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We have taken the view that we will leave our "site by" links alone, we are ranking well for key phrases and the danger being that changing these links will affect it. That said, we have removed links from some client websites with poor DA and PR as a precaution and it doesn't seem to have done us any harm, in fact i think it may have improved SERPs on a few keywords, but a little early to say for sure.

I have to agree with John. Just another thing to consider, in the past when we've launched a new domain we've 'acquired' (through hard work, not through $) a few very high quality links and not bothered with any low value links. We will then let those links sit there for some time (1-2 months) before trying to target other links. Because your domain is quite mature (in a sense), you should be fine, especially if you are hiring a highly reputable SEO firm. Just make sure they are very transparent in what they do. Good luck!

We have very little back-link profile and most of these links are from silly sites that back-link to sites trying to build Directories to game the system.  So it sounds like your advice is look at them and if not suspect and not back anchor text then recover them otherwise leave them 404

No worries at all - we're all here to help! Haven't seen the other questions, but the list of recommended companies on the SEOMoz site is a good place to start : )

I would agree 100%. I can't see it being a problem if you are using your brand, you should be able to get credit (and traffic) for your work.

Personally, I have run some tests, even before the devaluation by Google, and have found articles directories to be a waste of time for the amount of time you put into it and the little to no value you get from it. With so many factors to consider for a good SEO plan, I try to focus on ones that help the most...

These pages are indexed by google right? How about I PM you instead I wouldn't want the owner of the site to google themselves and find out I have been interrogating their site.

Thanks for your reply. PR Newswire does look pretty good although I don't understand the pricing? On the site it says it's only $195 if the user will pay all future payments by credit card - what does that mean?

Hey, I submitted a form online and someone called me within 15 min. The area code was from my home town here in SC. I wonder if they charge by location?

Thank you for your reply! I agree. But what about if you have a new site?

Can I ask what do you mean by "questionable" links...I can't imagine anyone doing white hat seo would have anything that would be questionable? Can you describe these links please in terms of the type of site that they were on and any significance in anchor text and also how long did it take you to remove them?

If I owned google and a site was appearing in the #2 position and not getting clicked then that says something.  The title could be totally irrelevant, the site could be so trashy that everybody knows about it, may other things. If nobody is clicking then it is wasting space in the SERPs.

For me, that would be easier, because of my topics, but each one would need to be tailored for the host. If you can tailor your guest post for the site offering space, then it would be good -assuming always that they are not a bad neighborhood. As always, you have to do research and make a decision. Nothing is easy.

My guess is that you have not yet built backlinks to your deep pages and their pagerank is coming solely from the link on the menu of your homepage (which means there's no linkjuice to redirect). If you did have deep links, a redirect would salvage some authority and add it to your homepage. "PR3" is a pretty useless metric anymore. Install the seomoz toolbar and use PA as a much better measure of your link profile.

I would aim for variety in your linking domains, which usually means 1 link on 1 site. But bear in mind a large part of link-building is building relationships, so you shouldn't necessarily 'never talk to them again'. I would aim to build a link on a site via quality content, which you then go out of your way to promote via social media, etc. as well as ensuring you reply to any comments and stay involved in the conversation. Not only does this make your link more valuable, but helps you build stronger relationships. I'd also stay away from using direct match anchor text on your keyword targets - use your brand name to link back and you'll increase your overall domain authority, which will help you rank (assuming your on-site elements are solid). But back to the question, generally speaking I'd always aim for 1 link on 5 sites vs. 5 links on 1 site, just make sure those sites are relevant, high quality and not involved in any potentially worrying activities (such as selling links, aggressive advert blocks, etc. etc)