Three or four years ago a massive link trading campaign could get your site to the top of the Search Engine Rankings (SERPs). However, things are changing quickly concerning reciprocal links. Companies like LinkAdage [ http://www.linkadage.com] are receiving increased reports that reciprocal links are becoming a less effective part of SEO. In fact, it now seems sites that go overboard with reciprocal link campaigns are getting penalized in the SERPs by having most of their reciprocal links completely ignored by the search engines.
Adding to the problem are the Link Exchange Networks that are popping up all over the web that put websites at risks associated with being part of an artificial linking network. Remember, any link network scheme is only as strong as its weakest link. It is to your advantage to stay away from these link exchange network schemes, programs, or clubs if you want to keep the search engines happy. If your dead set on trading links, do your trades one-on-one with other webmasters and not through some multi-level like link trading scheme. Remember, if you participate in an artificial link exchange network, one slight algorithm adjustment can knock all...