Used to be that Google appreciated all kinds of backlinks. Then it got wise to the fact that sites were trading reciprocal links.  And then de-emphasized reciprocal links. Not to say they don’t have any value. But they don’t carry the weight they used to.

So all those directories that require that you have a reciprocal link - just know that it’s not buying you much GoogleJuice.

Backlinks that carry weight

About a week ago I got an email from Joe Lederman, from usdahomeloanprogram.com .  It’s a fresh, brillian approach to trading links, and I’m starting a program to use it with other websites.  Here’s the meat  of his email:

Your website has quality content and a nice layout.  I have a real estate financing site called usdahomeloanprogram.com .  I would like to work with you, to help us both achieve higher search engine rankings.

We could trade links, but Google has really devalued those.   Here’s an idea I got from a friend who does search engine optimization (SEO) for a living and has been seeing very good results from it.  Instead of just trading a link, we trade “about us” articles.

Here’s how it works:

1. I’ll write 2 articles giving an overview of both our sites.  Included in that overview, I’ll embed 3 back links.  I’ll need you to provide me with 2 or three of your most valuable keywords.
2. I’ll post the article about your site, on its own page on my site, no more than 2 clicks from my home page.
3. You post the article about my site on its own page on your site, again, no more than 2 clicks from your home page.

That’s pretty much it.

It will give us both links in thematically relevant content, which will help in our rankings and we both should get additional traffic.

If you have any questions, or want me to get started on writing the articles, feel free to email me back or call with those keywords.  If you’re not interested, that’s alright, just let me know so I can ask another Realtor in the area.

What happened next

I thought it was a brilliant idea. I wrote back, agreeing to post his article if he wanted to send it, and he posted an article referring to my website, with keywords I’d specified.

I got back a good little article to post on my site, and he’d posted an article about my site on his. Great GoogleJuice!  Adds fresh content to both our sites, and gets us both a backlink.

So, if you’re interested in this program, leave a comment here, along with the keywords you want me to write into an article about you, that I’ll post on my Cincinnati home buyer website. Then I’ll send you an article about me that you can post on your site.

If you’re a Realtor (not in the Cincinnati area) or a Loan Officer, this is a great way to build GoogleJuice!

Oh by the way - if you want to do the same trade with Joe, go to my site, click on the "USDA Home Loans " menu choice. You can navigate to his site and establish contact with him.
Thanks Joe!