A New Twist On Link Exchanges

I keep a personal blog, in addition to this one. It's just a friends-and-family blog, with a dozen or so regular readers. Maybe fewer. Sometimes I don't post on it for weeks at a time. This morning, I checked my personal e-mail account and found this variation on the old link-exchange technique for search-engine optimization, in relation to something I posted on my personal blog:

It's a new kind of link exchange offer. Quite often, I get e-mails on my business mail account from people offering to put up links to InformationWeek if we'll link to their site. Most of the time, their sites have absolutely nothing to do with what we do here. Bill from the Gourmet Kitchen has discovered or invented a new twist.

The idea is that, by linking to Thermosonline.com, we'll boost that site's search engine ranking, so when people type the word Thermos into their search engine, Thermosonline.com will be one of the first sites they see.

For the record, here's what I wrote Saturday that triggered Bill's Google alert:

Adam is my brother.

Weird, huh?

And, Bill, if you're reading this, I can't accept your generous offer of a Thermos product. Instead, please send a Thermos Nissan 48 Oz Stainless Steel Wide Mouth Bottle to the Broward Partnership for the Homeless., which is down there where you are on Broward County, Fla. Nighttime temperatures get down to the 40s where you are, and a homeless person will appreciate having something hot to drink.

Update 11/27: I got an e-mail from Bill, he agreed to send the Thermos product to the Broward Partnership for the Homeless. Thanks, Bill.