Paid Links

[ams533]

Two questions:

1. Would you recommed paying for links as a way to boost PR/link popularity in order to enhance your rankings?


2. If so, are there any specific companies/agencies that you would recommend working with that you would consider a good paid link service?

Thanks

[JEccles]

Definitely not. I have heard that Google will discount these links, or even ban sites using them.

[BuckfastMonk]

will google discount the links? maybe. Will the ban your site if you use them? IMO, No

Think of a paid link in terms of improving your visibility. Put it another way. If a link costs $10 and generates $11 worth of sales then its a no brainer

[weblaunchphxx]

I don't think that your site will ban for using paid links services.

[gobeyond]

Definitely not. I have heard that Google will discount these links, or even ban sites using them.

Agreed! Google even has a place for people to report paid links. Paid links are not natural in the eye of Google.

Most of the paid links are not worth the money if you know how to do the natural SEO. You can have the money better spent on PPC ads.

[BuckfastMonk]

Google can't possibly distinguish between one persons motive for obtaining a link to another persons motive. Unless they have these guys (http://www.delos.fantascienza.com/imgbank/74/minority/precog.jpg)

Some people do it for marketing whilst others do it for the sole purpose of manipulating the serps. Heck, some webmasters don't even know what a link is and why it is important. Should they be penalised for advertising there website?

This is the problem and this is why google are discounting paid for links. They understand (and so should you) that there are marketers and there are spammers. They aren't going to penalise you for having a few paid for links! Anyone up for buying some links for competitor number 1? :rolleyes:

Yes, you are right, google even has a place for people to report paid links. That makes their job a little easier doesn't it.

[kharen]

Two questions:

1. Would you recommed paying for links as a way to boost PR/link popularity in order to enhance your rankings?


2. If so, are there any specific companies/agencies that you would recommend working with that you would consider a good paid link service?

Thanks

I think.. I you're good in as being SEO you don't need to pay to earn links it is better to use the organic way to rank in SE..

[jhen]

You don't need to spend money just to gather links for popularity's sake. There's a lot of free directories wherein you could get quality links. Besides, if your content is really attractive/good/unique, it could attract visitors to view and even link to your site

[birdie]

I have heard that Google ..... or even ban sites using them.What a load of rubbish.

[appie]

In my opinion to pay for a paid listing is not necessarily bad, but you should only put paid listings on high quality web pages which are relevant for your web pages. Avoid for websites which only contain paid listings (like many directories) or which are not related to your website.

[expertseobug]

What i have understood,
The links which are paid but not affecting search engines results are fine for Google as they are done just to increase the website traffic, but the paid links that flow PageRank and attempt to alter the search engine rankings can't be acceptable.

Some ways to do paid links without affecting search engines rankings:
* by using rel="nofollow" attribute
* redirect through url forbidden from crawling by robots.txt

any more comments welcome...

[kjripp]

IMHO, and especially since SEO is not my forte but something I'm learning about a little at a time, from a logical perspective Google would have a hell of a time differentiating and banning every single site that had a paid link (even with their paid links narc form).

I would have to agree with those who have said that relevancy is key - if you're going to pay for links, make sure they're in relevant, high quality directories. That way it doesn't look like SERP manipulation but instead like advertising.

[SEO Montreal]

While it doesn't answer the question directly, but it might help find some answers or at least refine your search for people dealing in paid links:
http://www.seomoz.org/ugc/how-to-protect-your-site-from-google-if-you-sell-text-links
(http://www.seomoz.org/ugc/how-to-protect-your-site-from-google-if-you-sell-text-links)Disclaimer: it's my own article (though not my own domain, obviously.)

In short, it addresses how you can still buy links, without offending the engines. It also considers the root issue: protecting yourself from Google and gaining independence from it.

[briche]

its better to hire a good SEO than spending money for paid links that is for my opinion, coz as far as in know GG penelized for site using unethical paid links.

[megri]

Paid link is a deal between two people how the Google can know it unless you publish on your site that you sell paid links.

Another question Yahoo charge 299$ for listing is paid link or not

[SeoCatfish]

Yahoo is not a paid link since there is no guarantee when you pay that you will be accepted. The link is included on the basis of editorial merit. And if you are buying links from a
Web site that makes no secret of selling their link real estate, there is no guarantee that you are getting Page Rank from that site as Google is known to take away Page Rank passing ability from sites that sell links. The bottom line is, the higher your rankings the more scrutiny that your back links are gonna get. And at some point, if you try to make a living on paid links, you will most likely find that your ability to do so decreases with time. Additionally, there is no way to quanitfy the value of those links if the traffic does not convert in and of itself so its impossible to understand how much the link is really worth to your business. Which makes it sort of a risky purchase. There is no question that you can still use paid links to help rankings if you are savvy and want to play on that side of the fence. But don't go crying to Google when they figure it out someday and you income stream stops. It's much better to invest time and energy into your site and your content so that people link to you naturally. But not everyone is interested in building a great site..hahahahahaha.

[frankcow]

Matt Cutts stated that buying links is not the issue. Buying links to manipulate rankings, that's the issue. Buying for traffic however, is OK.

[SeoCatfish]

Where has he ever said that buying links without rel=nofollow is ok?

[critter]

What Google don't know can't hurt them!

;)

[briche]

Paid link is a deal between two people how the Google can know it unless you publish on your site that you sell paid links.

