Reciprocal links are a technique used to gain popularity and traffic on the
search engines. Using reciprocal links involves exchanging links between two
sites that usually have an agreement between website owners. This agreement
between two website owners to link to each others websites is one of the
fastest ways to get better rankings in the major search engines such as
google.com
Getting reciprocal links helps increase link popularity which is an
important factor in achieving high search engine rankings. Bottom line is
this: Ask as many other website owners to link to your website as you can
find.
I have found that about 1 out of 4 are willing to exchange. However, some
search engines know that you are using reciprocal links and will not give
the same amount of credit as they would in a one way link. The search
engines can tell if you're trading links but they can't tell you're
manipulating the search engine results if you're only using one way links.
Most webmasters are happy to exchange links with each other with a "scratch
each other's back" attitude. It's much more difficult to get one way
links. To get one way links, you'll usually have to pay other website
owners to link to you.