Link Development Dead…again

I’ve just been reading this post about link development and link pages in particular, on WMW. It’s a tired argument and one that really needs put to rest. By having a links page you are setting out your stall. Where you link to and who links to you is what gives you clout in a certain market. If you have a site about motorbikes and you only swap links with spammy travel sites, your site is not going to be noticed so much for motorbikes. But spend your time swapping links with other motorbike enthusiast sites and your profile will grow amongst bike sites and as a site related to bikes in Google. It’s not rocket science, and the links page is far from dead. Reciprocal links may be fading in terms of how much they influence your rankings, but by having them you are encouraging other sites in the same market to find your content and link to it without a reciprocal. My advice is to keep going with those links pages, but keep them relevant.