Link Exchanges: Good or Bad?

All too often a hot thread will pop up in a forum where another worried, confused, trying-to-do-it-right webmaster is asking the "experts" about Google's policy regarding link exchanges. Every time the question of linking comes up, a line is drawn in the sand, and the two sides go at it.

Here are a couple of typical responses:

"I still think getting links is a good idea. There are some topics on the web that that's all visitors do is follow links."

"Link exchanges will end up killing a site, many people who have them find themselves under a penalty now."

Very seldom will anyone from either side of the link exchange issue offer definite proof of their argument. Each post is colored with slight variations on the degree to which it is bad or good. Each poster tries desperately to establish some credibility for themselves while arguing that their actions and decisions are the RIGHT way and this leads quickly to another heated, circular debate with no clear winners. This leaves the person asking the original question more confused than they were when they asked it in the first place.

Frankly, no one has any idea what Google, or any other search engine, will like or not like. What worked before may not work now, and no one can give a definitive answer as to why. As the old Zen master once said, "It is what it is."

Now logic dictates that Google does not want to penalize sites engaging in link exchanges. What Google wants is to please the people that rely on them to provide a quality resource.

How does exchanging links or the avoidance of the practice, define a quality resource? It doesn't. People define a quality resource, and therein lies the answer to what approach one should take regarding exchanging links.

As a person you are completely competent to know when exchanging a link increases or decreases the quality of your web site. If anything you do, including linking to a web site that links to you, increases the quality, that is good. If the exchanging of links decreases the quality, that is bad.

Remember this: You have every right to do whatever you think is best for your web site.

You can't control Google, but you can control your site. If you exchange links or do not exchange links because you think it will make Google do something, your chances of losing at some point go way up. If you exchange links or don't exchange links because it makes your site better, then you win. And doesn't it make sense that Google wants winners?