I don't know what terms to use to describe this. There are site like "25 peeps dot com". It encourages you to click on the icon to link to someone else's site. If the site got more clicks, it is on top of the site. So more people will click on it. Is such thing legal to Search Engine Optimization? Isn't it sound like cheating? What if there is a link contest web site. So you can click each other's link and get more traffic. I just thought that more traffic doesn't mean people will stay on your site. Isn't it? Would Google and Yahoo ban those site list on site liked "25 peeps dot com"? or some other link exchange sites. Thanks!
I would say Google and Yahoo WOULD ban sites like that. If you read the terms and conditions at google and yahoo they do not allow that type of activity.
Only Google or Yahoo can answer the banning question definitively. But I don’t think this practice is in line with Google’s webmaster guidelines.