What are the benifites of trading links?

[Hell Puppy]

Link popularity continues to help SE rankings. And the bots are not stupid, particuarly google. I dont care how many class C's, server farms, etc, you have, if there's ANYTHING to tie them together (nic registration, etc) Google will detect the links that are your own. Trading links with others is a very organic way to grow link relevence and is thus very powerful. That which is real is always good for the engines in the long run.

Good for free sites, TGP's, etc. Not a good idea for paysites as affiliates will just see it as traffic leaks.

Link swaps can also be a great filtering mechanism. Use them to get rid of the traffic you know you cant convert hopefully in exchange for some you can. I do a lot of "wrong turn" links. Some might ask why I have a link for "mature" women on a teen site or why I have a link to redheads on a blonde site. Answer is simple, if they are into mature sites and accidently land on my teen site, I'd rather shuffle them off to someone who is more likely to have what they want and be able to convert them. And hopefully at some point get something I stand a better chance with back in return.