There seems to be a consensus: link exchanges are very important, if not most important in SEO. Yet, I see so many sites (especially for the industry I'm trying to optimize for) that are ranked high and have no link exchange program-- not even linked one-way by external sites.

I am entirely confused. Since there seems to be few link exchanges in the industry I am trying to target, should I not bother with a link program? How do they do it?

Nidge: what's the industry or key words?

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OverSite - A unique web directory for quality sites ONLY.

Hi.

The industry is email or online marketing.

Nige, that industry is going to take some major link building. A little hazy about the lack of links. Do you intend that the top ranked sites for "online marketing" have no external back links?

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OverSite - A unique web directory for quality sites ONLY.

That'd be a delicious irony.

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Two projects I'm working on: Car Insurance (spidering test) and Auto Insurance

Hi Cygnus,

According to Google the number 1 page when you search for "online marketing" has 19,000++ backlinks, so you better start building a huge link directory.

Regards,
Trond

Oh, sorry, that was for Nidge, not Cygnus

Okay, I think I got it.

These folks don't necessarily have to have a links page (which is what I was looking for) because they have plenty of back links from other sites.

Sorry if I seem a bit dense, but does this mean that these sites (with no reciprocal link exchange program) are either:

a. buying non-reciprocal links, or;
b. are so great that other sites want to link to them one-way because their content/services can be valuable to their users?

Nidge -

Possibly yes on both of your scenarios -- a third is that they are involved in 3-way exchanges, where this site receives a link, but another site of theirs reciprocates the link. Plus, it is possible that the links page does exist, but isn't easy to find.

Cygnus

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Two projects I'm working on: Car Insurance (spidering test) and Auto Insurance