Explain to a newbie - Link Exchange???

[Barry]

What is this "Link Exchange" of which you all speak?

Is there some kind soul who is willing explain the basics of this to the new guy?
I am assuming it's some method of boosting your ranking in search engines?
What is the deal? How does it work?

[ErikTheRed]

Barry,

Here's a good place to get started:

http://www.google.com/search?q=link+popularity+101

In short... yes, link exchanging can greatly boost search engine rankings (if done properly). Linking, backlinks, etc is a huge topic and one of the three most important aspects of SEO. I would suggest spending some time just reading what's out there already to get started.

[HMiller]

Try reading this tutorial.

[sarahk]

an this link exchange information might help

Sarah

[webmaster]

http://www.seo-guy.com/seo-tutorial/...chor-text.html this will also help understand the logic behind it, and best practice

[Barry]

Thanks gang!
I totally get it now!

Well...not totally. But I now understand the basics and am no longer a "newbie" to the topic.

[qksalerltr]

wow, that's a lot of information!!!

[DKiss]

Its too much information for a 'newbie' to get. Link building happens over a period of years. The best place to start is get listed in yahoo directory, dmoz directory, and in the google index. Yahoo is easy, just pay for it. dmoz is hard, but keep following the guidelines until you succeed. google will spider your site, but unless its optimised for your keywords, you wont serve any results. bring in an expert at this point.

[sarahk]

With the directories - just submit it and forget it

and concentrate on link building with smaller, niche sites.

sarah

[jstcrzyengh]

Its too much information for a 'newbie' to get. Link building happens over a period of years. The best place to start is get listed in yahoo directory, dmoz directory, and in the google index. Yahoo is easy, just pay for it. dmoz is hard, but keep following the guidelines until you succeed. google will spider your site, but unless its optimised for your keywords, you wont serve any results. bring in an expert at this point.

I have to take issue with the Yahoo listing unless your plan is to not exchange links with other sites. Yahoo can, and usually will, change your description and title in your results. If they do it right its helps you, but if they do it as they usually do it, it can hurt you. Without a yahoo directory you are able to change your own title tags and descriptions, directly impacting your ranking.