SEO Myths #8
All I have to do is swap links with other sites for six months and I'll be at the top of Google
So called 'reciprocal linking' where "I'll link to you if you'll link to me" used to be a useful way of gaining incoming links to your site. Unfortunately, due to widespread abuse where people would exchange links with hundreds or thousands of sites which had no overlap of interest with their own, Google decided to downgrade the weight of links between sites where they link to each other.
If you have a link to a useful site in the same area as yourself, for instance you're a web designer linking to a developer you've worked with, and they've linked back to you, don't worry about it and don't take the link down as it might be useful for your human visitors. However, if the great proportion of your links come from reciprocal deals, don't expect to get ranked highly. It's much more likely all of those links are just being ignored.
Instead, you'll need to use the full range of tools in the ethical SEO's arsenal - including content, technical and relevant linking - if you're going to get to the top of Google for any key phrases that really count.