Offer for bogus link exchanges

- from a reputable? seo expert

[weebie]

I got a handsomely formatted email today from an seo guy (as close as I'll get in ID'ing the source here) - which explained the benefit of Link Exchanges and offered exchanges with 4 sites he is affiliated with. Not being able to find his reciprocal link pages from any of these sites I became suspicious that I was expected to blindly post my reciprocal links and think I would get some quality ones in return. I sent an email explaining I couldn't find his reciprocal links and requested navigation instructions on where to find them. A couple hours later I got his directions.

Only one of his sites seemed to have genuine reciprocal links.

I don't know how long a link there - to my site - would even stay up there, given his glorious PR7 and not all that many reciprocal links from him. I don't even want to deal with him.

For 2 of his sites I couldn't even find the reciprocal links pages using the directions he gave me to find them.

For the 4th site - he wants us all to point to his myBSwidgets.com site while he reciprocates from a completely different URL: my-BS-widgets.com which has absolutely no PR whatsoever.

I did a few searches on this seo guy to see if anyone else had previously encountered (what I must conclude are) bogus offers of this nature. Amazingly, what I came across were nothing but endorsements posted throughout other SEO exchange boards - of this guys prowess as one of the few premier SEOs in the business. Unless, I'm totally missing something here, it is really sad that someone can pass themselves off like this. I could say more, but will give you all a chance to set me straight here.

Is this a common suckering technique?

Has anyone else gotten this type of offer?

[chrisnrae]

First, if you can't find the link without directions, the spider probably will have a hard time as well. I absolutely will not waste my time even remotely looking at requests like these. Next time, use the delete button and use the time you would have spent following directions to find a quality inbound on your own ;).

As for being an SEO "expert" - there are a lot of "gurus" around (taking a guess you are referring to someone who is the type who I throw the guru label on). I say that with disdain because I find that most of the people screaming from the rooftops about being Internet marketing experts are really making money off the crap they sell others hoping to become an "expert" just like them. Being regarded as a guru (usually by other gurus) simply means you have a good PR campaign going and says nothing true about their expertise (IMHO).

Work hard, go to conferences, visit quality forums like this, spend time getting to know the industry and you'll soon learn how to spot real experts. ;)