Google Secrets: reciprocal linking, link popularity, Page Rank, submission bad practices

Linking (Page Rank) Worst Practices

This is a list of worst practices when it comes to obtaining reciprocal links and increasing Page Rank (PR) in general.

• Don't exchange links with link farms, link free-for-alls (FFAs), or other sites that are obviously spam. In particular, do not place links to such sites on your own website or Google may penalize your site.
  
  
• Don't blindly exchange links with unrelated sites simply to increase your link popularity (the number of links that point to your website). Your potential customers won't be on these sites and it will not help increase PageRank (PR) or your ranking with Google.
  
  
• Don't have your Related Links page automatically generated by a software program. Google has been known to penalize websites that generate Links pages using "cookie-cutter" template pages with the same filename.
  
  
• Don't have broken links on your website. While not as critical with Google, Yahoo routinely checks your website for broken links. Plus, it is unprofessional.
  
  
• Don't "hide" your links using JavaScript, forms or other methods, unless you have a legitimate reason for doing so.
  
  
• Don't use "click here" as the text link for any link, ever. Otherwise, Google may decide your site is about "clicks".