This has been a hot topic in the SEO world for the past while now. I want to drop my bit of wisdom and share from experience what I have seen and heard. Many say that site wide links are extremely harmful and that search engines such as Google are now penalizing sites for this. Others say it is very profitable as a simple link exchange across one site can provide you with hundreds or even thousands of good links. So what to think for this?
I personally have many site wide link exchanges and from this I have learned a few things:
- Do not get to many to fast! The age of your site and the age of the linking site is of ultimate importance here. You do not want to exhcange links with every site out there just because you can. Be picky and choose sites that have been in existence longer than 1 year, sites that have good SE rankings, sites with a decent page rank, and sites with like content.
- Think before you act! Research the site(s) you plan to request a site wide link from. See how they stack up against their competition. Make sure your link won’t be #196 on the site. Does the site provide legitimate and helpful content? These are just a few of the factors to research.
- Don’t always seek after site wide link exchanges! Just like you don’t always order the exact same things at a restaurant, don’t ONLY go for site wide links.
- Try to get some links on specific articles pertaining to your site’s content, try to get a single link in a visible area on a high trafficed site, and so on.
I hope this clears up a bit of confusion. Site wide links can be a very good thing when used effectively and in moderation!