What Is Link Exchange in SEO, and Does Google Allow It?

A link exchange in SEO is an agreement between two websites to link to each other, usually so both can rank higher in Google, and it is also called reciprocal linking. Google’s spam policies name “excessive link exchanges” and partner pages made only for cross-linking as examples of link spam, so trading links mainly to move rankings breaks Google’s rules and can lead to the links being ignored or to a manual action against your site. Linking to a business you genuinely work with because it helps your readers is fine, and the difference comes down to why the link exists and how many of them you trade.

How a link exchange works

The simplest version is two site owners agreeing that each will add a link to the other, often on a page called Partners, Friends or Recommended Sites. Variations try to make the pattern harder to spot, such as a three-way swap where your link comes from a third site the other owner controls, or a guest post trade where each site publishes an article from the other with a link inside it.

Many link exchange offers now arrive by cold email, promising a link from a site with a high “authority” score in return for a link on yours or a small fee, although those scores come from third-party SEO tools rather than Google, as we explain in our post on what an SEO score means. These emails are often sent in bulk to thousands of sites, and accepting one ties your site to whatever else the sender’s network of sites is doing. Many also arrive through website contact forms, and our guide to stopping spam form submissions shows how to filter them out without losing real leads.

Reciprocal link pages were a common tactic in early SEO, which is why they still turn up in older advice, and Google’s policies and spam systems now name and discount exactly this kind of link.

What Google’s spam policies say about link exchanges

Google defines link spam as creating links to or from a site primarily to manipulate search rankings, and its list of examples includes buying or selling links, exchanging goods or services for links, “excessive link exchanges (‘Link to me and I’ll link to you’) or partner pages exclusively for the sake of cross-linking”, using automated programs to create links, and links placed in guest posts or press releases with optimized anchor text (Google Search Essentials, spam policies).

Two words in that policy matter most. “Excessive” means Google is not against two related sites linking to each other once, which happens naturally all the time, and “exclusively” means a partner page that exists only to swap links is the problem, while a page listing the suppliers you really use is not. The same policy says paid and sponsored links are a normal part of the web as long as they carry a rel=”nofollow” or rel=”sponsored” attribute, which tells Google not to pass ranking credit (Google, qualify your outbound links).

What happens when Google finds a link scheme

The older version of this article said link exchange penalties do not exist, which is wrong. Google detects spam through automated systems and, when needed, human review that can lead to a manual action, and sites that violate its policies may rank lower or not appear at all (Google spam policies).

In practice that leads to one of two outcomes. The first is that Google’s systems simply ignore the links, and in its December 2022 link spam update Google said its AI-based system SpamBrain can now detect both sites buying links and sites used to pass outgoing links, and that credit passed by unnatural links would be lost (Google Search Central Blog). The second, more serious outcome is a manual action, which appears in the Manual actions report in Search Console. Google lists both “Unnatural links to your site” and “Unnatural links from your site”, and for the second it tells site owners to find links that appear to violate its policy, “such as excessive link exchanges”, and either remove them or qualify them (Search Console Help, Manual actions report).

So a link exchange is risky on both sides, since the links you receive may count for nothing and the links you give can count against you.

When linking to another site is fine

The test we use with clients is simple: would you still add this link if links had no effect on Google at all? If the answer is yes, because the other business is a partner your customers need to know about, a supplier you recommend, an association you belong to or a source that backs up a claim, the link is doing its job and a link back from them is a normal side effect.

• A roofer linking to the shingle manufacturer whose warranty it offers, and the manufacturer listing the roofer as a certified installer.
• A dentist and an orthodontist who refer patients to each other and mention each other on their sites.
• A nonprofit thanking a corporate sponsor, with the sponsor’s link marked rel=”sponsored”.

What turns these into a scheme is scale and intent, such as swapping links with dozens of unrelated sites, agreeing to a link only on condition of one back, or using exact keyword phrases as the link text on every swap.

Better ways to earn links

Links still matter, and the ones that last are the ones other sites give because you are worth mentioning. For local businesses, the first step is usually consistent listings on reputable directories and industry sites, which we cover in our guide to business listing sites. For B-You! Dentistry in Suwanee, Georgia, consistent directory listings and links from other sites were part of the work, alongside new service pages and call tracking, that moved “suwanee dental care” from position 27 on March 28, 2024 to about position 8 by May 27, 2024.

Beyond listings, the most reliable sources of links are content that answers a question better than anything else on the topic, which other writers then cite, local press and community involvement such as sponsoring a school team or event, and unlinked mentions of your brand, which you can find with a free Google Alert and turn into links with a polite request. A blog with an RSS feed can also pick up the occasional link from sites that display other sites’ feeds, one of the smaller benefits in our post on RSS feeds and SEO. If you are unsure what kind of content earns links, our post on how content marketing helps a business is a good place to start.

Questions we get asked

Is reciprocal linking always bad for SEO?

Not when two related businesses link to each other because they really work together, which is normal and is not what Google’s policy targets. The risk comes from trading links in bulk, with unrelated sites, or on pages that exist only to hold swapped links.

Should I accept link exchange emails?

We advise clients to decline them. Sites that send bulk link exchange offers are rarely sites you would link to on their merits, and Google’s policy specifically names link exchanges done for ranking purposes as spam.

Do I need to disavow links from old link exchanges?

Most sites do not need to, because Google says that in most cases it can work out which links to trust on its own, and that you should disavow only if you have a considerable number of spammy or artificial links and they have caused, or are likely to cause, a manual action (Search Console Help, disavow links). If you still have an old partners page full of swapped links, it is simpler to remove it or mark the links nofollow.

Is link exchange good for SEO?

Link exchange is bad for SEO when the links are traded to raise rankings, because Google’s spam policies list excessive link exchanges as link spam, and its systems either ignore those links or, in serious cases, lead to a manual action. Reciprocal links between businesses that really work together are harmless, and their value comes from the referrals and trust they bring.

What is the difference between link exchange and link building?

Link building is the broad work of getting other sites to link to yours, and a link exchange is one narrow and risky tactic within it, where a link is given only in return for one back. Most lasting link building comes from listings, press coverage, partnerships and content worth citing, where nobody asks for a link in return.

Are guest post swaps a form of link exchange?

Guest post swaps, where two sites publish each other’s articles with links inside, count as a link exchange when the links are the point, and Google’s spam policies name links in guest posts with optimized anchor text as an example of link spam (Google Search Essentials). Writing a genuine article for an industry publication is fine, as long as any link uses plain wording or a nofollow attribute.

How do I check what links my SEO agency is building?

You can check the links an SEO agency builds by asking for a written list of every link placed for you each month, with the linking page, the site and the anchor text, then comparing it with the Links report in Google Search Console, which shows the sites linking to you most. Any swaps, unmarked paid placements or unrelated sites on that list deserve an explanation.

Read the contract closely as well, since terms such as who owns your website matter as much as tactics, which our fair review of Scorpion looks at in detail.

If you are not sure whether your site’s links help or hurt it, our free SEO audit checks your site for SEO, speed and AI search in about a minute, and our SEO services and local SEO pages explain how we build links that hold up for clients.