I have heard that you only want to have backlinks that are of the same niche as your site, and also that any backlink is better than no backlink as long as it's not "in a bad neightborhood" or banned by google "grey bar on the PR meter". Which one is true? Anyone here really know for sure? Thanks, RonMo
I would also like to know the answer to this. To extend on what ronmojohny has said: 1. I have been avoiding free directories which don't have a suitable category for my site - is this wise? 2. I am looking for a UK audience as I have a UK site, should I avoid backlinks from US sites based around my topic as I only want a UK audience really?
Based on this quote from Google, I would think any link is probably better than no link. From everything that I hear from Google reps (Matt Cutts, etc), when a site is flagged, they simply don't follow the links out.
I second skanxalot. If having a link from a bad/banned website hurt your site, it would be easy to sink Authority sites by simply linking to them from all the bad/banned sites on the web. Links from your niche are better than links from unrelated sites, but any link that is followable by a search engine can help get your site spidered.
Its where you link to that you have to worry about. http://www.google.com/search?client=safari&rls=en&q=google+bowling&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8 An interesting read at least.
So you're saying that it's better not to exchange links with a site that is not in your niche? vs. having a link exchanged with another non-banned site that's not in your niche?
I would be very careful with any kind of reciprocal linking. In my opinion, the juice isn't worth the squeeze, if you know what I mean. Most people would agree that reciprocal links are devalued anyways. If you are going to reciprocate, keep a close eye on those sites you link to at all times.