would open the door to a whole realm of sabotaging other sites by linking to them.

So if you want to avoid being “Google Slapped” (where you get knocked off the top of the search engine placements for what Google interprets as foul play), what is then a safe linking practice? The answer is simple. You have to think without thinking about the "pleasing" the search engines. Set up linking arrangements that appear natural and ask yourself, “Would I place this

In the past, one of the most effective way to generate traffic and improve your search engine ranking is through building links. Building links is very easy. Just find someone with a site that has content similar to your own and strike a deal where you will link each others site in your web pages. But those good old times are gone. Some web masters figured out how to abuse the system by creating link farms and other schemes with absolutely no benefit for the site visitors to trick search engines. But search engines got smart and made sure that such link farms are deemed redundant in your crawling of sites. So can’t we benefit from reciprocal links anymore? Sure we can, but with a few caveats. This chapter will explore how safe linking practices can still help your site gain traffic, and do better in the search engine results pages.

In recent times, search engines like Google, Yahoo and MSN are skeptical about two-way links. Due in a large extent to manipulation of the system, these search engines have programmed their bots to penalize sites for unethical linking practices. Where at one time a site looked popular if it was linked to by many sites, now that is a red flag. The search bots actually follow the links these days, and evaluate whether or not the content on both ends of the links is related. If it is related, everything might be fine. If it is not related, or the bots are not able to see the relationship, your search engine placements might be effected.

Hence, if anything you do that looks the least bit like you are trying to manipulate your search engine placements, you are likely to get penalized. So do you have to worry that a site links to you if they are not based on a related topic? Technically that should not be a problem; usually only the site placing the link will be penalized for an irrelevant link. Otherwise, it would open the door to a whole realm of sabotaging other sites by linking to them.

So if you want to avoid being “Google Slapped” (where you get knocked off the top of the search engine placements for what Google interprets as foul play), what is then a safe linking practice? The answer is simple. You have to think without thinking about the "pleasing" the search engines. Set up linking arrangements that appear natural and ask yourself, “Would I place this

visitors to trick search engines. But search engines got smart and made sure that such link farms are deemed redundant in your crawling of sites. So can’t we benefit from reciprocal links anymore? Sure we can, but with a few caveats. This chapter will explore how safe linking practices can still help your site gain traffic, and do better in the search engine results pages.

In recent times, search engines like Google, Yahoo and MSN are skeptical about two-way links. Due in a large extent to manipulation of the system, these search engines have programmed their bots to penalize sites for unethical linking practices. Where at one time a site looked popular if it was linked to by many sites, now that is a red flag. The search bots actually follow the links these days, and evaluate whether or not the content on both ends of the links is related. If it is related, everything might be fine. If it is not related, or the bots are not able to see the relationship, your search engine placements might be effected.

Hence, if anything you do that looks the least bit like you are trying to manipulate your search engine placements, you are likely to get penalized. So do you have to worry that a site links to you if they are not based on a related topic? Technically that should not be a problem; usually only the site placing the link will be penalized for an irrelevant link. Otherwise, it would open the door to a whole realm of sabotaging other sites by linking to them.

So if you want to avoid being “Google Slapped” (where you get knocked off the top of the search engine placements for what Google interprets as foul play), what is then a safe linking practice? The answer is simple. You have to think without thinking about the "pleasing" the search engines. Set up linking arrangements that appear natural and ask yourself, “Would I place this

links. Due in a large extent to manipulation of the system, these search engines have programmed their bots to penalize sites for unethical linking practices. Where at one time a site looked popular if it was linked to by many sites, now that is a red flag. The search bots actually follow the links these days, and evaluate whether or not the content on both ends of the links is related. If it is related, everything might be fine. If it is not related, or the bots are not able to see the relationship, your search engine placements might be effected.

Hence, if anything you do that looks the least bit like you are trying to manipulate your search engine placements, you are likely to get penalized. So do you have to worry that a site links to you if they are not based on a related topic? Technically that should not be a problem; usually only the site placing the link will be penalized for an irrelevant link. Otherwise, it would open the door to a whole realm of sabotaging other sites by linking to them.

So if you want to avoid being “Google Slapped” (where you get knocked off the top of the search engine placements for what Google interprets as foul play), what is then a safe linking practice? The answer is simple. You have to think without thinking about the "pleasing" the search engines. Set up linking arrangements that appear natural and ask yourself, “Would I place this

are not able to see the relationship, your search engine placements might be effected.

Hence, if anything you do that looks the least bit like you are trying to manipulate your search engine placements, you are likely to get penalized. So do you have to worry that a site links to you if they are not based on a related topic? Technically that should not be a problem; usually only the site placing the link will be penalized for an irrelevant link. Otherwise, it would open the door to a whole realm of sabotaging other sites by linking to them.

So if you want to avoid being “Google Slapped” (where you get knocked off the top of the search engine placements for what Google interprets as foul play), what is then a safe linking practice? The answer is simple. You have to think without thinking about the "pleasing" the search engines. Set up linking arrangements that appear natural and ask yourself, “Would I place this

would open the door to a whole realm of sabotaging other sites by linking to them.

So if you want to avoid being “Google Slapped” (where you get knocked off the top of the search engine placements for what Google interprets as foul play), what is then a safe linking practice? The answer is simple. You have to think without thinking about the "pleasing" the search engines. Set up linking arrangements that appear natural and ask yourself, “Would I place this link if the search engines were not a factor?” Chances are, if you’re only linking to improve your placement then you could be asking for trouble. But if the link is there to truly serve your site visitors, then go for it.