Link popularity is becoming the latest "in-thing" to get your website ranking well with the Search Engines.

Getting links to your website is critical but there are some guidelines that should be followed for successful Reciprocal Linking. In addition, a lot of website owners are becoming particularly choosey as to who they link with, and they cannot be blamed for this. Linking to good quality websites is paramount.

So where does that leave the website owner with a low to average Google Page Ranking?

We will presume for just a moment that your website has an overall Google Page Ranking of between 0 and 3 (out of a possible 10). How can you improve this so that you have a better chance of getting good quality reciprocal links?

Link exchange is not the only thing that helps increase your Website Page Ranking. It is a combination of a number of factors, such as :

* Great relevant content

* Designed to keep the visitor interested and informed

* Meta Tags should be well optimized

* Keyword density

* Frequently updating the content.

There is a lot of free information regarding page ranking - just put "google page ranking" in the Google search bar for more details on this topic.

Back to Linking!

Developing a good Links Page on your website takes a lot of effort to start off, especially if you are doing it manually and not using a Link Program.

You need to plan and organize your time so that you can evaluate possible link partners thoroughly. You should check their website to ensure it is of high quality, providing relative information and products to your website theme.

There are a few schools of thought regarding linking to "competitor" websites, some feel it is not a good thing. However, personally I don't believe it to be detrimental as long as your website offers top quality information and products. After all a little bit of competition helps keep us on our toes. Whether shopping online or offline, people usually browse for bargains or the best quality before making a purchase.

This of course, works both ways as your site is also listed on competitor sites. So having a good balance of both competitor sites and related sites is the best answer.

Planning your links page is important in that you need to determine how you want it to look, what categories you will have and the size and positioning of the links. Will you just have text links or will you accept banner links?

It is good practice to have the Link menu button placed in a prominent position on your home page. This is also a point to remember when evaluating possible link partners - on some website you can spend ages searching for the Link button and the Link pages.

There is also the practice of placing extremely good beneficial links on other pages of your website. For example:

If your site is promoting health products you may very well want to place a banner ad on your homepage for say a health magazine.

In most cases you will be required to place a link on your website first prior to requesting a link exchange. Once you have placed the link, send an email advising that you have visited their site and believe a link exchange would be beneficial to both parties. Mention something about the site that impressed you, this way they will know you have actually visited their website. Endeavor to get a name to address the email to if at all possible.

Of course, many sites today have everything set up with forms that enable you to just fill in your website details including the reciprocal link address. This does make the job much easier, but it is good business practice to send a confirmation email advising that their link is listed on your site and that you look forward to a reciprocal linking arrangement.

This last step can be beneficial at a later date in that you may want to approach them in the future with a joint venture proposition for example. Linking is more than just swapping site information, it can be the first step to a profitable business partnership.

A couple of important points to remember:

* Check all the links regularly to ensure they are working.

* Check that your link is still listed on the partner site.

As your Link Pages grow, it will probably become necessary to use a Link Managing Program or Service, there are a number of very good ones available, some with a free trial period.

Happy Linking!