Terry's question is the one to focus on here, for there seems to be much confusion about web design standards, strategies, link values, etc. Maybe I can clarify things a bit.....

Reciprocol Link Strategy is but one part of a well-thought web design, and has value beyond the typical first-glance most Users "understand" (typically, thought of a means to boost traffic or far-flung Relevance). Reciprocol Links should be selected with care (demonstrable "value" contribution based on true Relevance and Site/Page Rank), administrated regularly (culled if not performing or congruent with your page values or content evolution), and properly rotated or placed within your site to maximize the potential from each. This is a careful application of a greater overall understanding of building webs within compliance to the Perfect Page model and details of manual optimization (something that is clearly mish-moshed above).

Simply put, valid reciprocol links (qualified by rank and relevance) are best implemented on interior pages rich with complimentary Content (demonstrates Relevancy, see?) and are not simply "outbound" links to another Index page, but to an interior page within another site --- and that interior page should have corresponding Content that defines the "relationship" or relvancy between the two sites. You certainly do not want visitors bouncing off your site to another's before they get a chance to drill in and possibly convert to a customer, do you? Thus, preserve the purpose of tghe "index" page as that of the proper Intro page it needs be......but mentioning something that it "drains" value from a site is ridiculous entirely: the practice may be picked up on as a non-compliant build technique, or the bots may read non-entered interior pages as "suspect" based on the site abandonment ratio, but that is all!

> For example, You have a S H O E selling site, and the other guy has a "fashions and accessories" site.....the best reciprocol link would be illustrated as one placed on your "Tennis S h o e s" page which links to his interior page that has "Colored or Themed S h o e Laces" --- not simply to his Main/Index page.
* This is also very specifically trackable via your Stats utility, as you can see which specific web site/page the traffic was referred from, and this is where you must determine the performance levels you wish to maintain (you only have so much room for links, and either they regularly contribute or not = get some that deliver traffic, not just take up space).

Hopefully, this helps somewhat?


For some reason, the word S H O E S is filtered, so I had to expand it....