Static Backlinks vs Rotating Backlinks?

Question

I'm creating a sort of widget for use on our partners' websites. This widget will contain several links to our site which will help greatly with our backlink building efforts. For the purposes of this question, let's assume that we have 10 different keywords that we'll be targeting.

I have two options:

1. Generate the backlinks dynamically within the widget. Every time the widget loads, one of the 10 keyword phrases is loaded randomly and displayed.

2. Generate dynamic backlinks when the widget embed code is created. Every time a user accesses our embed code, one of the 10 keyword phrases is loaded randomly and inserted directly into the embed code. Every time the widget loads on our partner's site, the same keyword phrase will be used. However, with many partners using the various keyword phrases, all keyword phrases will receive equal coverage. (I suppose this is similar behavior to a 'Random Posts' widget on a blog)

Is it better to have a backlink that doesn't change and is the same over a long period of time (option 1), or a backlink that changes slightly every time a page loads (option 2)? Or, is there no difference in the long run?

From an SEO perspective, which approach do you feel is superior?

Answer 1

The best way is to have a link that doesn't change over time.

You might do this in a way that shows different links on different pages, but it won't be worth the trouble if the link is out of context of the page its loading on.

Age of backlinks is also a factor, links that pop up and then disappear can raise a flag.

In this case a backlink age is one of multiple signals to identify paid links as it was a common practice to buy links for one or two months and then remove them if the site's rankings didn't improve not so long ago.