You the Jury

Should I Delete this Guy's Reciprocal Link?

[Scruffy]

I had a link exchange request from a guy, giving me the url for a link to my site on his. I did a quick check and sure enough, there it was.
So I reciprocated and we exchanged thank you letters.
Then I decided to browse his site in detail. I rapidly discovered that although it was well laid out, it actually had no content in itself, just lots of short link articles interspersed with Adsense.
Worse, the links were all script driven, loaded along with text by php from a database and calling into a browser redirect.
This site is a PR black hole. Lots of SE readable links in but none out.

What do you think? Should I delete his link?

[grandpa]

Build your pages for your visitors. If you locate a link that your visitors can appreciate, then you've done yourself, your site visitors, and your site a much bigger service than hunting down some PR for your site.

Should you keep it or delete it? That's up to you. Based on the criteria of 'does it have value for my visitors?' you should find the decision an easy one.

[peewhy]

You are caught in the PR mindset trap.

Does PR put food on the table or do your visitors?

[Scruffy]

I don't care about PR.
This site is just a hobby. It's an obscure niche site with a couple of hundred visitors a day tops.
The site doesn't and won't ever put food on any table.
I didn't go out looking for links. This guy contacted me.

The point is that IMHO he has constructed a site entiely for the purposes of generating a high PR and is actively seeking one-way links under the pretext of reciprocation. It's very cleverly done, many small site owners would not even be aware of the one-way nature of the linking.

Is this, or is it not sharp practice? Because if it isn't, I have some serious thinking to do about the way I run my life.

[peewhy]

He has a short shelf life.

He contacted you and another trillion others.

He won't miss you if you pull the plug ... and vice-versa.

[Scruffy]

You really think so?

Leaving the emotional baggage aside for the moment and looking at it from an academic viewpoint, this is an interesting model. The site itself is huge. It is a vast collection of links on a particular subject. As such, it has merit. I can't help but admire the work that has gone into it. From a visitor's point of view it is an excellent reference point. It doesn't break any Adsense rules. I see no reason why it shouldn't prosper.

If the general opinion is that this is OK. I would be stupid not to copy it.

[peewhy]

Your choice!

Good luck.

[Lobo]

Links like these are simply not worth it ..

Think of your own users first .. why would you want to feed them up with a useless link that does nothing for them, takes them no where and is absolutely no use..

Just for the sake of an incoming link?

The only links that should be on your site are ones which make sense, ones which enhance your visitors experience or knowledge and are completely in context..

As much as you think links will drive traffic to you, in the end if you feed up crap the traffic will not bother coming back...

[ken_b]

This is why you should always explore any site you are thinking about linking to before you make the link.

[jchampliaud]

'does it have value for my visitors?'

I have to agree with this. If you feel the site will help your visitors and give them something they need, then leave up the link up, if not remove it.

[Scruffy]

Thanks for the feedback.

It's a difficult call. The site has value for my visitors but on the other hand it does drain PR.
With only a few links in and out, it is quite a big leak.
I'm not particularly trying to push this site but I don't want it to disappear entirely.
It's an unfair exchange so I have decided to pull the link.