1. Is their site relevant to yours?

This is key, and more and more important these days. If answer is YES then it’s worth thinking about. If it’s off topic then you may want to think twice before swapping links. A link from a relevant website to your site is preferred choice as it can help reinforce your website theme and potentially send some useful traffic your way.

2. How many links is too many on a links page?

When your link is being placed on another website, you ideally want that page to contain as few outbound links as possible. 15 or less outbound links is good, 150 outbound links is not so good. If there are a high number of links on a page [such as 150] then value of each link out is weakened. Whilst we can only make assumptions about ‘link weight’ some Webmasters will use a cut off point of 50, 75 or even 100 links on a page as a top end maximum. Anything over 50 outbound links on an average resources page is certainly quite high. However if your link will appear on page of a good quality site or ‘authority website’ an exchange can still be worthwhile.

3. What is Page Rank of site on Google?

Some webmasters focus a lot on Google’s page rank as a measure of a website. If you download and install Google toolbar you will see a measure of 1 to 10 shown via a horizontal bar for each site you are on. Typically higher page rank, more important a site is perceived to be. A link from a Pr 5 page is often seen as a more powerful link than one from a Pr1 page. However, Google’s Page Rank is only meant to be a rough guide and should not be taken too seriously. Tip one should always preside - a relevant link is always what you want.

4. Should links page be categorized?

Personally I prefer a well organised links page. If your citing a resource in context of an article you would link from paragraph, but for purposes of resource links it is a good idea to organise your pages into relevant themes relating to your website and business. If site containing link you are being offered is placed on a page with 200 links all mixed up and covering every topic under sun, then it’s not ideal. If you’re an online shop selling Art Prints should you really be on same links page as Hosting Companies and Travel Agents? Make effort to organise your resource pages, even if some link partners don't.

5. Is links page being read by search engines?

Links exchanges can be extremely productive, but here are a few things to consider. Set up a separate page where you will put your reciprocal links, however, do not name this page links.html or links.htm, call it associates.html. This will make other webmasters more attracted to having a link on your page, also it seems a lot more professional to have 'associates' rather than; 'random people I decided to exchange links with to gain/maintain a high SE ranking'.

Furthermore, when first starting out on your quest for links, always be one to make first move, by placing a link to someone's page in anticipation of them reciprocating. You can always remove it if they don't, and it is likely to encourage them to add a link to your site. Do not be afraid to approach 'Big Boys', do a search in Google for your keyword, and contact people that rank highest. This makes perfect sense, but many people simply do not bother contacting webmasters at top - thinking they would never agree to exchange links with them. But remember; they too have to maintain their high position and getting new links is easiest way to do this. Moreover, exchanging links with high ranking sites is far more productive, Google is after all based on weighted voting.