The Evolution of Link Baiting and Reciprocal Linking

The frantic scramble for web links began when Google introduced their PageRank system, and released the information that by gaining credible links, your site would rise in the search results. This spawned the reciprocal link generation, where webmasters were constantly approaching each other with the simple message of, "If I give you a link, will you give me one?" Back then, PageRank was young and relatively primitive, and this uncomplicated way of gaining links worked very well for people. Soon, Google and other SE algorithms became more advanced, and reciprocal linking lost most of its power. But webmasters are sly, and the three-way link exchange and even four-way link exchange was developed. Yet still, Google managed to catch on to these trends and put an end to them. Currently, link baiting is the most prominent and popular way of generating things. Link baiting is simply making viral and/or very helpful, insightful content and basically luring people into linking to you. Controversial content is also a very good method of link baiting. What people do not realize, although link baiting seems like such a perfect method of link building, it may be approaching a downfall just like reciprocal linking.

One of the problems that made reciprocal linking die was that people did not care about relevance or PageRank of the site they were trading with. They just wanted to get as many links as possible. It was all about volume, when it was relevance that mattered. A few relevant links would do much better than dozens of irrelevant links. Link baiting works by writing about something popular, interesting, or controversial (mainly popular). The "fish" that link baiters are trying to catch include bloggers, forum posters, and content creators, and unintentionally many of these people are writers about new trends and popular stuff. Therefore, many of their websites will be unrelated and the links they create will not hold much value. Google and other SEs are catching onto how link baiting operates, and they may put a stop to it just like reciprocal linking.

Link baiting is considered the most noble, efficient way to generate links, so if Google puts a stop to link baiting, what is left? It was not link baiting or even reciprocal linking that was wrong, but the principles behind them, which is get as many links as possible. Link baiting can still be used, but webmasters must instead try only to bait webmasters of similar sites, so all links are from related websites. The same goes for reciprocal linking. If this can be done, both link baiting and reciprocal linking can be useful, powerful ways to generate links for your website.