Thanks for bringing up this important and often neglected topic. One thing I'd respectfully disagree with is that "trading links with another site where they link to you and you link to them" will ALWAYS result in "little to no search engine benefit."

Yes, the traditional Joeswebsite.com/links.htm with 10,000 links to sites all over the place linked to from YOUR /links.htm page with 10,000 links is not doing you, the internet, or your search rankings any favors. But there are times when links can be "reciprocal" without being a hack.

For example, I link to an article that you write I happen to find really informative, and then later on your link to a different one of mine. "Reciprocal," since we do both link to each other, but not as obvious as having two pages both with tons of links linking to each other.

I can't believe that Google indiscriminately equates all reciprocal links on the same playing field. I think if biz owners focus on developing high-quality, relevant links to and from their site, they'll generally be in the right direction.

Thoughts?

Fred
SEO Vision/SEO Audio
http://www.hallme.com/blog

Thanks for bringing up this important and often neglected topic. One thing I'd respectfully disagree with is that "trading links with another site where they link to you and you link to them" will ALWAYS result in "little to no search engine benefit."

Yes, the traditional Joeswebsite.com/links.htm with 10,000 links to sites all over the place linked to from YOUR /links.htm page with 10,000 links is not doing you, the internet, or your search rankings any favors. But there are times when links can be "reciprocal" without being a hack.

For example, I link to an article that you write I happen to find really informative, and then later on your link to a different one of mine. "Reciprocal," since we do both link to each other, but not as obvious as having two pages both with tons of links linking to each other.

I can't believe that Google indiscriminately equates all reciprocal links on the same playing field. I think if biz owners focus on developing high-quality, relevant links to and from their site, they'll generally be in the right direction.

Thoughts?

Fred
SEO Vision/SEO Audio
http://www.hallme.com/blog