Looking for a little clarification please.

I have read that paid link exchanges are "bad" and you can even get penalized for them

As my site has increased in the rankings I have started getting proposals from relevant local vendors (painters, roofers, etc) offering to link to my site if I return the favor on my links page.

I currently don't have a links page as I thought they were "bad" so my question is should I have one if I limit it to honest exchanges with relevant sites?

Thanks in advance

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Rob Muller
ReMax Town & Country
Canton, GA 30114
770-363-4528
Cherokee County GA Realestate | East Cobb GA Real Estate | West Cobb GA Real Estate Specializing in Cherokee County GA, Canton GA, East Cobb, West Cobb, Acworth, Kennesaw Real Estate Markets.

anyone?? Bueller? Bueller?

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Rob Muller
ReMax Town & Country
Canton, GA 30114
770-363-4528
Cherokee County GA Realestate | East Cobb GA Real Estate | West Cobb GA Real Estate Specializing in Cherokee County GA, Canton GA, East Cobb, West Cobb, Acworth, Kennesaw Real Estate Markets.

you can try, but if google finds out as you said, they will probably penalize you.I've heard about 3 way link-exchanges, im not really sure what it is though, try looking it up.
IMO dont try it, just try honest link development methods.

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UAE Real Estate

I would not recommend a link exchange. Try using some bookmarking sites to create external links. Google will not appreciate any kind of link exchange.

Google isn't so bad about link exchanges. They've even said that they can be a good thing for your users. *****They definitely do not want you to do excessive link exchanges -

It's best to exchange links only when the link could benefit one of your users. If it's an exchange meant to increase PageRank or SERPs than stay away from it but if it's a link that may be beneficial to your users, go for it. If it would help your guests it will likely end up helping your site out too. JMO

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Jayson Gibson
New Homes Section lets you search for new homes in Arizona,
Arizona condo builders and
Tucson home builders by offering lists of builder logos, homebuilder ads with incentives and links to move-in ready spec homes.

That's what I read on Matt Cutts' blog from Matt himself, about a year or so ago.

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Matt Pellerin
Phoenix Homes Team Leader.
Also selling real estate in Scottsdale and Paradise Valley Arizona.

I would not recommend offering a link exchange on your real estate website

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Calgary Real Estate
Calgary Real Estate Listings
Calgary Luxury Real Estate

Yeah link exchange with a site which is related to yours, but I think doing some link exchanges nowadays is not very recommended. But it is just what I read though some seo forums and I think it's true I guess.

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Philippine Golf Course | Internet Marketing Company