Explore Studios

In link building and search engine optimization, there are basically two different types of links that you’ll commonly be dealing with. There is the reciprocal link, which is basically a trade – you link to someone else’s site, and they link back to you. Alternately, there’s the one-way link, in which you’re receiving a link without having to link back (although that’s not to say that there’s no trade involved!). Which type you are dealing with will vary from situation to situation, and as your site evolves you may lean toward more of one or the other.

Reciprocal links are one of the easier types of links to get, but they are by no means easy to manage. Even once you’ve tracked down a site that is amicable to trading links with you, there are a lot of other hoops to jump through. One of the biggest problems is that a lot of sites just don’t know effective strategies to build link popularity. You may have to go through a lot of back-and-forth to get the link on their site exactly the way you want it. Worse still, some people are unscrupulous and will find ways to ensure that you gain nothing from their links, while they still enjoy the benefits of yours.

One-way links are usually a more powerful tool, but they are also more difficult to get. Part of the problem with reciprocal links is that there’s little quality control. Bad sites can link to other bad sites and they’ll both grow in link popularity, which hurts the general user’s web surfing experience. Many one-way links are posted by people who genuinely enjoy or appreciate a site, so those links are considered more valuable.