The problem here is the assumption hanging in the air that a link swap achieves the same thing as a genuinely heartfelt Recommendation - and the further assumption that readers can be "tricked" into clicking through. In many cases it won't and they can't, because readers will see you have no thematic overlap or no prior relationship with…
The problem here is the assumption hanging in the air that a link swap achieves the same thing as a genuinely heartfelt Recommendation - and the further assumption that readers can be "tricked" into clicking through. In many cases it won't and they can't, because readers will see you have no thematic overlap or no prior relationship with that writer you're link-swapping with. It'll stink of inauthenticity.
If that happens, their trust in you gets eroded, your engagement withers away, and everyone loses. That's a lose-lose scenario and the opposite of a growth hack.
The problem here is the assumption hanging in the air that a link swap achieves the same thing as a genuinely heartfelt Recommendation - and the further assumption that readers can be "tricked" into clicking through. In many cases it won't and they can't, because readers will see you have no thematic overlap or no prior relationship with that writer you're link-swapping with. It'll stink of inauthenticity.
If that happens, their trust in you gets eroded, your engagement withers away, and everyone loses. That's a lose-lose scenario and the opposite of a growth hack.
Best avoided.