Reality shows that all the major SEs want to see a lot of link towards your site, but they want to see a natural link building process. When a 1,000 links are instantly directed towards your website, Google and the other search engines will see something suspicious and your web pages will not get the expected popularity and recognition.

Here are a few things that you should consider when you are using an automated link exchange website or directory:

Add your website in the right category - this is very important, as webmasters are looking for websites related to their own topics.

Don't place your pet website in the "travel" section of the directory, as that will make it very difficult for other webmasters to find you and initiate link exchanges.

Create a well written description for your site - this is also essential, as you want webmasters looking for link exchanges to see that your website is (or wishes to become) an authority in the field. No one will want to trade links with a short, rushed description that is full of errors.

Filter out unwanted categories - your wedding related website, for example, will not benefit much from trading links with online poker websites. A great directory which allows you to filter unwanted categories of topics and only allow link exchanges with related websites is:

o http://www.MyLinkMachine.com

Allow the link exchange process to be gradual - this is important as the search engines want to see a natural link exchange pattern. Don't rush to approve hundreds of link exchanges each day.

Take things slowly and only deal with a few dozen link exchanges each day - in the long run, this will be extremely beneficial as Google and the other search engines will consider that you are doing a quality-based exchange campaign, not a bulk links campaign.

Allow the link exchange directory to be visible - some webmasters fear that by placing their link exchange pages where their visitors can reach them they will lose traffic. Although some visitors are lost to link partners, the same number of visitors is probably gained from the links you have on other websites.

So don't hide your link exchange pages and place a link to easily access them from most areas of your site. Your link exchange partners will notice this and this will also determine how many link exchange requests you get.

Be constant with your link exchange campaign - you will need at least a month or two of decent link exchanges to start seeing results in search engine placement and traffic numbers. Automated link exchange programs are the best choice for keeping a constant link exchange campaign while also investing very little time and effort.