Does having a link in a clear advertising area diminish the value?

[websurfer]

We were pleasantly surprised when a new skateboarding magazine/blog popped up recently. We have a good working relationship with the guys who run the site and they dropped our logo and a link to our site on the home page of their blog.

As a national skateboarding retailer, this is the kind of site we would naturally show up on with link, logo, content, etc. So we feel we gained a highly relevant, potentially valuable link. One question came up, however: by being linked to in an area that's clearly designated for advertisers, is our potential link value diminished?

See the site and our placement here (rt column, Tactics logo):http://www.curbcutmag.com/

Curious what some of you think.

[vmialik]

Hi Jeremy

Congrats on a great link and a great placement.  I would question your comment that its in an area that is clearly designated for advertisers, even thought the right column has been used many times for ads.  There is nothing that tells google it is in a place for an ad. Also you do have the benefit of attracting young population who are not so familiar with ad tactics and just see it as a great link to great products, that the magazine endorses.

In some ways getting a link that takes so much of website real estate on a nice layout.  Your link is in a great position.  And its a followed link. Plus the link is actually in a sidebar which is used in post of their pages so your link is not just on the homepage it is as good as getting a footer link that applies to all pages

Again congrats, and hope that helps.

[websurfer]

Thank you, Vadim. We appreciate you taking a few minutes to share your perspective.

[RickyShockley]

http://www.seroundtable.com/google-advertorials-16859.html

[vmialik]

Great reminder Ricky, if you are getting paid, then disclose and no-follow. Thanks Ricky

[RickyShockley]

I'm not aware of the actual effect of allowing link juice for banner ad links, but I assume Google is figuring out ways to devalue those links if they haven't already! If it's paid..I'd just add the nofollow to be safe!