Putting up links and having the other guy remove them without notice!

[David G]

We trade links, you take my link down, dont tell me, I still send you traffic and get zilch in return......

Ran across that from an old post thru a link from a new post. That is a reason I rarely if ever agree to accept links anymore. Been there many times where I put up a link and months or even yrs later I find out the link to my site was removed while I kept their link running and sending them both traffic and PR without anything in return. It's real easy to overlook links and forget to check them for ages.

One site in particular I vividly recall is my (valuable traffic link) to them vs the even less valuable traffic link to me. After about 2 yrs I realized the link to me was not there. Upon asking the site owner he freely admitted within days of adding my link they redesigned the site and eliminated my link and most other links except a preferred few. God knows how many hits I sent him during that long time!

For a long time now no matter how great a link sounds I say no, only exceptions are paid links. However, paid links are almost impossible to get as so many website owners do not realize the great value of well targeted traffic, thinking wrongly high traffic is more important than targeted traffic.

Do those who still offer links somehow keep track of them and have they noticed the other links sometimes disappear? Are there any easy ways to keep track of links?

[David G]

"Are there any easy ways to keep track of links?"

Any feedback?

[HardwareGeeks]

Yeah I had the same problems thats why I stoped linking on my site and Just created a page full of links where anyone can submit and the page has a really low PR so it doesnt bother me much but when I had links on my main page that has a PR of 6 and two weeks later the person removed my link it would piss me off.

[fryman04]

That happens to everyone, man. I do a periodic random check of my backlinks, and always see that I have loads of them that were taken down.

[mark]

"Are there any easy ways to keep track of links?"

Any feedback?

-----------------------------

You may want to consider watchthatpage.com or any number of other website monitoring services; some are free others have varying costs. You receive an email anytime a site or page changes, etc. acknowledging that could be a problem to keep up with if the website changes daily, etc.

[Nexus]

"Are there any easy ways to keep track of links?"
Any feedback?

BIG time. Ever checked out WebPositionGold? Also, possible someone else may come up with a cheaper alternative eventually (or already have). Link campaigns are a valuable and ongoing part of Internet presence.

~ Nexus

[croupier]

There are programs like http://www.linksmanager.com which can help with this, i'm sure they'll be others if you search google.

It would also be easy to write a checker using the google API, but google only displays links from pr4+ (or is it pr3+, i can't remember)

[theparrot]

You know the page you are linked to and what you are linking too right? It would not be too hard to make some software to let you enter the pages to watch and the link to look for and then notify when that link went away. A lot more specific then being notified of any page changes.