Rosalind - 5:19 am on Aug 16, 2007 (gmt 0)

I think the above "beyond normal limits" as a definition is a good starting place. How about what's "normal" for particular niches?

I think the narrower the niche, the more likely it is you will come across reciprocal linking, simply because there will be a limited number of authoritative websites for that topic and it would be natural for them all to link to each other. Whereas it would look odd to have a large proportion of recips on a general interest site.

The trouble is, if Google is to take this into account, they would have to devise an algo that can figure out the theme of an entire website, and know the difference between a themed page on a general-interest website and a links page on a website about a very specific topic, and treat them accordingly. I don't see that happening any time soon.