What is a traffic exchange

1. 86

   Marisa Wrightposted 16 years ago

   I noticed on someone's Hub about Helium, they got banned because they used a traffic exchange.
   
   What on earth is a traffic exchange and why is it so bad?

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2. 0

   terrygposted 16 years ago

   Hello Marisa,
   
   Good question. A traffic exchange is a simple script that cycles through members websites.
   
   Each time a member views a website they receive a credit. For each credit they receive, depending on the exchange, they are entitled for another member to view their nominated webpage.  Some exchanges have a 1:1 and others a 5:1. Meaning, you view five webpages your then entitled to one visitor to your page (5:1).
   
   It is against Google's terms of service to advertise a site for a reward and that is why when using a traffic exchange to promote an adsense laden website/blog G will ban an account, without question.  When a traffic exchange user clicks a google ad component it is registered from the source so G know's where the click came from.

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3. 71

   Shirley Andersonposted 16 years ago

   Thx for asking the question....that was me that got kicked off Helium.  I
   
   've never (and still don't really) fully understand linking, etc. so Terryg's answer helped me to understand too.
   
   Terryg....is it 'legal' to put individual hub links on my website?  I've been scared to put any anywhere that have any connection to me.

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   1. 0

      terrygposted 16 years agoin reply to this

      To put individual links on your own website to your hubpages in my view is fine. It does provide your hub with an inbound link but if the link comes from your index page it might leak page rank from your site. Best to put the link a little deeper into your site.
      
      I have had quite some success with traffic exchanges. I use them in my Alexa experiment to drive my traffic stats down. I also sell one or two products there and make a few sales every now and then.
      
      Traffic exchanges are fun, but you must abide by the rules. Darkside is right as the traffic quality is low because everyone is working hard for credits to get their own sites seen that they do not read a page presented to them. Other than that, I have made a few sales and attracted visitors to my site from the te's. If you want to do the same I suggest one that has a low Alexa rank.

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4. 86

   Marisa Wrightposted 16 years ago

   Thanks Terry, your explanation makes perfect sense.  I'm so glad I asked - I Googled the words and the traffic exchanges look so innocent, I could imagine I'd have signed up for them too, if I'd come across them by accident!
   
   There are so many pitfalls for the unwary on the internet...

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5. 63

   darksideposted 16 years ago

   Everything TerryG said is correct. And further discussion could go into the click-fraud aspect that is prevalent with many traffic exchange networks, but the bottom like is the quality of the traffic is low. Very low.
   
   It'll drive up numbers on your stats but the visitors aren't likely to stick around and actually read your page.

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