I recently got an email from someone saying they would like to "exchange links with me". Heres the original email...
Hello,
My name is Timothy L and I am the webmaster of http://www.panopticpictures.com/
I came across http://josephsulik.blogspot.com/ and found it very interesting for a possible cooperation.
The goal is to get a better Google search result and exchanging links with quality sites can make that possible.
For that reason I want you to consider exchanging links with me. I also have a few other sites, so I am sure that we
would be able to find a perfect match for an effective link exchange.
I am sure that you see the advantage of it for both of us.
If you have any questions on the matter, feel free to contact me.
Timothy L
Is this a scam? I'm not really sure what he's offering, but I'm assuming he means that I would advertise his link on my blog and he'd advertise mine on his?
Posted by Lon Overacker on August 25, 2010 at 3:10 PM
Joe,
Not necessarily a scam, but certainly an automated tool that so many sites are using now to boost search engine rankings, etc. I get these all the time. Some owner of a website has subscribed to a service, paid for a program or something that automatically trolls the web inviting people to exchange links.
It's basically an automated program or service to exchange links with the goal of improving their websites search engine performance - also called SEO - Search Engine Optimization.
I would just ignore. If they persist, they should have a link to remove or return the email indicating you don't want to exchange.
Certainly with ANY unsolicited email, you never want to click on a link in an email. If you really want to see what the other site is that you would be listed on, hand type in the url in your browsers address bar.
Lon
add on: there are clues that this is an auto-generated email. First, no one I know refers to themselves as the "webmaster" and second, the insertion of your website/blog is automated - in other words, every website they troll will just insert the url in to this message.
Lastly, if someone personally wants to exchange links with you it would go something like this:
Hi Joe, my name is Tim and I saw your website listed on NPN... or I found your page while visiting John Doe's website. I really think your work is beautiful and I was wondering if you wouldn't mind exchanging links with me....
A little difference in the approach of those two examples. Easy to spot the difference.
Thanks Lon, to be honest I found it a little weird that he didn't comment on the blog itself. I'll just ignore it and hopefully there won't be any more emails.
Posted by Lon Overacker on August 25, 2010 at 3:40 PM
All the more reason to ignore it. Interesting to that your statement sounds personal because you said "he didn't comment...." when really, it's an "it," an automated program - nothing personal about it, yet they try real hard to make it appear personal.
I get these spams all the time. I give them the one-finger-delete key salute without fail.
Lon's advice about clicking unknown links in a e-mail is excellent. In fact, if I see a link that I am not sure is from a known, reputable (and safe) source, I won't go there.
Another thing I'll add. While sites are required to provide an opt-out link to remove you from the list, they can be bogus. At the least, following such a link only tells the spammer that your e-mail address is valid, and then...more spam!
--P
Posted by Richard Wong on August 25, 2010 at 6:34 PM
You will note there are no actual links from their site to anyone else. Either way, it is an attempt to "game the system" and artificially inflate their Google ranking with absolutely no value to you.
I would recommend that you not only delete the message but also report it as spam if your ISP supports this functionality. If enough people do that, the ISP will eventually block future emails from them.
Guy
Posted by Wick Smith on August 26, 2010 at 8:49 AM
I am in the web design business & the world is filled with people trying to build their links through these types of games. Reciprocal links don't do you much good with Google. It's the inbound links from others that you don't link to that help you most.
Also, as it states above do NOT open any link in any email from someone you do not know. There are a lot of malicious sites out there that can harm or destroy your computer. It may look like a legit link, but the code takes you somewhere else that can take over your PC. This even goes for email that appears to be from a legit source such as Paypal, but is a mockup in an attempt to fool you.
There are people out there with no lives that live in dark places & think this sort of thing up.
Discussion
7 repliesHello,
My name is Timothy L and I am the webmaster of http://www.panopticpictures.com/
I came across http://josephsulik.blogspot.com/ and found it very interesting for a possible cooperation.
The goal is to get a better Google search result and exchanging links with quality sites can make that possible.
For that reason I want you to consider exchanging links with me. I also have a few other sites, so I am sure that we
would be able to find a perfect match for an effective link exchange.
I am sure that you see the advantage of it for both of us.
If you have any questions on the matter, feel free to contact me.
Timothy L
Is this a scam? I'm not really sure what he's offering, but I'm assuming he means that I would advertise his link on my blog and he'd advertise mine on his?
Not necessarily a scam, but certainly an automated tool that so many sites are using now to boost search engine rankings, etc. I get these all the time. Some owner of a website has subscribed to a service, paid for a program or something that automatically trolls the web inviting people to exchange links.
It's basically an automated program or service to exchange links with the goal of improving their websites search engine performance - also called SEO - Search Engine Optimization.
I would just ignore. If they persist, they should have a link to remove or return the email indicating you don't want to exchange.
Certainly with ANY unsolicited email, you never want to click on a link in an email. If you really want to see what the other site is that you would be listed on, hand type in the url in your browsers address bar.
Lon
add on: there are clues that this is an auto-generated email. First, no one I know refers to themselves as the "webmaster" and second, the insertion of your website/blog is automated - in other words, every website they troll will just insert the url in to this message.
Lastly, if someone personally wants to exchange links with you it would go something like this:
Hi Joe, my name is Tim and I saw your website listed on NPN... or I found your page while visiting John Doe's website. I really think your work is beautiful and I was wondering if you wouldn't mind exchanging links with me....
A little difference in the approach of those two examples. Easy to spot the difference.
Lon
Lon's advice about clicking unknown links in a e-mail is excellent. In fact, if I see a link that I am not sure is from a known, reputable (and safe) source, I won't go there.
Another thing I'll add. While sites are required to provide an opt-out link to remove you from the list, they can be bogus. At the least, following such a link only tells the spammer that your e-mail address is valid, and then...more spam!
--P
I would recommend that you not only delete the message but also report it as spam if your ISP supports this functionality. If enough people do that, the ISP will eventually block future emails from them.
Guy
Also, as it states above do NOT open any link in any email from someone you do not know. There are a lot of malicious sites out there that can harm or destroy your computer. It may look like a legit link, but the code takes you somewhere else that can take over your PC. This even goes for email that appears to be from a legit source such as Paypal, but is a mockup in an attempt to fool you.
There are people out there with no lives that live in dark places & think this sort of thing up.