Don’t Get Hung-Up On Buying Links

Those new on the scene of website ownership and search engine optimization (SEO) could easily misunderstand the whole ‘link building strategy‘ and begin buying links. We even see well established marketers become convinced that buying one-way inbound links are a good way to increase page rank.

What’s the big deal? After all, why would the sites selling the links be so popular and rank so high themselves? It’s everywhere you look. And I’m not just talking about shady looking link farms. There are some high quality sites out there doing a ton of business. An even better question is why would Google allow text link advertising for the very sites they penalize for?

It is tempting to toss a few bucks to gain some non reciprocal one-way inbound links but be very careful. It seems confusing when you see other sites or blogs not only buying links but even promoting the sites they are buying from. That confusion clears up when you look at Google’s views on the matter…

In Google’s Webmaster Guidelines you will find, “Don’t participate in link schemes designed to increase your site’s ranking or PageRank. In particular, avoid links to web spammers or “bad neighborhoods” on the web, as your own ranking may be affected adversely by those links.”

There are many black or gray hat link buying techniques that are being used but, in my opinion, they are risky. Some try to ‘spread it out‘ by buying just a few every now and then. Others try to disguise the links as advertisements. There are a ton of tips on ‘hard to detect‘ techniques and many seem to be getting away with it. Try these at your own risk. Google even has a ‘Report paid links‘ page where others can ‘tell on‘ their competition.

The best way to build links without worrying about the search engines penalizing your site or even excluding it from their index is what no one wants to hear:

Write original, high quality and relevant content that will make others want to share it. That’s a hard thing to accomplish but it’s the only way to build long term success.

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Brian on November 1, 2008 | Filed Under SEO

17 Comments

Make Money Blogging on November 1st, 2008

Yeah.. Google detest link purchase I believe.. Banner Ad spots is better..

Make Money Bloggings last blog post..The Basics On How TO Start Making Money With Adsense

Who Are These People Anyway? - Research Before You Buy » Your Ad Tracker - Ad Tracking News and Issues on November 2nd, 2008

[...] Don’t Get Hung-Up On Buying Links [...]

Desk Coder on November 7th, 2008

@MMB – I would think Banner ads will be penalized pretty soon as well, all dofollow banner ads.

I personally prefer free backlinks, because I am too cheap to buy them

Brian on November 7th, 2008

You’re right Desk Coder. According to Google,

“Links
purchased for advertising should be designated
as such. This can
be done in several ways, such as:

* Adding a rel=”nofollow” attribute to
the <a> tag

* Redirecting the links to an
intermediate page that is blocked from search engines with a robots.txt
file”

So it looks like we should all be adding the “no-follow” tag to
banner ads.

Work From Home Opportunity on November 8th, 2008

Brian,

This is a really good post. I have been tempted in the past to buy links but for wahtever reason, I declined to do so.

What you say here about not buying links makes sense and it just re-confirms for me that it is a bad idea. I will continue to get free links – the legitimate way.

Brian on November 8th, 2008

Hi John, Glad to help. Your blog commenting is a great way to get legitimate links. Thanks for taking the time to comment.

Sheryl Loch on November 9th, 2008

Hey Brian,
I was just reading a post yesterday by Dan Thies about paid links, glad I did not waste my money with those.

I think other than if it is blatantly known that it is paid the only other way they would come to the assumption is if the link is not in with a good bit of proper text (like a link list).

As for follow and no follow. ARGH! So many say that bots do not follow a NoFollow tag yet many still think that even if you apply the nofollow tag that Yahoo and MSN ignore them and still follow. I personally believe that just from my stats.

The banner links are also very debatable. From what I have been reading the SE’s are cutting out any attention paid to ALT TEXT due to keyword stuffing. Therefore I have started putting a Text link (with keyword phrase) above my banners. I would never say not to use ALT tags, just in case.

I had someone try to sell me a ‘backlink building’ piece of crap the other day. I looked just because I am nosie. Once I looked at it I noticed that you would get no link juice from it because it redirected through the products site. Just another way to get money from people trying to go the fast and easy route to back links. HINT- There is no fast and easy route!

