Linkbaiting is a technique that seeks to increase the probability of receiving links from third parties. Don't waste any more time with useless exchanges when there are better ways to achieve this.
Carlos Bravo63
Every week I receive emails that always start in a similar way: “Dear webmaster, we are interested in exchanging links with your blog because we found it very interesting…”
Linkbaiting - getting links from third partiesPhoto rights by Fotolia
However, with the policy I normally apply, I do not usually respond to this type of email because they are not personalized and I know that they are going to 100 other people.
Why you shouldn't exchange links with other bloggers
One of the first lessons you learn when you start blogging is job seeker number that SEO is important. “If you’re not on Google, you don’t exist,” or at least that’s what you’re led to believe. I don’t want to completely downplay SEO, but it’s less relevant than you might initially imagine . Link exchanges aimed at improving a blog’s ranking are an efficient way to waste time as a blogger:
It takes a lot of time : out of every 100 emails you send, you will probably get responses from 10 people, with whom you may end up exchanging 3 links of dubious quality. To have an effect, you would need 10 times that amount, so imagine the time you have to invest to get started.
You need a management tool : The bloggers and webmasters you exchange links with are typically unknown. In many cases they will put up a link and remove it 2 days later. If you don't have a management tool that controls link permanence you may be fooled.
It can hurt you : If for whatever reason you are very successful and get a lot of links in a short time, Google may be surprised by this. It is not normal for a new blog to suddenly become so popular. Another factor that can hurt you is when you tend to get a lot of links from a footer or blogroll .
What to do to receive links without having to ask for them?
As I said, don't waste any more time with link exchanges. They can practically come by themselves if you focus only on providing value without expecting anything in return. It's not complicated, but that doesn't mean it's easy. Those who are consistent and willing to put in the effort will undoubtedly succeed.