Is linking a worthwhile strategy?

I did this previously and was advised against it

[meeko]

HI,
I had a site that was wiped during the Jagger update that went from Pr5 to 0 and has now no backward links.

I have other sites that i would like to work on but i am not sure how to promote them as reading other forums and views, some people are saying linking is not the way to go now if you want to remain in G.
I would like some opinions please. I would only link to related, relevant sites that relate to mine which is in a competitive area. This seemed to work for my previous site but i guess i must have linked to a bad neighbourhood so would ensure only quality sites.

If anyone could give me the heads up on this or any alternative suggestions to increase traffic it would be appreciated as my G rankings are low.

Thanks

[Vadim]

Disclimer: only Google knows how it works.

A few relevant outbound links are indeed good.

The generic inbound links are always good. However, they should be relevant, and you should avoid to link back from the same page. It should be also generic growth i.e. *not* too much at once, but rather little by little.

And the rule that seems always works. If it is good for your visitors it is good for Google also.

Vadim.

[CainIV]

Well put Vadim.

[meeko]

Thanks Vadim.
From visiting a few other forums that advised me against link exchanging around the update in October i stopped linking and any other SEO completely.
Its time to get back into this.

When you say that i should avoid linking back from the same page do you mean if another person links to my homepage, i should link from another page completely?

Previously i was getting maybe 10 link requests per day, 6 or so were related and maybe 3 of those were on a well established PR page. I know i should slowly add links but how many pages of links can you have on a site and how many is recommended per page?

Sorry for all the questions but i have obviously failed this stage before so it would be good to hear how others maintain any exchanges.

[Vadim]

When you say that i should avoid linking back from the same page do you mean if another person links to my homepage, i should link from another page completely?

Yes.

Vadim.