Rpsoft Site-Crawler Links

Reasons to Check for Reciprocal Links
shows some of the issues that we have seen

Examples of Site Problems
Reciprocating Links Back to Others

While most Webmasters and Webmistresses are most honorable - including all of the ones from the fine sites that we link to today, there can be problems with reciprocal links promised to you.  Furthermore, we also believe that there are  a few people out there that are not as honorable as the fine partners we link to today.  We find that overall almost 50% of reciprocal link exchanges - even with prior agreement, bear some checking - definitely at the start, and later at intervals to ensure nothing is missing.  Which 50%?  No one knows.  One has to check 100% in order to determine which 50% need checking.

1. Advantage of One Sided Links is Tempting - several "experts" today tell us that a one sided link might be considered more valuable by search engines such as "google" than a reciprocal link.  But of course, who would agree to a one-sided link?   We are very sure that we have seen at least one site that in fact did just that - agree to a reciprocal link exchange and then later removed our link - and many links to others.  Their link pages seemed to go from "huge" to "tiny" overnight.  They of course did not respond to email complaints, and we of course removed our links back to them.
    

2. The Missing Link Page - We have now seen a  number of sites who use simple links for their cherished affiliates and their own pages, but have a complex linking system to their partner links.  And why should we not be suspicious that these sites wish to "appear" to be good link partners, but instead have a means for getting one sided links from those that do not bother to check their link structure?  We think at least several are cheating on purpose.  If one does not check these sites out, these sites will win.  We had one link request recently from a site that gave us the link page that our site was on.  It was on that page.  But when we scanned the site to ensure one could find the links page, our site-crawler bot found more than 2400 internal link pages simply coded - and yet not the links page.  There also was no visible human link to the link page on their main index or on several internal pages.  We wrote them with our findings and said "no thanks".
    

3. Automatic Link Systems - Some web site owners are quite honorable, yet their links still do not happen since their automatic systems for putting in their links do not always work.  If you find the issue and tell them, some will fix the issue.  Some others, however, seem so dependent on their automatic systems that if there is a failure, they seem to not know how to fix them.  It pays to check.  Note that a site search for your link as provided on these sites may not give you the answer you want; we find that many site reciprocal link checkers do not check their own site, but a separate data base.  That might mean that they "are thinking of you", but it may not mean that there is physically a link on the site back to you as promised.
    

4. Forgotten - We have also seen many honorable site owners who seem to apply for link exchanges to many sites at the same time.  With only so many hours in a day, they may accidentally forget the agreement with your site - and it may be very unintentional and honorable.  If you do not check for their link, you will simply remain forgotten.  If you do check, you can often send them a note and have this problem fixed.
    

5. Off the Air - We have also seen a number of sites that simply go off of the air.  I am not sure that any of us can blame them for not telling us that the link exchange is no longer valid from their side.  In this case, there of course is no reciprocal link back to you since in fact there is no site any more.
    

6. Not Good Enough - This problem is not a very honorable one from the other site owners, but we have seen it.  One site owner told us that they were indeed happy about the link exchange via one email.  Then later we noted the link missing from their site.  When they were asked they said that our page rank was not high enough.  (it is today, by the way).  Well, that seemed to not be the issue on the original agreement.  I sent the original agreement back to that site owner and then removed the link from my site to theirs.  Just as an aside - note that if one sticks with good sites even if they are not highly ranked today, they may become highly ranked tomorrow.  Just a thought.
    

7. Errors - Even with the best link exchange information, and with the best intentions, there can be errors on the link additions.
    

8. No Longer Relevant - Once we were approached by a "link advisor" for a third party who wished a link with one of our sites.  We agreed to the link exchange and put the link in.  After a few months we checked and found no link on the other side.  After an email query we were told that "the site owner now thinks our two sites are no longer that similar, and changed his mind on the link".  There was no email on their change of heart of course.
    

9. Off Site Storage - Some sites will store links off site. This is a big advantage for them - since it leads to one sided links coming into their sites with no reciprocation on their parts.  There are two problems with this.  First of all, site crawler and other bots are often programmed to not leave a site.  Therefore, they will not see your link on their site - but only if they are programmed to look in that new location.  And the new location is likely devoid of content, and will likely therefore always be rated low by the search engines.  It may not even be advertised to the search engines that it exists.  It is best to at least know if you are the victim (willing or otherwise) on off-site storage.
    

10. Drop Down Boxes and Mouse-overs - Drop down boxes on sites, and mouse-overs may at first seem clever.  But they also can stop a bot from finding the reciprocal link back to you.  Are they being done by someone who with good intentions who has simply gone too far on programming?   Or is the site owner trying to block your link and establish a more favorable one sided link in the process?
     

11. New Location - If you try to look for links on a single page that you were told it was on, and it is not there, it might be on another page.  This one can happen quite easily and does not indicate wrongdoing.  There is a belief that more than 50 links per page is a bad idea and that search engines may ignore such pages as a "link farm".  Some of us also believe that links should be alphabetical within a category.  In keeping things alphabetical and less than 50 links per page, as links grow for a site, a specific link may have to move pages.  At rpsoft 2000 we sometimes have to move partner links in order to keep them organized, alphabetical, and yet less than 50 external links per page.  How to find the link at its new location?  Use site crawler and scan the site.  How to tell how many links you have per link page?  Use site-crawler.  It is what we use.

Summary

The above are all issues that we have seen.  Some of the reasons are quite honorable for a web link partner, and some are not.  And in many cases, we of course just don't know how honorable the intentions are on the other site's part.   However, if one does not verify reciprocal link exchanges, then one is gambling that their links are there.  From our experience, even if others approach you on a link agreement, difficulties on the link being in place could be as high as 50%.  And checking many, many sites, each with possibly hundreds of pages, can of course be quite tedious.  We, for one, would not be doing link exchanges in the hundreds without our software bot, site-crawler.