I've heard that trading links holds no value for SEO. Is this true? What are your opinions on this subject?
I wouldn't bother with it, search engines aren't stupid and they can detect when a backlink is created though a link exchange..
Sometimes link exchanges make sense and are beneficial to your users. If the other site is related to yours then it would not surprise Google to find a reciprocal link between your site and theirs. A few reciprocal links will not hurt you, but if the majority of your links are reciprocal then that can raise a flag with Google.
Well, it depends! If you're exchanging links with are top quality and do not have a lot of outbound links, then it is valuable!
there are so many ways to build one way links. why would you go through the trouble of finding link exchange partners, exchange links with them, and then keep your eyes open to make sure your links are not removed later? just too much work actually for a link. use free one way link building methods like article submission (given that you write and submit yourself), social bookmarking, blog commenting on relevant blogs, web 2.0 pages, etc.
You should generally avoid 2 way link exchange as it looks as links have been exchanged. So to look more natural use 3 way link exchange preferably from the content.
PR will calculate according to the Trust and quality of back links you getting from other domains. Suppose you getting lot of back links from low quality webs sites which has less value or do not have page ranks, Google will treat this as low quality content. The Exchange of links are good if it happens when you getting back links from High PR sites.
I never had problems with link exchange (neither with 2 nor with 3 way exchange) and as I exchanged links with relevant sites they even increased my traffic and raised the position of my keyword in the Google SERP. So I have nothing to say against it.
Thank you! May I email you an article I wrote and you could possibly give me feed back. What I'm doing write and wrong and how I should maybe go about article submission.
I've never found link exchanges to really be of much use, as long as you provide good content people will want to link to you.
A small part of SEO that can create a jump in a few positions even on the first page is to set up a "no follow" link to authority sites such as wikipedia.com if you add a few reciprocal links to sites with related content it will help as well but make sure most of your outbound links are no follow and to other quality sites without a reciprocal link.
Another thing you might consider is exchanging a link pointed towards your site for a link from another one of your sites pointed towards there site.
I prefer one way backlinks into my website. Link exchanges aren't that effective and not liked by Google very much.
Whether link exchange or buying links, they still work, it depends on what type of backlinks you are exchanging or buying and where you will place them on your website.
Yes you have heard right. google is not in favor of Buying links always. It thinks that it is bad habit for making links. Though some directories are working as paid directories but i think that their claim is based on false ground