Is Buying Links a good idea???
-
Hello Everyone,
I want to know, what is the search engine's preference when it comes to links that have been bought. I observed that quite a few the good local directory listings (with good mozrank and moz trust etc) offer one to be listed for a yearly or lifetime price.
Does Google frown upon these type of links too?
regards,
Talha
-
As I see it, Google needs to take no action on paid links. Well, no action different than devaluating them. While the market for paid links grows, the overall value and quality of each purchased link is deemed to go down. At one point people will stop bying them at all.
-
I purchased some links once and feel that at this point, I would not likely do it again. I was assured the links would be related to the topic and of quality. Not the case. However, I have learnt through visiting this forum, that content is VERY important. And also things can take a lot of time and work before real results begin to show. Hope that helps. By the way ........ follow the link John Barth provided to EGOLS answer....... great one!
-
simple answer is no...
-
Every response here is on the nose but I thought I'd throw a good example of a proper paid directory link. In researching backlinks for a client competitor, I saw they had a link from the local chamber of commerce. Tracing that link back, it came from their directory, which the competitor was featured in. I then contacted the chamber to find out how to be included and it turns out it has a pricey yearly membership fee. With that fee though, you're being included into a VERY reputable business directory along with a juice passing link. I think those are the types of paid directories that are worth the money and seeking out. It's a little outside the box, but look at what it does for your site and it's legitimacy. I know this was a bit random, but I thought it was applicable.
-
The answer isn't quite black and white. There are dozens of ways to "buy" links, and not all of them are necessarily frowned upon.
To address your specific question, paying money for directory submissions isn't necessarily a bad thing. A couple of the bigger directories, like Yahoo! and Business.com, require a fee for listing, and though SEOs do disagree about the value of these links, they are generally not regarded as anything that can get you in trouble with Google. It's best to focus on the most prominent, trafficked, and authoritative directories - you shouldn't shell out cash to just any old directory out there.
As far as other ways to buy links...that's where things get a bit dicey. Many SEOs, and certainly most that you will encounter on an SEOmoz forum, subscribe to the theory that link buying is bad. On the other end of the spectrum, there are a great many SEOs that actively buy links, including some of the biggest-name SEO firms that exist. Those that have success with link buying generally do not work with a brokerage (like Text-Link-Brokers), but rather negotiate private deals with owners of authoritative, relevant websites in their industry. When it comes to link buying, the best practitioners put a great deal of effort into procuring links that look natural, are embedded into content (rather than sitewide or footer links), and on pages/websites that have content related to the website they are promoting.
Regardless of what those in the industry do, Google very specifically states that link buying is NOT an acceptable practice in their eyes, and they go to great lengths to find ways to both manually and algorithmically punish websites engaging in this practice.
Aaron Wall wrote a great post talking about "white hat" ways to purchase links, and it demonstrates that with a bit of creativity, one can effectively exchange money for links without necessarily breaking Google's guidelines: http://www.seobook.com/archives/002422.shtml
Basically, the decision is up to you. Certainly there are very effective ways to practice SEO without engaging in link buying, and indeed many of the websites leading the pack for competitive keywords haven't had to buy links to get there. The most important thing is knowing all of the facts, and the potential consequences of each choice.
-
Google doesn't frown on them, but I would really question their value at this point. You could probably put your money somewhere more useful. I really like EGOLs answer to http://www.seomoz.org/q/how-would-you-use-500-to-improve-your-site-s-visibility.
If you do want to buy a link, a good one is the Better Business Bureau. Here's a post about it. You can get a followed high PR link that way. There's also the SEOMoz directory list.
-
We'll start with the standard response from an SEO guy that references the Google Site Guidelines that basically says don't buy links. If you find local niche directories that apply to your industry then technically there is nothing wrong with links from those websites. They are a lot of times deemed as low quality, but still not a bad idea if you pick the right ones. Yahoo Dir is paid and Google still sees that as a highly recognized link source. As to whether that's worth $299/year is another debate. The way that directories get around this is that you are actually paying for "inclusion" which means they have a human who reviews these links and includes quality websites. Technically if you're not paying for the actual link then it's not against Google's Site Guidelines.
