yes, you can easily have different product (and/or category) template layouts ona per-product or per-category basis.
It has NOTHING to do with "linking". You probably shouldn't use that terminology, as it will confuse the issue.
You have 2 ways to do this:
1. use if/else statements, as suggested by Padraic
2. use the mod(s) from websiteCM.
If you want to see how the if/else in products.tpl work, on a very basic way, on my site I have 2 different products_t.tpl variations... all are determined by an if/else in products.tpl. Some products are displayed with a 2-up category page, some with 3, some just use the default products listing.
Code:
{if $usertype eq "C" and $cat eq "20" or $cat eq "11" or $cat eq "3" or $cat eq "1" }
{include file="customer/main/products_t2.tpl" products=$products}
{elseif $usertype eq "C" and $cat ne "17" and $config.Appearance.products_per_row ne "" and $config.Appearance.products_per_row gt 0 and $config.Appearance.products_per_row lt 4 and ($featured eq "Y" or $config.Appearance.featured_only_multicolumn eq "N")}
{include file="customer/main/products_t.tpl" products=$products}
{else}
{if $products}
This is for CATEGORY pages -- but it all works the same way... this is a VERY simple way to implement this. You can make it much more complicated as your store requires.
The thread Padraic suggested is a great start.