Thoughts on this

[WillG]

Was looking around while on my lunch break for a local SEO guy just to see whats out there and saw this


Linking for SEO

It is past time to accept the fact that reciprocal linking has been ruled ineffective. If you install a Google Toolbar and activate the Pagerank option, you will almost always find that no matter what the pagerank of a site's homepage may be, any pages that are lists of links have been zeroed out. Wasting your time and money on building these link pages is just foolishness now.

There are still SEO companies that are charging monthly fees to set up and populate internal reciprocal link pages. If Yahoo sees a link directory on your site, you are likely to be removed from their search results because of it.

Funny they mention this forum by name.

[Planet13]

It is past time to accept the fact that reciprocal linking has been ruled ineffective.

No, not when done the RIGHT way.

Wasting your time and money on building these link pages is just foolishness now.

Yeah, so what? Don't reciprocate with sites that will put your link on a "links" page with dozens of other links.

If Yahoo sees a link directory on your site, you are likely to be removed from their search results because of it.

Take a look at some sites that rank well in google, bing, etc
Visit those sites. Search for a page called links, or resources, or Friends' Sites, or Blogroll, or something like that.

If I remember correctly, aren't blog "trackbacks" do follow links? Sites with trackbacks in their blogs still seem to rank well in yahoo and the rest.

I don't try and sell SEO services, so I have nothing to gain from this. But I will mention that if you are going to do reciprocal linking (not as good as getting one way links, but much better than NO links), then there is a right way to do it and a wrong way to do it.

[martinibuster]

Hehe. That's an example of Google using the Toolbar PR to influence how Search Marketers go about their business. I believe Google wants to suppress the strategy of organized large scale reciprocal linking as a way of manipulating their search rankings.

Here is the discussion from eight years ago [webmasterworld.com]. There isn't anything wrong with the links pages. It is, in my opinion, an example of one of the ways Google leverages the toolbar to influence how search marketers develop and execute on their strategies.

You also have to consider the history of reciprocal linking as well. For a long time it was generally assumed that reciprocal linking was a white hat strategy. That was a misconception.

If Yahoo sees a link directory on your site, you are likely to be removed from their search results because of it.

Large organized link trading had always been on the no-no list. What changed was the attitudes of the marketers toward reciprocal linking. The attitude change was helped along by the toolbar, among other things. ;)

[CainIV]

Reciprocal only refers to the process.

Done right, the process works and always will.

You just need to raise your value antennae to a new high in order to find high quality, complementary partners.

[tangor]

Widgets to widgets, generally okay. Gizmos to gizmos, generally okay. Widgets to gizmos or vice versa generally frowned upon. Natural links always a thumbs up. Use commonsense.