Jeff reciprocal linking does very little for you in the way of search engine rank. In fact is you do to much of it you will find your self in Googles sandbox. A Directory may be a different story but being placed on a page that does not pass any PR doesn't do much for a Realtor or anyone else for that matter.

I will second what Bill has to say. Link reciprocity is not the way to the top. However since your name is Links to Real Estate I think you have a different agenda in posting this blog then helping people to the top.

You are confused,Bill, the sandbox is the first place you are put for three months to test your site out with other new sites so google can get a general sense of what you are.  It is not a "penalty box", but an assesment period. 

Additionally, relevant links to a site like LinksToRealEstate.com is important for a Real Estate related business since it is vertically niched vs some "pet" site as an example.  I suggest you tune into webmasterradio.fm for further clarification on this subject.  They are a great resource and have industry experts talking about these exact issues daily.

As for agendas, I have over 1200 sites, check out MLSHomeFinder.com over 41,000 links,  etc.....  I have been doing websites a long time, anyone that tells you links are not relevant would be mistaken.   I grant you that it is not the end all be all, just one component in site building, as is content etc.....I suggest News releases, Blogs, Podcasting, Viral Marketing and online media to reach buyers directly.

 I do this for a living folks and have sites in several disciplines (Real Estate, Organic Food (OrganicFamilies.com) etc...)

P.S. Bill, you live in Boston, check out how many links Boston.com has and see where their stories come up as  a way to validate what I have stated.

Have a nice weekend

Jeff 

Bill, I forgot to mention it but ask Bill Wright, I developed your companies first website when he was in Medfield with Linda :-) way back in '98

Jeff I meant to say penalty box. There is plenty written on the net about Google penalizing for reciprocal linking especially amongst Realtors. There is no value for a consumer to go to my website and see it stuffed with other Realtors contact info in other States - It is pretty foolish. Google will penalize you if you do enough of it.

I am very familiar with Real Estate website directories - Lets be honest though Jeff. The links added to the site do a lot more for you than the Realtors who add themselves. If the Realtor was added to a page that passed PR it would be a different story. I checked the site there is no PR for Massachusetts. I suspect it would be the same if I looked in the other states as well.

I never said links were not relevant - They are extremely important! The point is you need quality links. I can do a search right now and come up with hundreds of Real Estate directories. I could add myself to all of them regardless of PR or just add myself only to the ones that passed PR. I would be ahead of the game by just adding myself to the ones that passed PR. It is not the amount of links that is important it is the quality and the anchor text associated with it.

So in this example I would take 10 sites that passed decent PR over adding 100 that didn't! 

Of course boston.com has tons of links - there are thousands of Realtors that advertise with them never mind the countless other industries. I am sure Boston.com has tens of thousands of links as well. I am sure you do just a fine job with SEO.

I appreciate you letting me debate with you.