Reciprocal linking has to do with exchanging link with sites that you think may be able to send visitors back to your website. It was a very popular means of generating traffic in the last few years. In those days before things turned around to what they are today, many webmasters used it as a means of generating traffic for their sites. It was even among the leading means of traffic generation.
What it could do
Reciprocal linking also helped in increasing the ranking of a site on search engines. Search engines have a way of filtering out sites with few or no external links. You are placed high on search engines if lots of quality backlinks are on your site; especially if the external links are from trusted sites. Reciprocal links made it possible to have such links on your site.
In its hay days, webmasters desiring to rise on the rung of SEO ladder would buy links for their sites. It was also a great business to sell links to such sites. They loved to patronize sites that are promoting things related to what they too are making available online.
Now that reciprocal linking does not seem to have the same bite it had in times past, the webmasters just have to look out for another means of getting the needed traffic and also improving search engine rankings. Some webmasters are still using reciprocal linking today. It may be generating a measure of traffic for them but the result is not as great as what can be obtained from other sources.
What led to its death?
It was discovered that many of the sites seeking to buy links are new sites seeking for recognition online. Anyone selling links to such a new site may not benefit anything from the link in terms of search engine rankings. This is one of the factors that led to the gradual annihilation of reciprocal linking. Anyone who wants to venture into reciprocal linking should look for a site with high ranking to exchange link with in a good and not in a bad way. Many of such big sites also do not want to partner with these small sites seeking for recognition.
Other options
There are so many better options a webmaster can go for today. Article submission sites are providing wonderful opportunities for you to promote your website and the same when it comes to press releases, directories, social sites, link-wheel or web 2.0 links, classifieds, bookmarking websites, forums, guest blogging, blogging online and using fresh content and so on. Consistent posting of qualitative contents on these article submissions and other sites is enough to win you some recognition on search engines. Before you know it, your site may actually end up at that highly coveted top position.
If you wish an expert doing the job, then you should hire an SEO Company that believe and do whitehat seo only, look for great local seo companies and take it from there!
