example, if a link is pointing to an online bookstore and the link's anchor text or adjacent text includes book-related terms, then search engines will probably determine that the context adds to the link's importance. Conversely, if the context does not indicate the nature of the link destination, the link will not gain in importance based on its context. Therefore, to make the most of reciprocal linking, you should zero in on high-ranking sites of similar topical content and attempt to reach a reciprocal linking agreement with those sites.
When requesting a link from another Web site, there is, of course, no guarantee that the administrator of that particular Web site will be interested in granting that link — or engaging in a reciprocal linking agreement.
When pursuing a reciprocal linking agreement, the owner of a targeted site must be convinced that an agreement is mutually beneficial. One way of doing so is to go ahead and add a link to the targeted page and place that link in an attractive context. Seeing that a return link is already in place, the owner of the targeted Web site might be more compelled to link to your page/site in return.
There can be various reasons for a site owner's refusal to include a requested link to your Web site. For example, your site might be so similar in content to the targeted site that the owner of the targeted site considers it a direct competitor, in which case he is unlikely to aid the opposition by including a link. Another reason a request might be declined is that the owner of a targeted site sees no advantage in the reciprocal linking because you fail to make a convincing case that an agreement is mutually beneficial. Or, the owner of a targeted site might simply decide that his site already contains enough outbound links.
Although link building can be a time-consuming project, being persistent is generally worth the effort. A single reciprocal link with a significant Web site will be more effective than a bunch of links from lowly ranked or unrelated sites. Giving in to the temptation of joining a free-for-all link exchange/link farm is ill-advised. Sheer link quantity alone might bring more random visitors to a site. But it will not influence search engine ranking.