Links/Page Ranking

Is it beneficial to exchange links with non-related sites?

[warrenk]

I have a link directory broken up into categories that are related to my site. I do have a miscellaneous category for all sites that do not fit into any of the other categories. My question is...will exchanging links with high PR sites that are not related to my site beneficial or will it have a negative effect on the PR? The links in the miscellaneous category make up less then 5% of my total links. Not sure if I should remove the miscellaneous category or not.

[Marcia]

Any inbound links from high PR sites that actually are passing on PR to you are good for your PR at this point in time. And if the anchor text is right it's an added bonus. We've heard talk about topic-sensitive PR, but haven't seen it to be a tangible reality yet.

PR is PR. And if it's 5% of the site with linking out on a miscellanous page, it's an honest respresentation. I wouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth, I'd take that PR where it's coming from and leave well enough alone. Or try to get more. ;)

[Skylo]

Well said Marcia, I totally agree but IMHO I think there must be at this time some emphasis on topic related links but maybe only to pass on "more" PR.....if that makes sense.
But we all have different opinions and to me it just makes sense. But I could always be wrong;-)