tedster - 4:18 am on Dec 5, 2012 (gmt 0)

Context: Google started parsing and indexing at least some JavaScript links by 2009, and probably earlier. They also began indexing links in forms at the same time. These two are handled quite similarly, in that they create a kind of virtual stand-in for a regular HTML link, something that can then be used in PageRank and other link equity calculations.

However, there has been no evidence in those nearly four years that Adsense links would count in tha algorithm in any way. It's Google's own ad service so they know what it is. The ads are different with every page load, and they clearly do not help the sites who are linked to. If they don't help the advertiser's site to rank, they certainly aren't going to matter for the more esoteric purpose of ranking the page that hosts them