Member Avatar for cmills83

I am starting to do a little link exchanging with some related sites. Usually I work links into the content so it looks more natural but these companies have set titles/link text. Should I make a link resources page or just add one or two on the small column of my site?

I installed a wordpress blog and was thinking about just using it for backlinks, with the occasional blog post as well, do you think this is a good strategy?

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Quick practical guidance grounded in the comments from , and .

Place partner links where they help a human reader first. Contextual, editorial mentions inside a relevant article or a blog post carry more topical signal and user value than an anonymous sidebar or a long, unannotated links page. A resources page still has a role when it is curated, each entry has a meaningful one‑line description, and the list is clearly helpful (not a catch‑all linkfarm).

Tactical checklist:

  • Prefer in-content placement with a short explanation so the link makes sense to visitors.
  • Avoid sitewide footer/sidebar placements for exchanged links — those look transactional.
  • If a link is paid or part of a formal exchange, mark it accordingly (rel="sponsored" or rel="nofollow") to keep your profile clean.
  • Keep anchor text natural and varied; over-optimized exact-match anchors are a red flag.
  • Use your WordPress blog as real content: tutorials, roundups, interviews or case studies invite editorial links. Don’t use it only as a backlink repository.

Monitoring and cleanup:

  • Watch referral traffic and engagement (valuable links drive users, not just PageRank).
  • Monitor backlinks with Search Console or a backlink tool and watch for sudden surges of low-quality reciprocal links. If a partner insists on poor placement, ask for a contextual placement or request removal; use disavow only after removal attempts.

Summary: prioritize user-focused, editorial placements and use resource pages or sidebar links sparingly and with clear value. Build partnerships (as remembers) — but aim for content-based collaborations rather than pure link swaps, which aligns with ’s emphasis on quality over quantity.

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Member Avatar for stymiee

Reciprocal links aren't a good strategy regardless of how "natural" you try to make them look. The concept looks the same to a bot and will be disregarded by Google no matter how "natural" they look. Try to focus more on one way links as they will actual help you in the SERPs.

Member Avatar for cmills83

Yeah I have been submitting to specific/quality directories, and building incoming links lately. I just read recently that having some outbound links similar to your site helps bc it helps search engines specify the topic of your site, have you heard that?

Member Avatar for Dani

I used to be big on reciprocal links for new sites because, especially when getting started, it really helps you to build lasting partnerships with other webmasters in your industry. However, the world of SEO was entirely different back then.

Member Avatar for cmills83

Alright thanks guys, probably just saved me from ruining my seo lol. I'll just continue slowly building quality incoming links and improving content.

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