I also prefer three-way link exchange because it's just similar in getting one way links... Building one way links has more importance to search engines compared to reciprocal links.
Exchanging links with pertinent websites will certainly give you good results. I think manual link maintenance is much better than link maintenance through software. Software does not give 100% accuracy guarantee. In this respect, it can be suggested that go in for manual link maintenance. Check your links at regular intervals. It is needed to check the effectivity of your links regularly. You have asked whether a link partner giving you PR5 link is better than an incoming 1 way PR1 or PR0 or not. My answer to this question is PR5 link partner is good, but an one-way PR1 is better because of the following reasons: 1) Incoming links are better than outgoing links, especially if your incoming links are oneway. 3) If the density of the page where your link is placed is low, it will benefit you like anything. Regards Monalisa
whatever the big guys say, it is still relevant. type "offshore software development" in Google. #1 website for this search has link exchange as the only SEO strategy, and a huge directory. relevant partners - and you get not only traffic but higher rankings also.
Link exchange is an obsolete practice and not too many people believe in it. You could probably try getting links from the much newer methods, social bookmarking, blog comments & posts. This apart, the tried and tested method of directory submissions is always there… Amongst the directories, there are the article submission directories, the paid directories, niche directories and not to forget the good ol’ free directories. In fact if you do link building instead of link exchange, the chances of getting into "bad neighbourhood" will be minimal. As far as the link exchange from a PR5 site Vs PR1 or PR0 is concerned, I really can't say for definite since so many factors are involved. But one thing is for sure, Google can definetly see that you're exchanging links and may not value it as much as a one-way link. It only makes sense to exchange links with sites in the same or similar industry / theme. Hope this helps you out