Every week I get link swap offers from other site owners. Most are rubbish, but a few are decent UK home and garden blogs.
I’ve done about 8 direct swaps in two years with no problems I can see. Now people keep pushing three-way “ABC” swaps so it doesn’t look reciprocal. My gut says Google can see through that easily and it’s more admin than it’s worth.
For those who swap: how many is too many compared to your total links? And has anyone actually seen a site get hit for it?