How can I best exploit this opportunity without being penalized?

As a result of my previous work, I have been quoted in a large number of articles on authority sites (universities, magazines, etc.). All the articles are on websites unrelated to my niche. My site is established.

I plan to ask each site to link to "My name / Mywebsite.com." I feel that this will get me some link juice and authority from good neighborhoods, but am concerned that Google might see large number of new links from totally unrelated sites as suspicious and penalize me.

Should I take advantage of this opportunity, or do I risk being penalized? What would be your strategy for doing this without looking like a spammer?

If the content on each of those sites where you have been quoted is legitimate then this is a good opportunity to get good authority backlinks to your site. Take it.

You could approach them over a period of time as you may not get links from all of them anyway.

africanart said:

If the content on each of those sites where you have been quoted is legitimate then this is a good opportunity to get good authority backlinks to your site. Take it.

Click to expand...

That is what I figured. So far 3 / 7 I emailed have given a backlink. I will just be sure to do it slowly and keep it to my site name only.

Yes, go ahead get all the mentions. it will help you increase authority.