Liane - 2:02 am on Apr 1, 2005 (gmt 0)

Martinibuster, I think you know where I stand on link exchanges but for those who don't ... I don't participate in link exchanges and don't believe in them at all.

I believe in putting your site out there and allowing your links to grow naturally. The more authoritative content you provide, the faster the links will accummulate.

I believe that Google keeps a very close eye on link exchanges and also that they compare similar sites (ie. your competitors) in regards to total link volume.

If you give it some thought, a site which has been around for ten years is very likely to have many more links than a site which has been around only three years ... but that doesn't mean they can't compete on the same level!

If you take the ten year old (authoritative) site and gauge the volume of link growth on an annual basis, you can find a mean average for "natural link growth" and you might even be able to identify and discount unatural growth spikes.

It is my belief that if the ten year old site has 1000 links and the three year old site has 300 links, they may be considered equal in quality and authoritative content if it is determined that 100 natural links per year in a given sector is the recognized "mean average" for "similar sites".

Don't know if you follow my logic ... but its what I truly believe and as a result, I just let things happen naturally. My site competes very well with just such an "authority" site which is much older than mine ... but to be honest, my site is much more up to date and has a greater amount of useful information.

I expect that by this time next year, my site should surpass the older and more established site in the SERPS for almost any search because I assume my site will get quite a few more natural links from a greater number of sites than the other guy will. His site is outdated and because of that, his site should be in the downhill curve for gaining new links while mine is going uphill.

Is exchanging links something Google frowns on?

While I have no proof, I would say my guess is yes!