ROI on backlink exchanges is dogshit long-term. Been in the ad game long enough to watch people throw their domain authority at reciprocal links and then wonder why their rankings tank after the next core update.
google's pattern detection for these swaps is sharper than it's ever been, especially once you scale beyond a handful of niche-relevant placements. In smaller verticals like education or travel, everyone linking back to the same circle looks painfully obvious.
Even my best performing backlinks have never come from a swap. they came from actual partnerships or content that earned the link naturally. the exchange stuff might juice a few metrics for a quarter, but it's not sustainable if you're thinking about real growth
