goto
google webmaster guidelines and read the instructions
Nothing anybody else has to say about search engines matters, does it
note what Google says about link exchange services
once you are registered as webmaster and google verify (also yahoo,msn,ask) you can see multiple reports of what the bots see of your site to further optimise your target audience.
My site (started very small business, staff of 2) gets page one in both cities we work in in our trade, get a lot of return visits and customers, have gone from 46% of the business we can handle(struggling) for two to 92% of what five can handle in three years, have bought more sites and staff is 5 1/2, we do no other advertising
rank higher than the biggest player in our target market, by following the guidelines.
works in yahoo MSN AskJeeves searches as well, the algorithms are similar