A link exchange is a confederation of websites that operates similarly to a web ring.
In contrast to a web ring, where the HTML code simply comprises simple circular ring navigation hyperlinks, in a link exchange the HTML code causes the display of banner advertisements, for the sites of other members of the exchange, on the member web sites, and webmasters have to create such banner advertisements for their own web sites.
[1][3][4] One of the earliest link exchanges was LinkExchange, a company that is now owned by Microsoft.
[1] Link exchanges have advantages and disadvantages from the point of view of those using the World Wide Web for marketing.
On the one hand, they have the advantages of bringing in a highly targeted readership (for link exchanges where all members of the exchange have similar websites), of increasing the "link popularity" of a site with Web search engines, and of being relatively stable methods of hyperlinking.