Pros and Cons of placing Adsense on Link Exchange Pages

[DXL]

Once in a while, I'll come across a design firm's link exchange/resources page with Adsense on it. Because normal site visitors aren't likely to encounter the ads, I'd have to ask "What could it hurt?" After all, only other webmasters who don't need your services are likely to see the ads.

But I'm wondering if there are any negatives to placing Adsense on those pages, or anywhere on a design firm's site for that matter. I rank well for all my target keywords in the SERPs, and I don't want to take any chances with that. Is there any conclusive evidence that placing Adsense on a site can negative affect how it ranks, particularly with non-Google SEs like Yahoo and MSN? I've come across rumors that Adsense can hurt your ranking, but I don't know if that was just speculation.

[Quadrille]

If there's any SEO harm, it's the existence of the page, not the adsense.

If the page is reasonably topic-focused, then adsense will work as well as anywhere.