Confused re: Exchanging Links

Does it help or hurt SERP

[hermosa]

Okay, I have looked at a number of the threads about people being banned from Yahoo and one of the reasons that came up was that the site had traded links. Now I am SUPER DUPER confused. I thought that link popularity was one of the major factors that all search engines factored into their algorithm. If that is the case, why should a site be punished for trading links with a company in the same field or industry? I can understand penalizing random trades to every Mom and Pop shop in creation but punishing people for trading links with sites that are relevant just doesn't make sense.

Are we best to eliminate our link pages? As I said I am REALLY confused.

[diamondgrl]

Link exchanges are okay. But be careful about linking to "bad neighborhoods". If Google bans lots of site from its search index that are then found on your site, you are more likely to be considered to be in league with these guys, or at least so undiscriminating that they don't consider you a valuable resource.

So if you stay within your industry and stay with reputable sites and screen your links every once in a while to make sure your link partners have not transformed into sleazy purveyors, then you should be okay.

[Vegas21]

Link exchanging with quality, relevant sites in your industry will help your rankings. One-way links will help even more. Try to get both.

[eyeinthesky]

Is there a automated way to clean up "bad neighbourhood" links on your link page(s)?

I think I've been banned for bad links but it will be a nightmare to sort through the hundreds of links (on several pages) and see who has been a bad boy!

Any suggestions?