My site was started first of January. Indexed later that month. Traffic is moderate at best and by late march, tapered off. Getting less than 200 pageviews/day on a 55 page niche site.
Should I take it easy and wait or extend the few adesense text ads placed?
Surviving on backlinks only. About 30% of 120 incoming are decent (bulk of incoming is a huge repeater)
This is a niche how-to site. Just placed Analytics today.
Could being premature with Adsense hurt future authority?
If you can wait till 6 months it will be good. Other wise now you can start adesense with the help of any of good SEO services <snip/>
Putting Adsense on your site won’t hurt you directly but personally I feel that people are more likely to link back to a site that doesn’t contain ads and seeing as how few visitors you currently have I wouldn’t put them on for the pennies you’ll earn at the moment.
Although you could also argue that users expect to see ads on a site (because you do on almost every authority site), so having adsense on your site from day 1 might also contribute to users viewing it as “authentic”.
You could also argue that adverts are an obstacle that readers have to negotiate in order to get to the content: the real reason they’re on the site.
Until you get sufficient levels of traffic, I wouldn’t even bother with Adsense.
He he, yep fair point. Just like ads on tv are an obstacle to enjoying what you want to watch.
But adsense can be integrated in a way so as not to be an “obstacle” to accessing the content. And if the Interwebs were ad free we’d end up with all websites looking like (and being as boring as)…Wikipedia! 
So your view is that content that is ad free is boring? You’re visiting the wrong sites 
It’s still a little early to start using AdSense on your site. With only 200 pageviews a day, you’re not going to be making much money with AdSense anyway.
Also because a lot of your traffic comes from repeat visitors, they’re not going to take the introduction of AdSense ads on your site positively.
Patience is the key to making the most out of the scheme so don’t rush it. Build up your site, work on backlinks and wait it out until you start getting reasonable traffic numbers.
Good luck
Personally I don’t buy in the adsense not too early. But for linking of the front page yes, I usually don’t put ads or very little on the front page. Depending if the site is suitable for not having ads on the first page (many do)
I have recently opened a site with 48 domain names (not all going to the same site, but they are different sites of the same network) and I put adsense on day one. Traffic grew and in less than 3 months adsense paid for the $1400 I’ve spent to buy the 48 domains for 3 years.
I don’t think adsense has anything to do with google search and that has been google’s official position for years.
Adsense works for some sites and looks cheap on others. Much of your results will depend on the quality and content of the site. If visitors see the site as a banner advertising centre, then most will just exit without bothering to look any further. Best to focus on quality of content, design and layout and then subtly add adsense after.
As for gaining links before, I personally feel your better of getting back links without adsense on you pages and adding them later.