Reciprical backlink abad thing?

A company trying to sell me 500 backlinks says that exchanging links with other sites will not help my site as Google will discount the links because they are reciprocal. They say that Google has algorythoms to spot where sites have exchanged links and places no value upon them.

Is this true or a bad case of, to miss quote " They would say that wouldn't they"?

 

I'm sure there is some dampening of the value of a link in an obvious exchange, but what is really important is that Google can also spot paid links...

 

Its not a bad thing at all but Search Engines like Google will probably put less trust on those links as they are un-natural links. When I say it isn’t a bad thing I am talking about if your site would be useful to my visitors and my site yours, why not exchange links? Its a massive practice in the blogging world.

Google want to see more natural links to your site, people that link to your site without having to exchange or ask because your content is good – now its easier said than done so fresh ideas are needed to gain links, one reason why link baiting is becoming popular.

One way natural links could be recognized as better linking but 500 hundred back links? Forget it; its un-natural (if not done correctly) so they probably will not count at all. Way to many people think its about getting as many links as possible and Google probably cant tell the difference between natural and un-natural links, they are a lot smarter than we think.

Build your back links slowly but more importantly look for links that are of quality.

This is a debatable topic so more people will probably chime in and tear my beliefs to shreds.

 

i have heard different views from both arguments, but really the more back links the more chances of traffic to your site, so it certainly does not hurt to have a good mix.

 

I disagree. I don't believe google discounts links because they are reciprocal. They still hold weight and they will still help you in the long run. Are they as good as a quality one way link, probably not. But, I like to use all tactics in my link building strategy and reciprocals are still a part of the plan.

 

Really? And how does Google determine a link is paid?

 

I am curious as well...?

 

My way of thinking :
"One way link > Reciprical link > no link"

Reciprical link might not transfer you alot of PR (but not 0, i think so), but it can give you traffic, remember that

 

Our effort is to make artificial reciprocal links look somehow natural links.

 

Once again. I consider one way links as a method to increase PR and reciprocal for bringing traffic.

Both are important very much, and cannot be disregarded

 

Reciprocal links help. They do not have the same value as one-way links but every drop counts.

 

i think it depends what is your main goal.. if SEO then it may not be that great but on the other hand if you have 500 back links to your site you will have some visits from them as well