Lately I've be doing a lot of directory submissions and link building for my new sites and many of the directories ask for reciprocal links.

I would like to know whether reciprocal links are ok or will they hurt my rankings or PR in anyway?

Looking forward to hear from you guys.

SticKer

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You shouldn't give recip links to directories.

Most the time the page your link will be on won't even be indexed. If it is it'll be on pages with tons of other links, and directories just don't give that much link power anymore. If you get the occasional visitor from it, then that'd be a miracle as well.

If you can get a free link off them then it probably won't hurt anything much, but you could spend your time submitting articles to sites like Digg and Facebook or whatever to try to get natural link backs from other relevant sites that may link to you without you having to get a link back.

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Does the same go for reciprocal link exchanges as well? Or do you feel 1 way or 3 way linking is a better option?

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Yes both 1 and 3 way links are better options rather then simply swapping links with other sites.

If you can some how manage a 3 way link trade it'd be even better ;)

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Most sites that submit to my directories with link backs are just on an html page with 100's of links.
If you need to link back, I suggest adding a page link this, no need to link to it from any page on your site, just use it from a link back.

but like Dave said, one and three way links are better then straight exchanges.

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Personally I don’t submit to directories which require reciprocal link, an exception to it is when it has the potential to send me good amount of traffic.

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i dont usually do recip link directories either. i trade links only if its worth it. like i traded with talkvirginia.net cause he gave me a link for all 3 of my sites in exchange for 1 of his on talkde. i traded with delawareontheweb cause it has a nice presence for search terms concerning delaware. that type of thing....

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