If you have been marketing on the internet for any length of time you have surely heard that reciprocal linking is a great way to boost your google page rank as well as your search engine ranking. But what does reciprocal linking actually mean?

Reciprocal linking is a joint venture of sorts between you and another website owner to exchange links on each others websites. The benefits of reciprocal linking is getting targeted traffic directed to your website and vice-a-versa. Don’t be afraid to put your competitors website on your links page, especially if they have a high Google page rank. Linking to your competitors will actually help you. For example do a search on Google for your keyword(s) and find your competitor with the number 1 ranking position, now check their links page. You will more than likely find other websites that are sending them quality traffic, as well as other potential reciprocal link partners for your website.

Will any websites link do? No! Non-relevant links won’t help you with Google. Try and stay within your “niche” market.

When looking for potential reciprocal link partners there are few things you can do. Using search engines as mentioned above is a very good way to go about getting reciprocal link partners. Visit the top 10 or 20 sites ranked in Google and yahoo, and do some research on their link partners. Some other things to consider are sites with quality content, articles, reports, e-books, anything that is original. Look for websites that stay within their “niche”, you don’t want link partners that offer everything under the sun and no real substance to their website or business. These types of sites don’t usually last to long on the internet. Two other great free tools for researching reciprocal link partners is the Google and Alexa toolbars. Within the Google toolbar you have the ability to check the page rank Google has assigned to a potential link partner, the higher the page rank the more traffic and quality content that particular website offers. The Alexa toolbar shows you the traffic rank of a potential link partner. Any website within your niche that is that is ranked under a hundred thousand is a good potential link partner.

Now you know how to find link partners, what should you do? Most sites offer you a webpage on their website where you can add your links manually. You fill out a short form with your website url, description, email address and submit it to the webmaster for consideration. You in return add their particulars to your site and with in a day or two after they have had time to find their link on your site you should get an email from the webmaster that says they have added your link. It is that easy.
However, with some sites you may have to send a reminder if they have not responded with a week or so. If you still get no response simply delete their link and move on. If they can not show you some common courtesy to bother to let you know that your link was approved or not then you really don’t need them as a partner.

To review, use search engines to find potential link partners with your niche. Research these sites for quality content. Use the Google and Alexa toolbars to find high traffic and high page rank sites to link to. Fill out a short form and start all over again. Remember your looking for quality not necessarily quantity with reciprocal linking. Good Luck.

Dirk Wagner is CEO and owner of http://team4success.biz and the free, easy to install #1 home business toolbar with automated updates.A website dedicated to helping the home-based business entrepreneur start and succeed with there very own home-based business by publishing his free online course for successful Hoem Business.