Naturally, some web marketers (probably ones that think exit pop-ups are useful) think that by signing guestbooks and adding links by hundreds they will improve their link popularity scores at search engines. Before you get excited and do a Google search on phrase "sign our guestbook" (1.9 million BTW) and head off like a link monkey, here's my take on whether guestbook links are valid, ignored, or penalized, and if they have any impact on success of a web site's link popularity.

Guestbook links are really no different than FFA links, if you think about it. FFA (Free For All) pages are pages where a link can be obtained by anyone (even a script) without human intervention, meaning no person even looks to see if requesting site has any decent content. Such link lists are obviously useless. Ask yourself when was last time you went to a FFA link list to find a useful web site. How about never?

Many Webmasters are realizing beauty of Search Engine Optimization (S.E.O) when utilizing a popular technique known as Reciprocal Link Exchange. When exchanging links with other site owners, Webmasters are capitalizing on S.E.O's powerful effects.

The goal of most Webmasters is to generate as much traffic as possible in order to sell their products or promote their services. I have found, from personal experience, everyone who participates in exchanging links wins.

Plus, exchanging links is really easy to do. Here's how:

Look for sites that have rich content that will be of interest to your site visitors and look for sites that are relevant to your site. One of best search engines to look for content-rich, relevant links is Google.

For example, let's say you began a marketing campaign to search for businesses to link to in Google under keywords "work from home". There are 13,300,000 sites that match keyword combination "work from home" and are possible link exchange partners.

Carefully look for a way to submit your link to their site. Some sites provide convenience of an online form that can be filled out to submit your link to their site.

Or, carefully look for contact info, i.e., an email address and email Webmaster with:

Your URL Title of your site Description of your site Category you want your site listed under (e.g., Business Opportunities) URL where their link can be found Your email address

If Webmaster agrees (many won't, but some will), place a permanent link to their site somewhere on one of your pages and they will do same for you.