Niche Web Design company - Links from all your clients - Good or Bad?

[DCochrane]

If you were a web development company that specializes in a specific niche & you were to have a link back to your website on all of the websites you have designed would this be seen as crappy links & would hurt you due to the Penguin Algo updates?

Or since it's a niche web development company, having links from the same industry websites be seen as decent links?

Thanks

[WhoWuddaThunk]

As long as you stuck to just "Brand" or "Brand +Keyword" occasionally you would be fine.

[TomRayner]

If you don't overuse "manipulative" anchor text (such as exact match keywords) and don't have these links site-wide, but on a select few pages, then they'll be absolutely fine. If you think as well, if you've worked with these companies and they've been happy with your work, it is only natural for them to want to link to you in a sort of testimonial page.

However, If the link appears site-wide and in the footer, such as "Designed by LinkedCompanyName", then that could certainly trigger a penguin penalty.