Why you should avoid paid links like the plague.

Posted on November 13, 2007
Filed Under Design |

AVOID PAID LINKS - OR SUFFER GREATLY

Here is a small little blurb about a recent discovery I encountered with a client of mine that got brutally crucified by Google for selling paid links. I’ve never entertained the idea of selling advertising of any kind on my site aside from Google Ad Sense and after doing some detective work on options available for future reference one thing surfaced as an absolute dangerous practice.

Selling links seems to be this little fad that site owners feel they can beat ole google at its game and I’m simply going to say this. You play with fire, you will get burned eventually. Selling links is deception in the eyes of many SEO experts and although I haven’t been able to find many people outright calling the practice “Black Hat” I’m under the belief its exactly that.

Reciprocal Link Exchange Programs - Fraud?

Long long ago before people got beat up with the reciprocal linking fall out, I was involved with a client that was smack in the middle of financing and producing a PHP script that would put most link farm solutions to pure shame. Had it not been for the brutal reality of reciprocal linking rising up and taking many by surprise this person would have continued investing tons of cash in his dream machine application. At the time this person felt it could be marketed globally for hundreds of dollars a copy.

I’ve never liked the notion of people exchanging links because of the cheaper than cheap appeal and quite honestly it looks like fraud to many. I’ve always asked myself “why would a Realtor link to another Realtor anyway”? Or any industry for that matter. I’m sure Google has asked that same question a few times I’m sure. I mean seriously, people who sell clothing or watches or even jewelery online don’t have links to competitors even if they are in different markets.

Not to single out Realtors specifically but this market and the Realtors who represent it, I find I have a great deal of compassion for. I’ve been providing services to Realtors for 11 years having started out in the print industry and I’ve always been amazed at how “industry firsts” approach Realtors for every stupid gimmick, gadget, and fad wasting time and resources the moment they are out of the gate. Intelligent Realtors know that fundamentals never die and all the car magnets, door hangers, balloons in the air and faceless institutional advertising mean little in providing a service to clients. But some one sold Realtors on a bag of tricks that was based largely on black hat principles working under the white hat pseudo facade. That trick was forecast almost 5 years ago as a negative that would surface to bite, and that was reciprocal link exchanges. What is a safe alternative then?

Paid Links ARE Bad - Is There A Safe Alternative? I think so!

About a year ago on one of my blogs I DON’T cross link to this one began by publishing “Content” written from those who wish to provide a link leading to their sites. Today that blog, which again, I don’t link to from here or the reverse, has risen from a nothing site to a PR6 blog ranking #1 in google for every single one of my chosen keyword terms. WHY? Well I have a theory and its one I’m going to start practicing here at my personal blog as well as the blog at the college I maintain. My theory is this;

Content is King! End Theory!

Look at it this way. A standard ole hyper link is about as exciting as watching dust settle on my Hummer because I can’t afford the gas. But when a person asks me for a link, I reply and say yep no problem, you write content or an introduction about what it is that you want the link to and I’ll give you the link, NO COST. It needs to be RELEVANT and it needs to be in some way related to a category that I have in the blog and it shouldn’t compete with that blog. I gain search engine food, the content, and you gain a one way link or several if need be to articulate your article.

I’m starting this practice for this blog now that I have the updated scripts installed and anyone who provides content related to something in design, testimonial, art, templates, Joomla, Open Realty, you name it. I’ll even entertain competing content links providing the article is intelligent and informative. Tutorials are the ideal. If my THEORY is correct, the results garnered on my 6 other blogs will replicate herein. The old saying should ring true; “you follow the same recipe, you get the same results”. That being the subject of yet another post forthcoming.

In conclusion: You want links on other peoples sites? You want those links one way? You want links that are relevant and in my opinion more effective than any paid link could be? Then offer unique well drafted content to site owners. Paid Links will hurt you if you are caught by Google offering them or even buying them as I understand it, so don’t do it.

For more information on the subject you can visit a few sites of people I have a great deal of respect for. Matt Cutts, Greg Boser, and more to follow.

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1 Comment so far
  1. Jonathan George November 14, 2007 2:05 pm

    Paid links are not “black hat.” They are grey at best. You speak about how fundamentals in the real estate industry never die. Well, fundamentals in SEO never die as well.

    Links are the currency of the web. Paid links are here to stay, whether Google likes it or not.


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