It has always been thought that Google has a ranking factor (small maybe) based on who you link to. If you link to quality sources that are on topic and useful, Google might consider that link quality and it may make you rank slightly higher in the search results.

Well, Google’s John Mueller said Google doesn’t really give you an SEO advantage based on who you link to. John said this at the 41:15 mark into the video hangout on Google+.

The question in context was:

The answer given by John Mueller:

Here is the embed:

The way John said it may be open for interpretation, what do you think? One thing not mentioned is that you still do not want to link to bad places, linking out to bad places can get you in trouble.

Forum discussion at Google+.

This post was pre-written and scheduled to be posted today.