Is a recip link campaign necessary with PR7?

reciprocal linking, linking

[Illah]

I work with some high PR sites and am wondering if it's worth offering link services to them. They are already PR7. Even if some benefit is to be expected, how would I measure it? It could be ages until they hit PR8, so how else can success be measured in this case?

--Illah

[notredamekid]

A strong PR7 could be several times stronger than a weak PR7 (as PR is exponential) - I would never do reciprocal links, but I would definitely seek more inbound links. It could take two years to achieve pr8 but it certainly can't hurt. Always seek more links.

[Illah]

True, so how would I explain the value to a client? To say something like you said is great, only there is no true way to measure a strong vs. weak PR7... It's either 7 or 8 in the eyes of the toolbar.

--Illah

[dan_popescu]

Improving the sites' rankings would be a good way to measure success.

[sem4u]

Are competitive sites PR5 or 6? If so, it may not be worth trying for an 8. However, the other sites may well be collecting links all of the time.

Links can also provide additional, non-search engine, traffic to your client's website.

[Crush]

I see people buying 100's of links from one site and it does not work if you are looking for PR. You can have a pr7 but a pr 5 can outdo you in the serps if they have more votes from many different sites. The key is not pr anymore. The key is many site linking to you with the right anchor

[notredamekid]

The key is many site linking to you with the right anchor

Exactly. Links will help them in the SERPs AND slowly strengthen their PR. Even if a strong pr7 and a weak pr7 look the same in the toolbar, they are NOT the same.

Also, in my experience you need additional links to 'stay even' with PR.