If the price isn't bad and it's a relevant local niche directory that applies to your website and industry I don't see anything wrong with employing that as a link building strategy.
Do not rely on just this as a link building strategy though. Think of it as a component.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Are charity/sponsorship links good, bad or just useless?
Some facts: We will probably only doe this 2-3 times a year (we have hundreds of links coming in each year from organic sources). This is for a really prestigious charity website with very nice link profile from other non-profits, news organizations, and even government websites. We will get a logo on their sponsorship page, with a link back to our site. Some articles say Google considers this "buying a link" and will therefore penalize you. Or at best, this will have no effect. And here's a Search Engine Land article saying the exact opposite. $1,500 is a lot of money. So I just want to make sure I'm not wasting it -- or worse -- getting penalized.
Link Building | | Brand_Psychic0 -
If i get link pointing to a specific page , will that link add up to the count of linking root domains too ?
If I create a fresh link pointing to specific page on my site, apart from adding a number to "page linking root domains" does it also add up to root domain linking ?
Link Building | | Techbate1 -
Niche Web Design company - Links from all your clients - Good or Bad?
If you were a web development company that specializes in a specific niche & you were to have a link back to your website on all of the websites you have designed would this be seen as crappy links & would hurt you due to the Penguin Algo updates? Or since it's a niche web development company, having links from the same industry websites be seen as decent links? Thanks
Link Building | | DCochrane0 -
Google Link Disavow and sites with extremely heavy but poor link metrics
Need help/opinions from the SEO's out there. I am working with a site that in the past hired an SEO company out of India. Over the course of their time together, this company submitted the clients url to tens of thousands of link exchanges and directories. Around the time of Penguin, the owners told me their inquiries dried up. Literally that same week they had a new website launched (designed by a local competitor) that really butchered the site. They were convinced the reduction in traffic/inquiries was due to the new site but I am convinced otherwise (suspect Penguin). Not only does the site need to be re-structured but their link portfolio needs to be diversified. Now on the plus side, the company caters and sponsors a number of events that earns them organic, relevant links. These are overshadowed by the tons of poor, irrelevant ones though. I read a few posts recently on the Google Link Disavow tool and to proceed slowly due to the unknown nature surrounding it. I have a good idea of what links are problematic and which ones are well served. However, the number of problematic links in my estimation is quite high (thousands). I am very hesitant to dive into Google Disavow and submit such a large number of requests. What are your thoughts? How would you proceed?
Link Building | | mattylac1 -
Links and keywords
A rather simple question, If i have a paragraph and have the words cat, dog and bird would it be a good idea to have them all linking to the same url? or is better to have them all going to different urls?
Link Building | | Vetshopgroup0 -
What is the best way to make sure competitors or others aren't buying links on my sites behalf to penalize us?
Is there a good way to do this? Does the Open Site Explorer have an ability to screen by when the link was found, or help by picking up on potentially shady links? Thanks much..
Link Building | | jim_shook0 -
How to improve (ASAP) the linking root domain, the followed linking root domains and the linking C-Blocks? Linkbuilding (or whatever) techniques.
I have a small site (.com) like any website in my sector. 30-90 pages. I have no crawls errors. Everythings is fine, just I need to improve my linking root domain, the followed linking root domain and the linking C-Blocks. Example: my competitors have 300 (one of them have 1300) of total links. I have 30. Anyone know some good strategies? techniques? tips? I just dont want to be in a farm directory, I want free links. I'm already running two strategies but it works so slowly. I want something faster at this moment. Also, any recommendation will be thankful.
Link Building | | NicoDavila0 -
Blog Roll Links - A good or bad thing ?
I Use Blog roll links all the time but recently they seem to be having a lower effect on listings. Is there a limit on Blog roll links you place on a blog. Internal blog roll links and external blog roll links. Also do you rename your blog roll to something such as popular links like we do ?
Link Building | | onlinemediadirect1