If you are a webmaster you will have undoubtedly heard of all the hype going on about one way and reciprocal links as a way of ranking higher in the search engines.

The Search Engine Optimization (SEO) industry is currently one of the most spectacular and dynamic entities that dominate the online economy, and the truth is that every web owner should keep an eye open for the trends that characterize SEO.

Reciprocal linking is – and always has been – one of the top web promotion methods.

The idea behind reciprocal links is simple: one webmaster places a link to a different website and, in return, that website also places a link back. This helps both websites as visitors from one will also go to the other and vice versa.

However, there are bigger stakes here – the search engines rank websites on several factors, but one of the most important concerns the number and quality of back links of your website. If you get hundreds of links from established websites that are also related to the topic of your own website, chances are your search engine placement will be excellent.

Pleasing the three main search engines

The power of reciprocal links is huge, as it is one of the most effective ways to get Google, Yahoo and MSN to favor your site. While you know, as a webmaster, that high quality content and good linking are the best keys to long lasting success, chances are you don’t like to spend hours and hours carrying out manual link exchanges.

This is why there are tens of thousands of amazing websites out there that are barely known by a few people – their webmasters are simply overwhelmed by the idea of exchanging the necessary number of links to rank high on Google, Yahoo and MSN.

While there is no set number of links that you need in order to have your pages displayed in the top 10 results, you will most likely need hundreds or thousands of links.

Automating the process

In order to address the needs of webmasters who would love to promote their websites but simply don’t have the time or energy to carry out hundreds of manual link exchanges, many web entrepreneurs have designed automated link exchange software and websites.

One of the most popular and innovative ways of dealing with link exchanges is through automated directories. Not only will these link exchange directories facilitate the link exchange process by offering other webmasters a fast and easy way to performing the exchange, but they also offer excellent link management systems. A great linking directory you may want to consider is:

o http://www.MyLinkMachine.com

Veteran Internet marketers will tell you that keeping track of active and broken links is almost as important as acquiring them in the first place, so the tools that come with such directories are real time savers. The automated link directory approach has several other benefits, such as the fact that you can categorize the reciprocal links, offering a better structure for both link partners and website visitors.