Building links through link exchange networks: is the game worth the candle?

Text link exchange networks seem to be a good idea to those webmasters who want to improve a site’s standing in SE rankings. But link building through text link brokers may not be as effective as expected.

 

The idea behind link exchange networks is to bring buyers and sellers together. When done manually, link exchange is a time-consuming process: browsing the Internet in search of link exchange partners, writing emails and monitoring links. It’s a lot of work that could take a long time. Link brokers provide a quick way to exchange hundreds of inbound links with the sites relevant to your site’s theme. While some brokers appeal webmasters with hand-picked sites, the other ones allow users to manually select the sites relevant to their sites’ themes.

 

That’s a very frequent SEO question. Needless to say that the idea of joining a text link exchange network to boost the site’s PageRank seems to be really great. The problem is that Google and other search engines may de-index and downrate your site for using such programs. Does it sound like a good idea now? Definitely not! But link trading can make sense in some cases.

 

Let’s face the truth, webmasters do not follow the same goals when it comes to site promotion. While some are looking to spam junk sites for a quick buck, the others are interested in long-term results. If the site itself is worth nothing, why not make a quick profit through link exchange networks? But if you expect your site to perform well in search engines, weigh all pros and cons before adding your site to a link network directory. Trading links through link brokers is much like sitting on a volcano. Someday, your site with a high PageRank may become a site with PR0. Are you ready to handle this risk? If yes then go ahead!

 

Another thing that should be considered is a link building strategy: whether it’s one-way or two-way linking. One-way linking looks more natural in search engines’ eyes. Search engines can hardly penalize for that, as it’s hard for a webmaster to track all those who link to the site. Two-way linking can also work well when it comes to link exchange between sites with the similar content. But generally reciprocal links are less effective, especially when generated through link exchange schemes.

 

There are many link exchange websites available on the Internet. We suggest you to review a list of a few well-known link exchange networks that - according to public opinion - may be worth joining to.

 

Text Link Ads is the largest and most popular text link broker. This network offers solutions and services for publishers and advertisers. TLA offers a 50/50 split. No matter what’s the price the link is sold, your share will be 50%.

 

You’ll be approved or not depending on your site performance. Mind that they do not approve sites with PR 0. Once you’re approved, you’ll get the code to be installed on your site. This is done for tracking purposes.

 

Another good thing about this link exchange network is the ability to choose between automatic and manual link exchange. A price per link is determined by their specialists. They will review your site and assign the price depending on your PageRank, Alexa and other factors. On their site, you can find Link Worth Calculator that will help you figure out a price per link.

 

Payments are done by PayPal, check, Payoneer ot TLA Voucher.

 

You can also earn extra money being a TLA affiliate. Their affiliate program is a bit different from traditional affiliate programs: not only do you need to place their banner or text link on your site but your referral also needs to make a minimum purchase of $25. And in this case, you will get your $25.

If you are looking to get non-reciprocal links of high value, webmasters recommend considering this text link exchange network. If you are a publisher, you may earn TNX-points by displaying text links on your web pages. If you are an advertiser who wants to improve your site’s popularity, consider buying links from thousands of websites participating in TNX.net program.

 

One of the best ideas of this site is Link Generator, a tool that generates different link anchors, so that they look “natural” for search engines. It’s hard to say whether this tool really protects from search engine pessimization as some webmasters had bad experience with this broker.

 

 

Just like with any other link broker, a price per link will depend on a site’s PR, link popularity and other success factors. The minimum price per link for web pages with PR0 is 1 TNX-point, for pages with PR7, it’s around 5,000 TNX-points.

 

Income Calculator allows webmasters to estimate their profits. The good thing about this site is that it keeps a really low commission of only 12.5%.

 

With TNX affiliate program, you can earn extra points by referring new webmasters to their service. When you bring a referral to the system, you can get 13.3% of the points he or she will earn with TNX. In other words, you will receive your 13.3% of your referral’s income.

 

Their sign up process may seem confusing to webmasters who want to sell links from many sites. This service is really slow when it comes to new sites. But some webmasters are quite satisfied with the results. Just buy the link, get the URL and if you dislike it, cancel the deal. Despite the impressive list of their featured clients displayed on the site, their support leaves much to be desired. Whenever you email them, they don’t bother to email you back. So it can be a frustrating experience, especially to those who are new to link exchange.

 

When exchanging links through this network, you get only 35%. They promise great prices but the fact that this network takes a big revenue share can also result in frustration.

 

This link broker comes as a time saving service. With this network, you can do more with less time. The great thing about LinksManager is its editorial control designed to limit link requests from junk websites. Everything is quite simple. You install their exchange toolbar, set up a new account and feel free to approve or delete requests for links. Here are the main features of this broker:

 

The list of features is undoubtedly impressive. But the biggest drawback of this broker is that it comes with a monthly fee after the 30-day free trial. The fee is not that big though, bust still it acts against the service in view of the fact that there are many free link exchange services with the same features. It’s up to you to decide whether this service is worth trying or not. Anyway, there’s a 30-day free trial period. Why not give it a try?

 

If you have many sites and try to swap lots of links, this broker is just what you need. For just $25 a year, you receive fast link exchange with thousands of link exchange partners, human edited directory and responsive customer service.

 

This service is also great for those webmasters who hate doing link exchange manually. Again, if you have many websites, the idea to exchange links manually is just crazy. This link exchange service allows speeding up the process.

 

If you use the filters, this service works quite well. Plus, the price is quite fair in view of the fact that some brokers charge the same fee per month! Another good thing about this service is that it’s quite loyal to new members: no strict guidelines, no stress. It’s especially great for novice webmasters and for those who want just test the system.

 

A few years ago, link exchange networks worked really great and they were quite effective. Not the same thing today. There are so many webmasters and site owners who have suffered from trading links through link exchange networks. They had to cancel their ad campaigns with link brokers and started it all over again.

 

Is this game worth the candle? Many webmasters admit that they would rather be on the safe side than lose it all in a minute. You’ve created the site, maintained the content, links, etc. You’ve done a lot of work and you can lose it with a blink of an eye. This could be a huge disappointment!

 

Link exchange services work great for those who have many junk websites and are looking to get a quick profit. In this case, the game is really worth the candle.