Is buying links / Selling links a problem?

niran_amarnath · Post by **niran_amarnath** » Wed Mar 26, 2008 7:14 am

So does it become illegal to backlinks? What about Yahoo & MSN?

Post by **siteadmin** » Wed Mar 26, 2008 7:37 am

Backlinks are not illegal but doing something which manipulates the search results by a large way and avoid mom and pop sites never to proper is hurting for search engines.

MSN and Yahoo have the same policies but we worry more about google since google has 75% market share around the world.

On the other hand, I think it will be impossible to know which website is selling links unless you say that in the website.

Mattcutts has openly asked people to complain websites that buy / sell links. I am sure all competitors are rushing to complain about their competition buying links. I am sure its not a difficult idea for google to identify potential sites that sell links. I have seen a strong reduction in link selling these days mostly due to google's aggressive stance,

Also remember a leading link selling / brokering company text-link-ads was banned in google. This shows google is not going to go easy with text link brokers too

Garry · Post by **Garry** » Thu Mar 27, 2008 5:34 am

I've heard that google has penalized some sites for using paid links -- still these links are constructed manually only and not using a script or any sort of special code. How is it possible? Or does google do it manually? Or someone cynical reports it to google?

Nickysemilo · Post by **Nickysemilo** » Thu Mar 27, 2008 5:37 am

Garry wrote:I've heard that google has penalized some sites for using paid links -- still these links are constructed manually only and not using a script or any sort of special code. How is it possible? Or does google do it manually? Or someone cynical reports it to google?

Welcome to the fourms garry and it is not a big deal for the big G.. They looks for lists of outgoing urls with "sponsored links" as a heading or text that says "buy a link here" etc.. lot of other way also might be used...

Keep posting

Natasha · Post by **Natasha** » Thu Mar 27, 2008 5:40 am

What about Google ads? they are by definition called "paid links" but they just name it advertising...

Steve · Post by **Steve** » Thu Mar 27, 2008 5:56 am

Personally, I think that Google has a lot of balls dictating how people could actually conduct business and help their own sites. Links == advertising. Just because Google counts those links doesn't mean people should not be conducting their advertising campaigns. In any case, Links are still, and always will be a big business and isn't going away. I don't think there is much of an issue with it.

Post by **siteadmin** » Thu Mar 27, 2008 6:48 am

Hello Steve,

Google's core algorithm is built around pagerank which totally depends on links to rank a website. I am on google's side on this one if people start manipulating results by paid links how can the smaller sites survive. Even if they have quality information still since search engines depend too much on links the resulting sites will not rank. SO its important Google has a strong stance on links,

Did you read the new google guideline on paid links http://www.google.com/support/webmaste ... 66736 here it states

"

Google and most other search engines use links to determine reputation. A site's ranking in Google search results is partly based on analysis of those sites that link to it. Link-based analysis is an extremely useful way of measuring a site's value, and has greatly improved the quality of web search. Both the quantity and, more importantly, the quality of links count towards this rating.

However, some SEOs and webmasters engage in the practice of buying and selling links that pass PageRank, disregarding the quality of the links, the sources, and the long-term impact it will have on their sites. Buying or selling links that pass PageRank is in violation of Google's webmaster guidelines and can negatively impact a site's ranking in search results.

Not all paid links violate our guidelines. Buying and selling links is a normal part of the economy of the web when done for advertising purposes, and not for manipulation of search results. 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
Google works hard to ensure that it fully discounts links intended to manipulate search engine results, such excessive link exchanges and purchased links that pass PageRank. If you see a site that is buying or selling links that pass PageRank, let us know.We'll use your information to improve our algorithmic detection of such links.

Angelica · Post by **Angelica** » Thu Mar 27, 2008 9:16 am

What is the general opinion for buying, selling access to web sites ! buying text link is good or bad?

Steve · Post by **Steve** » Fri Mar 28, 2008 4:05 am

I would still say, if you are to buy a link, jst buy it for advertising, traffic, etc. Take care the site you buy from has value on its own and has a reason for linking to you.

Garry · Post by **Garry** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 5:03 am

What are the common methods of link building people use..!?

Nickysemilo · Post by **Nickysemilo** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 5:04 am

The common and fair methods of link building according to all search engines would comprise:

1. Someone just naturally linked to your website for various different reasons.
2. You submitted your website to an online directory or similar-type website.
3. You own another website and placed your link on it.
4. You posted comments or an article with a link back to your website.
5. You had a reciprocal link agreement with another website.

Garry wrote:What are the common methods of link building people use..!?

Steve · Post by **Steve** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 5:30 am

In addition there are some latest methods involved such as:

Forum Posts
Social Bookmarking
Social Media
Guest Posts
Linkbait
Create a WordPress Plugin
Create mini-blogs and link to your main blog
Buying links

Paid Reviews

Post by **siteadmin** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 6:40 am

Good to see the discussing moving strong but I feel we are going a bit off-topic. What is google's stance on buying links when you read the live chat we recorded here
you can understand that google doesnt like paid links and don't mind even penalizing sites for buying or selling links.

Natasha · Post by **Natasha** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 8:36 am

I think whole idea of paid links being a negative one in my opinion is dumb. How am i then supposed to advertise? The internet is completely built upon links... Thats like cablevision is dropping Fox 5 because they charge money for commercials...

Garry · Post by **Garry** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 9:32 am

I agree

But anyhow, what about sections labeled such as 'link exchange' or 'your link here' without any really mentioning about paying service? Does that get penalized?

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Is buying links / Selling links a problem?

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