buckworks - 8:11 pm on Dec 21, 2007 (gmt 0)

when your website actually gets *nothing* but exchanged links, that's the problem?

Yes. That's a common condition for young sites, but over time a good site will get links from sources that are clearly independent. As that happens, Google will take the site more seriously.

The only way I know to speed up the process is old-fashioned promotion that gets your site seen by non-SE traffic.