Janet: I'd say that bobchrist and tdd1984 are right on!
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Originally Posted by Janet
I don't see any mention of reciprocal linking in this particular article.
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Check it again,
building-link-based-popularity reading very carefully:
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... recently, Google has tremendously refined its link-weighting algorithms. We have more people working on Google's link-weighting for quality control and to correct issues we find. So nowadays, undermining the PageRank algorithm is likely to result in the loss of the ability of link-selling sites to pass on reputation via links to other sites.
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and
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To sum up, even though improved algorithms have promoted a transition away from paid or exchanged links towards earned organic links, there still seems to be some confusion within the market about what the most effective link strategy is. So when taking advice from your SEO consultant, keep in mind that nowadays search engines reward sweat-of-the-brow work on content that bait natural links given by choice.
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Basically... reading in between the lines:
... reciprocal links, three-way links, paid-links, and directories do not give you any Google back-links or pagerank anymore ...
Seems like Google's algorithms have downgraded directory websites and all those back-links, even if they still have good pagerank, so that all those "artificial" back-links do not count... If a website even looks like a directory or a link-farm, forget it, as far as getting any link juice with Google is concerned. You can forget about your reciprocal links, too. No link juice there anymore!
I've noticed with Google in the past month that many websites went from many dozens of backlinks to almost ZERO, if those back links were reciprocal or from directories, or wikis, or even blog comments and social bookmarking sites.
The social networking sites like FURL.net, and of course those new REL=NOFOLLOW external links from blogs, forums, and wikis, do not count anymore, either.
Google really has clamped down! Didn't all of you notice it?
This may create huge barriers of entry for new websites, small-business, and personal sites, but instead of a "sandbox" it seems freshness is rewarded, at least temporarily...
It now seems that just a few very good, "organic" links will serve you far better than dozens and dozens of "artificial" back-links, since about early-January-2007, as far as Google is concerned. Just look at all the websites with hundreds of back-links reported on Yahoo and MSN/Live and only a handful on Google.
Wake-up call: something has changed! Read the book: "
Who Moved My Cheese?"