Ok, I will not take over your post. I am really trying to not get overly excited and post a book at others blogs. LOL!

Thanks!

Sheryl Lochs last blog post..Stop Do Not Hit That Share Button

Brian on November 9th, 2008

Hi Sheryl, I’m glad to see you here and you are always welcome to post as much as you like. It’s all good stuff

I have a feeling it was another waste of money but I just purchased a social bookmarking service from Submit2Please. Not for the links but just to out source the task of submitting my new site eZinePress.com. I’m also testing the service for our eZine Press Launch Experiment I have serious doubts about the entire site but if it doesn’t pan out it’s a cheap price to pay for the review I’ll give. I’ll either be warning everyone or I’ll be promoting it. I should know in a week or so.

Sheryl Loch on November 10th, 2008

Brian,
The product I looked at for backlinks the other day was a ‘friend or blog roll’ type widget.

I can not think of anyone that has used the Submit2Please service. That’s good because I try to remember the BAD reviews.

There are many people that use submission services so, they have to have some good ones.

I’ll watch for your review. I know more and more people are looking for outsourcing these things and need a bit of info to make a decision.

I do know that awhile back I looked into some and they listed a gazillion sites they submit to. Problem was that many of the sites they listed were either full of spam or did not exist. But, they were stating things that made you suspicious to start with.

I have made many of the links inside my post NoFollow. I do not think places like Skype and Yahoo need my piddly link juice. I also do repeat the follow every time I post to one of my business sites from my blog. I save those follows for links to relevant post or people. I have started to pick and choose where I have follow or nofollow.

I am still learning what is a Good or Bad site to be linked to – other than a spam, triple x…. They say it could take 1000 ‘ok’ backlinks to equal 1 real high quality linkin. About the time I figure it out – it will change.

I have gotten several hits off posting here in your comments area. You must be a high quality link! Well, that your your readers are comment clickers like I am.

Thanks!

Sire on November 18th, 2008

Brian, you do realize that what you are asking is that people put in a fair bit of effort, something that many people may refer to as work. The reason a lot of people get on the Internet band wagon is to make some easy money that does not involve that four letter ‘w’ word. It’s got to put a smile on your face, don’t you think?

Sires last blog post..Wassup’s Bloggers Forum Adding To The Blogging Experience

Brian on November 18th, 2008

Good point Sire, I think everyone online with any success at all will admit that it’s just a myth that you make a ton of cash without a ton of work to get it. Oh wait, I forgot about the thousand ebooks out there that promise just that. The marketers promoting those ebooks and e-courses probably won’t admit it

JR from Internet Marketing Do-Follow Blog on November 19th, 2008

I agree, while tempting, this can be a slippery sloap and a dangerous road to nowhere.

JR @ Internet Marketing Do-Follow Blogs last blog post..Blog Traffic – 100 RSS/Blog Submission Sites

Brian on November 19th, 2008

Well said JR, thanks for taking the time to comment.

Judy Jones on November 25th, 2008

Hi,

Great article gave me clarity on the subject. Great Blog.

To your happiness and success,

Judy Jones

Matt Hayden on November 28th, 2008

I agree. I’ve occasionally considered buying links, but I figure it’s not worth it for the reasons you outline.

Also, at the moment I can’t really afford it!

I think that it’s much better to just keep plodding away with a really long term strategy. The tortoise beat the hare in the end, after all.

Brian on November 28th, 2008

Hi Matt, now you have a do-follow search engine friendly linkback here. I think making blog commenting a part of our daily routine will out perform purchased links any day of the week. Other benefits include learning from others and making great friends. I’m glad you choose our site to comment. Come back often.

Keith from SuperiorFenceProducts on December 6th, 2009

I enjoy and try to comment regularly on blogs. That being said, what do you think the relevance of the blog you comment on being in the same niche/industry as yours? Mine is in home improvement and I regularly comment on a few blogs in that niche (not sure they are do-follow) but I have been told that sites that have the same niche as you are valued higher as “quality” links.

Not sure I explained that well, it is early! LOL
Keith@SuperiorFenceProducts´s last blog ..Vinyl Privacy Fence Products

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