Hi, I have an Earth/Eco Friendly article directory that I am developing and I was wondering is it detrimental to have a separate folder within the site that has a link exchange area that is for non-eco friendly specific sites? Does it really matter if one stray from ones theme when exchanging links? How many exchanges should I do a week? 5 or more? Thanks, Donald
Simple answer is Yes. It does matter, because Google ranks pages on relevance. Backlinks are no exception. If you have all your backlinks on sites that have no relevance to yours, they will not carry a high value. That being said, links of any kind can generate traffic. If you have a lot of relevant backlinks, the occasional non-relevant one shouldn't matter too much.