Iddover's Resources

Illuminating post by Greg Boser. One of his ex clients was ranking
well in Google when they parted ways. Since then his ex client was
busy entering a reciprocal link network and his rankings tanked.

the details...

the experiment:

I collected a sample of 50 keyword phrases being targeted by sites in
the GotLinks directory. In order to get a balanced set of keywords, I
randomly selected phrases from several different categories.

the results:

Now I don't know about you, but one top 20 listing in Google certainly
isn't enough to convince me that the GotLinks network is a place I
want my clients to be.

Greg also notes that

* The site ranked well in Google before the links were added to
the GotLinks network.
* The ex-client never reciprocated.

and the cause of the penalty?

* Exceeding a threshold for the total number of links developed in
a specific time frame, or
* Simply being included in a specific network.

Other reciprocal link network owners have been showing how great their
networks are, pointing out how some people got 1,600 links really
quickly. I think there should be a bit more honesty in the marketing,
as it is clear those are not 1,600 links that will bring you to the
top of Google's search results.