Shady Link Tactics - Beware of this new trend

[andersonweb]

Disclaimer: This may not be new, but I've never heard of it. And, it has just recently begun happening to me, so I thought I'd post about it and warn other SEO's and site owners to beware of these shady and underhanded link tactics. :)

Hello,

In the past month or so, I've started receiving link requests where the person is stating that they link to us from a 3rd party website. But, when I check the return link page, it's from a website that I partnered with myself many months ago. It appears that these people are scouring other sites' link directories, then contacting their link partners and passing them off as their own 3-way link partner to get themselves 1-way links! One of the "return links" was from a site we pay to advertise on! That was the red flag that really got my attention. So, I've been paying closer attention to those 3rd party requests and have noticed 2 more in the past week that are "reciprocating" from a site where we have already been listed for several months.

Has anyone else experienced this?

Well, I hope that this will at least help legitimate SEO's be aware of this link exchange scam.

[Dinghus]

I do webmaster for one site that is extremely popular and we get lots of requests for recip links. I've found that occasionally some of them list their link as being on a 3rd party page that we have linked to for years.

Pretty much we decline all requests for links because the RL is on a link farm page or doesn't meet with the owner's high standards.