Another question Yahoo charge 299$ for listing is paid link or not
GG has their own form on detecting site using paid links. and yes even though its hard to detect amazingly it does. and about yahoo yes they charge their listing but iam not sure for their price coz i'am doing directory submission in a free way, and it has the good result so far.

[NetStandard]

Just as a good resource for what Matt Cutts is saying about links here is a link to his updated blog post http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/how-to-report-paid-links/ last count for comments at 747.... I would say that is one long blog entry.

[NewKidOnTheBlock]

I think no algorithm in the world can tell the difference between a "natural" and a paid link as long as

a) the link is relevant to your site
b) the site doesn't state it sells links
c) you are the only/one of the only paid links

So I assume itll still work in uncompetitive fields for a long time to come (sort of virgin territory for paid links), whereas it might become increasingly difficult to find any such deals in competitive fields.

Right/wrong?

[BuckfastMonk]

I disagree with that actually - I find it's the other way around. Most webmasters in the adult markets are clued up on paid links whereas folk in cottage industries are not that savvy with respect to SEO. There are occasions where I will be wrong but I am making a general observation from what I see daily

[NewKidOnTheBlock]

Maybe I should have put it differently. Say you were to enter a niche and try to get ranked on paid links. In an uncompetitive industry, where nobody is really selling links you might get a good deal here or there and if the site is a related one it wouldn't be suspicious as the site doesn't do other paid linking. So youd be kinda under the radar.

[BuckfastMonk]

Ah, I see. Yes, absolutely NKOTB

[AnthonyCea]

Buying links from known link broker networks is risky, unless they have no follow tags, if you get caught you could lose everything.

Google has sophisticated link mapping technologies, they know more about linking than any group of webmasters do, you may get away with something short term, but long term you will get busted and pay in the end.

http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=66736

Black Hat SEO is great for quick buck artists that have no long term hope to stay indexed, if that is you keep on buying links.

[phpmaven]

Acquiring paid links is not a problem as long as those links are "under the radar" so to speak. In other words, they can't look like paid links. I spend thousands of dollars every month to very well known expert in this field and it's working great for me in a fairly competitive area.

He has a staff of very well trained people who spend a lot of time identifying the right pages to get links on and then approaching those sites personally and negotiating a deal to put links on those pages in such a way as to look like it was done spontaneously by the site owner. They are often put within the context of other copy already on the page without any reference to "paid sponsor" or any other obvious clues. It costs quite a bit of money to acquire each link this way, but it's paying off quite well. They use quite a few very sophisticated tools to identify pages that are potential "authority" pages.

This is much different than going to a paid link broker and putting your link on a site that is obviously well know for selling links. Links like that are a complete waste of time, IMO.

If you are in a competitive retail area like I am where everybody and his brother is selling the same products, trading links with other sites or waiting for other sites to link to you because they like your content isn't going to cut it.

[beu]

Acquiring paid links is not a problem
Paid links aren't really a problem, paid links that pass PageRank are the problem.

In other words, they can't look like paid links.
One of the only ways to be certain that paid links passing PageRank don't look like paid links passing PageRank is to stop them from passing PageRank by using nofollow tags.

[phpmaven]

Well, what would you suggest a business owner do who is in a competitive area where his competitors are all spending plenty of money buying links in an effort to improve their rankings? Just sit back and hope that some sites will link to them because they like their content? That just isn't going to happen with most e-commerce sites.

[pasbans]

Yes if Paid links have quality then you cam get more an more vaster's

[beu]

Well, what would you suggest a business owner do who is in a competitive area where his competitors are all spending plenty of money buying links in an effort to improve their rankings?
Make great and unique content that is of value to users. "Build it and they will come"!

[sdk1988]

At SES this past week, the point was brought up about belonging to affiliations or trade organizations and they post your link online, virtually you paid for joining said organization - is that considered a paid link.

Ive come across our competition in several areas that are not relevant in any way shape or form and they are paid links, because I've searched them.. and yet, they continue to rank high all the time because of the linking they have in place.

[phpmaven]

Make great and unique content that is of value to users. "Build it and they will come"!
With e-commerce sites that are in a competitive area where everybody is selling the same stuff, that old mantra just doesn't hold any water. No one in a competitive e-commerce area is going to make it with the "build it and they will come" plan when all of your competition is building networks of sites and buying links, etc...

[BuckfastMonk]

Ive come across our competition in several areas that are not relevant in any way shape or form and they are paid links, because I've searched them.. and yet, they continue to rank high all the time because of the linking they have in place.

Linking is a high factor yes but you can't possibly know this is why they are ranking so well and you can't assume anything without performing real comprehensive experiments. For example, are these links really paid for links? Are they passing value? How do you really know? What tests have you done to determine if these links are passing value? Unfortunately the answers are not that easy

Just something for you to think about.

[sdk1988]

Linking is a high factor yes but you can't possibly know this is why they are ranking so well and you can't assume anything without performing real comprehensive experiments. For example, are these links really paid for links? Are they passing value? How do you really know? What tests have you done to determine if these links are passing value? Unfortunately the answers are not that easy


That does give me something to think about - I formed that opinion from reading and researching, can it be the only reason they never waiver in rank, no, they do have a very content rich site. I came to the conclusion the linking campaign is what helps, isn't that the big g talk, links & more links? I also followed some of these links and to be included, many of them request monies for it.