Pay Per Post Blog Reviews - Does It Work?

[MyNet]

I have come to realize that several SEO companies are basing their entire link strategy on paying bloggers to write a review about their client's website that also includes a link back to their website.  I am thinking about adding this as part of my link building campaign.  I am thinking about acquiring approximately 15 links a month from PR 2-5 blogs that pertain to my industry and target audience.  I am thinking of using the network payperpost.com to find good blogs.

First question: Does this type of link building work well?

Second question:  Is 15 links a month from PR 2-5 blogs (writing on my subject matter) enough to help out?

[SEOCANMAN]

Really great insight, Ryan. Your input is greatly appreciated. Especially on the topic of deeper page links and multiple different domains. Thanks for contributing.

[EGOL]

I think that you can get links that will lift your rankings from these services.  However, I feel that these are risky links.  The risk is probably one of the links being devalued and your site dropping an amount equivalent to the links being removed - thus you wasted your money.

I would not use this service.  I would instead invest in content with the goal of having a quality level that is high enough that other webmasters will link to it without any work or payment from me.

[RyanKent]

Does this type of link building work well?

Absolutely

** Is 15 links a month from PR 2-5 blogs (writing on my subject matter) enough to help out?**

Yes.

Paid blogging exists because it works. With that said, Google is getting better at adjusting for low quality content and the blog farms. Usually a paid blogger posts in perfect English, with the right post title, the right keyword usage, etc. They are trained to write for SEO. The problem is the actual quality of the content they write is usually low. They don't know nor understand the topics they are writing about.

On the other hand, many experts will write about topics, but they are not always proficient with English. Also they don't understand SEO mechanics so while they share great information, it is often not presented optimally from a SEO perspective. So when Google balances things out, a paid blog article can rank higher then an article written from an expert on the topic. There are many factors involved of course, but these are some of them.

I am sure there will be others who will disagree with the perspective I am sharing. Of course all sites should strive to create great content. The internet has too many paid bloggers and others who just fill the internet with fluff making it harder for users to get the real content they need. Google still rewards sites for using paid bloggers with higher rankings. As long as that is the case, they will still be used by those without the resources to create the content on their own.

With respect to the amount of links, it is all relative. How many links does your site have presently? Are these articles linking to your home page? Or are they linking to deeper pages? Are the links from 15 different blogs with different root domains? Are they blogging from a general wordpress domain or from a topic specific blog? There are many factors used to evaluate the value of a link. Without seeing your site I would suggest that 15 links/month is enough to help most small to medium sites quite nicely.

[MyNet]

So would you say that this method of link building (paying per blog post or review) is a good link building strategy?

[EGOL]

Second question:  Is 15 links a month from PR 2-5 blogs (writing on my subject matter) enough to help out?

Maybe Yes, Maybe No.  It depends upon who you are attacking.

Linkbuilding is not a game of numbers, it is a game of relative velocity.   Let's say that your competitor has 150 links and you might say... "If I get 15 links per month I should catch him in about a year."  That works well if your competitor has a crappy site that attracts no natural links and if he is sitting on his butt instead of linkbuilding.

However, if your competitor is gaining 20 links per month and you are only gaining 15 then you will never catch him.

Also, if your competitor has 150,000,000 links and you gain 15 per month you will never catch him.

So, it depends upon who you are competing against, how hard they are working and how their content smells.

(I am not touching that first question... some people would say that they are paid links and even if they are not considered paid links those blogs could be into other types of manipulation.   Be careful and realize the potential risks.)