I have heard a few people say links are links in other words it doesnt matter where from aslong as they are not bad neighbourhood sites etc then a linkback is a linkback and will have value. Is this true and what are your opinions on this?
Excluding bad links from bad neighborhoods. All links help but there's a big difference in the value. as an example on a scale of 1 to 100 a nofollow 0 PR link is a point while a DoFollow 10PR link is worth 100. This isn't saying get 100 weak links = 1 great link but its directionally correct. All links are good but the great sites usually have a few 'aces' up its sleeve too.
a nofollow 0 PR link can also be valuable if it is a related site with alot of traffic. At best, it will not generate any search engine juice but will provide traffic.
Why waste time in getting links from sites that will obviously get penalized and de-indexed from search engines? Otherwise, a backlink is a backlink.
All links are good, Google can't really penalize you for bad backlinks simply because that would easily allow other people to sabotage your website. The only problem you'll have is building too many too fast.
I'd also say that all links are good but some aren't worth the time and effort to obtain them. For example, reciprocal linking with off-topic sites or those with links pages or tons of other links just isn't worth the effort. Every little link helps but real quality ones help hugely.
Well all links are worth something, but if you have thousands of links from one source that is a link farm it will not look good to Google and can hurt you. You should concentrate on those links that are one way quality links and are on relevant websites.
Almost any link will help your site a little. However, you're better off spending most of your time trying to get links back to your site that are related to your niche, regardless of their PR. These links will probably give you a bit of traffic and seriously help you in the SERPs.
the more valuable links would come from 'authority' sites and webpages that are related to the nature of your website. in other words if you have a travel related website, then a link say from an organic farm website wouldn't be as 'valuable' to you/google as a link from a website that it's in the travel business. if have a travel website, obviously when i am submitting to Directories, i don't submit my link to the computer category, i put it with other travel websites or travel guides etc - so not only is the overall website important to your link but the page it comes from as well, and so it's not just a matter of passing 'page rank'. you want to garner links that come from websites related to your material or pages that have related material. also when i consider submitting to pay/free/bidding directories i often check on the pr of the overall directory but also the directory/website's age, number of sites that link to it, how many websites it has it in, if the page i am submitting to is already indexed by google, and the directory's Alexa ranking - things like that. a rose is a rose is a rose but a link is not a Link - the value of a link to you or me and our websites varies greatly. go for quality backlinks, from higher ranking directories (in fact i submit to all sorts of low, mid and higher ranking directories now for a natural link growth appearance) and other social bookmarking techniques, etc, etc...
Personally, I believe in theory "Bad link means no link": no link can hurt you, if it's bad (from link farm or from bad neighborhood), has 0 value.