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Walt ThiessenBeware of Link Farms

by Walt Thiessen
April 22, 2004

There seems to be an increase lately in the number of webmaster proposing link exchanges with link farms. I just received one today. His website address was not the website where he promised to put my link. Instead, he wanted to put my link at www.dru.com. I didn't want to give him the benefit of a link from me, so you'll have to type the above address into your browser. Take a look at that website  to see what this particular link farm looks like.

Why Avoid Link Farms?

The reason you should always avoid link farms is that the search engines say so. Here's what Google has to say about them on their Fact Or Fiction page:

Fiction: Joining a link exchange or "free-for-all" link program will boost my rankings.

Fact: Linking schemes do not increase a given site's PageRank, and will often do a site more harm than good. Many sites that advertise link-sharing programs not only offer little value, but will distribute your email address without your permission, resulting in an increased volume of unwanted mail to you. 

That last tidbit should have been qualified with the word "may" because not all link farms send you volumes of unwanted mail. Don't be fooled by a link farm that promises not to fill your mailbox! It's still a link farm and should be avoided like the plague.

The main reason we want to avoid link farms is that their websites are not relevant to ours. In fact, they're not relevant to anyone's website (except, perhaps, another link farm). We want to concentrate on links that are relevant to our websites in order to increase our chances of scoring well in a search engine.

Needless to say, I politely wrote back to this guy who contacted me today and said, "No thanks...I don't exchange links with link farms."

Get Help With Links

If you need help avoiding link farms, or if you don't have the time to promote your website, that's where we can help. Send an email to us, and tell us what you want us to help you with. We'll be glad to offer you affordable assistance within whatever budget you have to work with, no matter how small it might be.

©2004 Walt Thiessen, DLD2000.com, LLC, All Rights Reserved.