3-Way linking : reasons NOT to do this

Those who want to do three way links do it because it makes sense to get one-way links to a site. Seems innocent enough at the start, because everyone is getting a one-way link, but what I see people overlooking is the distinct advantage the person who initiates the link exchange is getting. The typical 3-way linker will realize quickly they need a strategy. They are not randomly doing 3-way link exchanges, they are focusing the PR to their top sites. These sites are NOT giving off very much links to others at all. This is so they don’t split PR, and all the PR they gain from your link stays within their home page and interior pages of their top sites pushing them up the ranks.

For example: Let’s say I have the site: casino.com and it’s my #1 site. Clearly this make sense for me to have all incoming 3-way link exchanges come into this site.

Now, I have to give a link in return. The link I will give you, is picked out of my 258 other sites I own — and likely I will pick a site that I don’t update very often anymore, but one that has PR, due to its age, or previous linking, etc..

I will link to you from there. This site will not grow, will not gain PR, will not be updated, it will basically become a link mule. Now this can happen more or less in any fashion or degree. The smart 3-way linker will try its best to make the links on this page nice. They may give you what you want, inline links, banners, more than one link in exchange for just one of yours, etc…

The link you receive may look nice at first, but as time goes on, without the webmaster updating, adding links, etc to this site, the PR will drop and value decrease. Especially if they go on doing three way links with the “mule” site delivering links to the victims of the exchange thus making the PR passing weaker and weaker and weaker.

Can three-way linking be good? – sure! one easy way to detect if the webmaster is trying to game you, or make an even exchange could be to try and reverse the 3-way link. Ask them to link to your site, from the one they are asking you to link to, and tell them you will link to the site they are planning to link to you from. You will likely see some resistance, this is further evidence to my theory. It’s not flawless. There are honest people doing this too and this note is not directed at you.

Moral of the story – Beware, be careful, do it only with your friends: yes it can be a worthy deal, but make sure it is, because if its not, its the opposite…. a drain on your PR, and not much in return.