Inbound link from home page or secondary page - which is better

[emils]

I have this question,

What is the best situation from the two cases below, if someone places a single link to my site, but not within page main content (which would be ideal), but in the footer or sidebar, like in the blogroll for example:

a) I receive a link from the home page (in this case I get most inbound PR juice, but it might look strange to G)
b) I receive a link from a secondary page (less juice, but might appear as more natural)

I pretty much excluded site-wide links already, because from what I learnt, latest G algo changes are quite targetting that, and too many sitewide links might get you devalued because they appear unnatural.

Now from the a) or b), what should be better?

I personally never had a true problem with this particular issue so far, however on long term, I believe this may cause quite a difference when the algo rules will get tighter.
(Did receive though one warning for some sitewide links to one site, though no harsh action taken against the site; but it was kinda scary.)

I would appreciate a technical answer on this matter, in respect to latest algo enhancements.

[LD]

I would take a link from the page that is most likely to deliver more traffic to my site - period.

[snakeman]

In the absence of evidence to the contrary, and agreeing with LD, I'd add that I'd take more than one link if I could get it.
All the best

[ftw12]

The home page will most likely have higher authority in google's eyes, though this is not always the case. You can check with the free tools at SEOMoz.

[morestar]

I would take a link from the page that is most likely to deliver more traffic to my site - period.

I have to respond so the OP sees that I agree with LD as well. Look at the page(s) and see where the information will be most useful to the user and help increase click-throughs to your website. Go with that and you're on your way to understanding SEO a little bit more.

[emils]

Well here are more aspects to think over:

1. Getting as much traffic as possible, and increase CTR
2. Getting a link from home pages will give you best inbound link authority.

... and I agree with both (noticed already that most forum members put an emphasis on 1).

My concern looks at a different perspective, and that perspective is what I'm interested into.

Recent algo changes tend to make G a lot more skeptical, against links coming from home pages (unless link is placed actually within the middle of the page content, which is the most "natural" case). I expect the "natural" criteria to strengthen in the future against all sites. So the 3'rd aspect that concerns me, would be : getting as much... "natural" as possible.

This is the case with a site, where something valuable is offered, in exchange for a link (even if linking might be optional, still some people will link back). I'd like to know whether to encourage people willing to link, to place the link on homepage or on a secondary page, against the concern mentioned above. Most people would not place links in their page text (may not look right there), but rather on sidebars, blogroll or footer, as far as I can see.

Edit: please don't beat me with a stick if I cannot point at this time, where I read the above about the algo changes

[deepsand]

The home page will most likely have higher authority in google's eyes, though this is not always the case.

Authority, a qualitative metric, accrues at a Domain Name level, not page level; what does exist only at the page level is PageRank (PR), which is a wholly quantitative metric.

And, neither authority or PR are well correlated with traffic, let alone with qualified traffic.

[deepsand]

My concern looks at a different perspective, and that perspective is what I'm interested into.

Recent algo changes tend to make G a lot more skeptical, against links coming from home pages (unless link is placed actually within the middle of the page content, which is the most "natural" case). I expect the "natural" criteria to strengthen in the future against all sites. So the 3'rd aspect that concerns me, would be : getting as much... "natural" as possible.

This is the case with a site, where something valuable is offered, in exchange for a link (even if linking might be optional, still some people will link back). I'd like to know whether to encourage people willing to link, to place the link on homepage or on a secondary page, against the concern mentioned above. Most people would not place links in their page text (may not look right there), but rather on sidebars, blogroll or footer, as far as I can see.

Given that an indexing engine does not render a page so as to "see" it as the human user does, I'm more than a little bit skeptical about any claims re. content being judged by it's physical position beyond that which it holds in the source code itself.

Furthermore, there is no logical reason for any SE to arbitrarily discount links from a home page.

As for being "natural," that is not a quality to be defined by an SE, but rather one to be discerned from its observations of real pages created by real people for use by real people.

To return to your original question, place the link where it will be most useful to your visitors.

[emils]

Deepsand - some nice answers! Thank you for your insight.

I'm beginning to consider, that what I heard/read about this particular detail, might be some kind of rumors - rather than a documented fact. Which is kind of difficult to document, given the fact that G does not tell us what are the exact percentages of each criteria taken into weight, when deciding to act and devalue a site (I refer to automatic actions).

Now, if I stay and think more, I'd have some kind of personal proof for that, to show myself:

I still own a bunch of sites that have been promoted with similar links, homepage links, years ago (around 2006 or so). They are in various stages of development today; some are fully active, others are having the same frozen content from 2006, and others are just having a short placeholder page today, awaiting for myself to go back and reinvest into them. Also there is one site, which is new - 12 months, that has most of its links like that too.

None of them ever showed a sign of any form devaluation. None of them has received the latest WT messages. They're doing just fine. And it makes me think, if that was considered unnatural, then at least one of them should be hit already.

Edit: I'm smiling alone at a thought: What a nice road we often take with G, from rumors, to concern, heavy worries, and ending up in full paranoia.

[deepsand]

I'm smiling alone at a thought: What a nice road we often take with G, from rumors, to concern, heavy worries, and ending up in full paranoia.

As Thomas Magnum would say, "Don't look at the dogs, work the lock."