Editing Link exchange

{{Short description|Confederation of websites that operates similarly to a web ring}}
A ''' link exchange''' is a confederation of [[website]]s that operates similarly to a [[web ring]].  [[Webmaster]]s register their websites with a central organization, that runs the exchange, and in turn receive from the exchange [[HTML]] code which they insert into their web pages.  In contrast to a web ring, where the HTML code simply comprises simple circular ring navigation [[hyperlink]]s, in a link exchange the HTML code causes the display of [[Web banner|banner advertisement]]s, for the sites of other members of the exchange, on the member web sites, and webmasters have to create such banner advertisements for their own web sites.<ref name=Munck>{{Cite book|title=Labour and Globalisation Results and Prospects|author=Ronaldo Munck|date=2004|publisher=Liverpool University Press|isbn=0-85323-817-0|page=77}}</ref><ref name=RLM>{{Cite book|title=Record Label Marketing|author1=Amy Macy|author2=Paul Allen|name-list-style=amp|pages=[https://archive.org/details/recordlabelmarke0000hutc/page/254 254&ndash;255]|date=2006|publisher=Elsevier|isbn=0-240-80787-1|url=https://archive.org/details/recordlabelmarke0000hutc/page/254}}</ref><ref name=TeachYourself>{{Cite book|title=Sams Teach Yourself E-Commerce Programming with ASP in 21 Days|author1=Eric Richardson|author2=Stephen Walther|author3=and Jonathan Levine|pages=[https://archive.org/details/samsteachyoursel00step/page/210 210&ndash;511]|date=2000|publisher=Sams Publishing|isbn=0-672-31898-9|chapter=Promoting your site and managing banner advertising|chapter-url=https://archive.org/details/samsteachyoursel00step/page/210}}</ref>

The banners are downloaded from the exchange.  A monitor on the exchange determines, from [[HTTP referer|referral information]] supplied by [[web browser]]s, how many times a member website has displayed the banner advertisements of other members and credits that member with a number of displays of its banner on some other member's web site.  Link exchanges usually operate on a 2:1 ratio, such that for every two times a member shows a second member's banner advertisement, that second member displays the first member's banner advertisement.  This page impressions:credits ratio is the '''exchange rate'''.<ref name=Munck /><ref name=TeachYourself /><ref>{{Cite book|title=Fundraising Management: Analysis, Planning and Practice|url=https://archive.org/details/fundraisingmanag00sarg|url-access=limited|author1=Adrian Sargeant |author2=Elaine Jay  |name-list-style=amp|date=2004|publisher=Routledge|isbn=0-415-31702-9|page=[https://archive.org/details/fundraisingmanag00sarg/page/n302 286]}}</ref>

One of the earliest link exchanges was [[LinkExchange]], a company that is now owned by [[Microsoft]].<ref name=Munck />

Link exchanges have advantages and disadvantages from the point of view of those using the [[World Wide Web]] for [[marketing]].  On the one hand, they have the advantages of bringing in a highly targeted readership (for link exchanges where all members of the exchange have similar websites), of increasing the "link popularity" of a site with [[Web search engine]]s, and of being relatively stable methods of hyperlinking.  On the other hand, they have the disadvantages of potentially distracting visitors away to other sites before they have fully explored the site that the original link was on.<ref name=RLM />

Engaging in link exchanges or paid linking activity is highly discouraged by Google and not recommended for webmasters seeking an advantage in search engine rankings. Google considers excessive link exchanges and exchanging reciprocal links "Link Schemes" and can suppress the linked site in search engine results or block it altogether.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Google Webmaster Tools|first1=Support|title=Link schemes|url=https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/66356?hl=en|website=Google.com|publisher=Google Inc.|accessdate=11 December 2014}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Link building]]
* [[Backlink]]

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Link Exchange}}
[[Category:Internet terminology]]
[[Category:Online advertising]]
[[Category:Search engine optimization]]
[[Category:Web navigation]]



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