Reciprocal Links
The most common form of linking is reciprocating links. This simply means that you link to someone’s website and they reciprocate with a link back to you.
Keep in mind, however, that reciprocating links are not as valuable as they used to be. If your website has good content, many people and “bots” will find it and link to it, anyway, however, -- eventually.
Should you reciprocate links? Yes. Whenever it makes logical sense to do so. If you are in the accommodations industry it makes sense to link to restaurants, for example, and it would be customary for the restaurant to reciprocate with a link back to you.
Go ahead and use reciprocating links when it makes sense. Reciprocating links are the “you scratch my back and I will scratch” yours approach to getting links.
They certainly are not worthless like link farm links, but they have also been “devalued” by search engines because they are abused as well.
When you have the opportunity to exchange links with a business that provides a complimentary product or service to yours, and your site visitors would be likely to be interested in them as well, then go ahead an exchange links.
It will help you both with real website visitation from each other’s sites, and it will have an impact upon your rank in the search engines, but not as much as it used to.
You need inbound links in as great of a quantity that you can muster.
