Link Trading

[AcmeMike]

I have a local service area business, and was considering contacting other like businesses located in other areas to see if they would be interested in trading links. Is this a good idea, or not? I definitely do not want to do anything that could be looked at as black hat or shadey.

If this is a good idea - does anyone have any suggestions on how it should be implemented on-page?

 

[Colan Nielsen]

Hey @AcmeMike Google calls this tactic out specifically here - Link schemes - Search Console Help

Link schemes
Any links intended to manipulate PageRank or a site's ranking in Google search results may be considered part of a link scheme and a violation of Google’s Webmaster Guidelines. This includes any behavior that manipulates links to your site or outgoing links from your site.
The following are examples of link schemes which can negatively impact a site's ranking in search results:

• Buying or selling links that pass PageRank. This includes exchanging money for links, or posts that contain links; exchanging goods or services for links; or sending someone a “free” product in exchange for them writing about it and including a link
• Excessive link exchanges ("Link to me and I'll link to you") or partner pages exclusively for the sake of cross-linking

 

[AcmeMike]

Thank you Colan! I have to admit my instincts were saying if it seams too easy, it's probably cheating.

I'll not be pursuing this!

Thank you again!

Mike

 

[innateseo]

I have a local service area business, and was considering contacting other like businesses located in other areas to see if they would be interested in trading links. Is this a good idea, or not? I definitely do not want to do anything that could be looked at as black hat or shadey.

If this is a good idea - does anyone have any suggestions on how it should be implemented on-page?

I would avoid anything even relatively black hat. As in if you have questions, avoid it, trust your intuition. It's not worth ruining a branded domain.

 

[AcmeMike]

Yeah, I am not getting involved with anything like that. My new motto is that if it seems too easy to be true, then it isn't.