Link exchanges and you

Link exchanges with other blogs.



I haven't talked about them in quite awhile. Despite that delay on my part, in discussing the topic, that hasn't stopped other people from doing so.



There are a few linking questions going around that we need to examine fairly closely.



Some bloggers have asked me if it's true, that if you link your blog to a lower Google PageRank blog than yours, would it hurt your blog's PageRank. The answer is no.



Google PageRank, of course, is the numerical measure of a site on the internet, based on the number and importance of your incoming links. Google assigns a number, on a logorithmic scale, to your blog. The PageRank can be seen with the the Google Toolbar.



Linking to lower Page Rank blogs will definitely not hurt your Google PageRank. While they won't add as much PageRank, as a higher ranking blog or website, every bit counts toward your total. Who knows, their PageRank may continue to rise and pass yours.



Google does not appear to be penalizing link exchanges between blogs either. In fact, Google lists the PageRank 4 and higher reciprocated blogs, in the backlink readout, from the toolbar. Note Google only displays pages with PR4 or higher.



Every week, I get requests from bloggers for link exhanges. I am happy to exchange with blogs that I like, that I believe my readers will find interesting, and ones that follow proper blog etiquette.



By blog ettiquette, I mean that they place a link to your blog on their blog first, before they ask for the exchange. That is proper link exchange etiquette. All too often, people will e-mail me requesting an exchange, but the link to my blog is nowhere to be seen on their blog. I am left to guess that it will never appear there.



Always link to a blog first, and send an exhange request second.



When you link to other blogs, it will help not only them, but you as well. Often, simply by linking to a blog, you will find a link back to yours without even asking. I link to many new and interesting blogs often, that do that.



If you think a blog will be of interest to your readers, simply link to it.



Good things happen to those bloggers who link freely to others.