How exactly does this work? Is it person A links on their site to person B's site only or is there more to it? Also if someone knows how to get into a network for this (more than 1mil) that would be good. Right now the ad I started is a little too soon to try and calculate exactly how many hits per day/week/month are going to rack up, but I was told its best to be in a network, correct?

The words "LINK EXCHANGE" are pretty much self-explanatory.

Think of it this way:
A link is like a vote. If you see the value in linking to these sites, if they're going to be of interest to your visitors and will help establish your site as a resource, it's probably a good idea.

Considering that there are a lot of free directories and resource sites around that don't require reciprocal links, getting into "networks" may not be the best way to go about getting links.

Here's how it usually works:
You link to me. In a perfect scenario, I want a link from a page with the highest Page Rank, which is usually your home page.

In return, I link to you from some obscure page with 300 other unrelated links on it and assign the "rel-nofollow" attribute to the page so that I preserve my Page Rank.

This is also referred to as "reciprocal linking". It's not always a bad idea if the sites are related, highly trafficked and pass page rank without restrictions.

If you're going to do it, make sure you're exchanging links with reputable, relevant and related sites. Be sure to check the links periodically to ensure that you're not the only one left in the loop as another common occurrence is for these sites to display your link for a few months, then delete it in the hopes that you'll still maintain a link to their site.

You'll often see pages that require a reciprocal link prior to them listing your link. Of course, it may take a month or more to "review your site submission". Meanwhile, they're getting PR and traffic from you at no cost to them.

Finally, Google keeps track of these sites, some of which end up being flagged as "link farms" whose sole purpose is to build traffic to their host site.

Your posting and maintaining links to them infers that you support these "bad neighborhoods", thereby reducing your reputation and your value to the index as a resource.

Now, does it still seem like a good idea?

.02

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I get requests all the time for link exchanges.

In some cases even giving me a link to see their link back to me. I used to follow these links in the early days, too often nothing there to see so I just delete the email requests as they arrive and have done for over 3 years now. Waste of time and effort.

Unless you can get a link from a .org, .gov or the BBC! They are worth having! Sadly they will never request a link exchange from you......................

Dubbya thanks for comments in another thread.

Astro

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