Reciprocal links ranked above referenced site

[Jamie]

What would cause reciprocal links or directories referencing my website to rank above my website. For the search term “latin wife” a reciprocal link referencing my site is ranked above my site. For the search term “International Introductions” the Google directory referencing my sites comes up first at number 9. And the same pattern occurs for most of my keywords. In some case multiple directories come up referencing my website before my website does. This decline has been a recent phenomena something is not right. Any suggestions would be appreciated. My website is latin-wife.com and International-Introductions.com

Google Results:

Directory Ranked Number 4

International Introductions - www.latin-wife.com latin-wife
International Introductions. www.latin-wife.com. Independent Business ... y. Additional links for www.latin-wife.com, JoeAnt Information. Latest ... www.joeant.com/DIR/info/get/17160/49486/ - 18k - Cached - Similar pages

My Website

The Exotic Latina. Find a Latin Wife introductions to Latin Dating ...
Contact Us! email: Jamie@Latin-Wife.com. ... Why take a lifetime finding a wife when you can have an exotic Latin wife that will last a lifetime. ... latin-wife.com/contact_us.asp?sid=141278857-646882135 - 22k - Cached - Similar pages

Directory Ranked Number 9

Google Directory - Society > Relationships > Dating > Personals > ...
... International Introductions - http://international-introductions.com Men can purchase contact information to connect with women in Colombia. ... directory.google.com/Top/Society/Relationships/ Dating/Personals/International/Introductions/ - 30k - Cached - Similar pages

My Website

Latin Mail Order Brides - Exotic Colombian Women Mail Order Bride ...
International Introductions is your opportunity to meet and marry exotic Latin women significantly younger and more beautiful than what is locally available. ... international-introductions.com/ - 62k - Cached - Similar pages

[jestep]

Many times I have seen it, and I would say it is due to the so-called google sandbox effect. Usually if you keep working on links and give it time your site will raise up above the sites linking to you. From what I have seen it is almost always temporary.

[bhartzer]

It is definitely temporary. I'm not sure whether it's actually due to the sandbox theory, though. I would call it more due to on-topic linking rather than the sandbox theory.

In any case, it's temporary because this type of behavior is typical--I've seen it happen to my own sites.