Each day that goes by, Google gets a bit more sophisticated. And, five years ago, you could call someone up and just say, “hey, bud, we have cool sites. Let’s swap some links.” Not so anymore. Getting link juice from others is still possible. But, it just requires a little more originality.

You can still get link juice by “triangulating” your links. Let me throw in this little diagram to explain what I am talking about.

It is a well-known fact that Google is getting “smarter” about reciprocal linking. What worked just a few years ago does not work today. Contrary to what some might say, reciprocal linking will not hurt you. It just will not give you the bang it used to. In fact, it probably will do very little for you - if at all.

Instead of wasting your time with reciprocal relationships that do not work, invest your time in good directory strategies, or triangulate your link building relationships. I would recommend that you become very involved in your niche. That is the mistake that I feel a lot of people make. I have been guilty of this. You want to do too much at one time. You scatter your fire - when, in reality, you should probably focus on one area, build relationships with site owners, and invest time in working with people who you can establish link building relationships with. Then, you can triangulate your links. Instead of saying, “hey, I’ll link to you if you link to me”, instead say “I have site X, it will link to you. You, in turn, link to my other site Y.”

And, the more sites you can include in this the better. In reality, we should talk about another point. So, perhaps instead of a triangle, we should be talking about a square. This should be beyond a triangle. Because the more sites that are involved with this link exchange, the more likely it will be that Google will not lessen the power of these links. But, as I said, this involves getting involved within a niche and even having multiple sites in that niche. Who says you have to scatter your fire over many niches? Get good at one area, build relationships in that niche, and start your little empire from there.

Lately, I have stumbled across a concept in on online marketing that I have heard before. At the time, I didn’t see a whole lot of value in it. Yet, now, I realize its importance. And, I am talking about the power of a “related” query in Google. You can see in the picture, I have done a “related” query in Google for an affiliate site of mine, www.mommyadvisor.com.

Given the constantly expanding size of the web, I believe that Google is looking for a way to get sites “grouped” together. Go ahead and try a “related” query. You can do this by going to Google. Then, type “related:”, followed by “www.[insert site].com”. If you are looking around and seeing sites compared to yours that have good Trust rank, you are probably in good shape. If you see a bunch of sites that look like spam communities, well, it is time to get some better links to improve your Trust Rank. E.g., go to DMOZ, Business.com, BOTW, etc..

Also, the related query is a great source for link building. For example, for each site that shows up for a related query, I am probably looking at a good source of links for my site. Some of these sites could be good targets for a recriprocal or triangular link building strategy - perhaps, all of them.

Similarly, do a related query on your competitors. See the guy who is ranking #1 for your “model airplane” niche? Guess what, he is probably a good example for your site. Do a related query for him and approach his relational links about getting links to your site. Because, if he is #1 for that term, you probably want to be a part of his community. And, you can’t get in a community without moving into the neighborhood. And, a good way to get in the neighborhood is to get links from those relational sites.