Web Site Design, Search Engine Optimisation and Internet Marketing

Link Strategies - Three Way Linking

This is where the subject of link exchange can get complicated. Three Way Links are when you are asked to place a link back a site but in turn you are offered another link back from another site that is owned or managed by the company. Whilst this doesn't seem to be a problem there are issues to be considered. In short some webmasters own many sites and they try to build up one of their sites by offering link exchanges with the others to which their main site is connected to.

Most Search Engines algorithms are more than capable to detect link trading as an artificial means of boosting the link popularity of both sites and will discount the value of these links which makes them worthless at best or damaging at worst.

Most Web Masters trading in 3 ways links will have hosted their sites on different hosting servers so as to try to prevent the Search Engines realising that the sites are merely owned by the same user and it's a deceptive practice which is frowned upon by the Search Engines.

It's fair to say that any one engaging in 3 way linking is doing it with the express intent to try to manipulate search results and in so doing try to deceive the search engine bots that they are smarter than they are. Logically it's not a natural way to acquire links and as such can only be deemed as Grey Hat SEO at best or Black Hat SEO at worst.

Link Strategies for Internet Marketing
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