What is the danger in offering giveaways in exchange for links?
-
In this Whiteboard Friday video, Rand says there is a danger in offering products for blogs to give away, simply requesting a link to your product or website in exchange for the giveaway. Could someone elaborate on what the danger is?
Is this also the case with offering products for review?
-
The answer is - it is risky ground. Some say it is good marketing, but there are examples of this backfiring - so the best advice is to be aware of the risks and tread lightly. Technically when you really look at it - it is good marketing, but it is also an alternative to paying cash, and Google doesn't like this type of link building
Giveaways and even offering a discount in exchange for a link can land you in hot water. Take the whole Overstock penalty for example, they were getting links on EDU sites by offering discounts to students and faculty. Good marketing or shady link building? Debatable. Would they have gotten caught if they weren't such a big name? Who knows...
To be on the safe side, my recommendation is to host a giveaway, but make no mention of "linking back" to your site. You can probably say "please share this contest with your friends and family" but "sharing" isn't necessarily asking for a link. Any links obtained out of interest in the contest are earned through good marketing/content.
Edited to add:
You also have to consider FTC disclosures when giving away any product for a review.
Also, I can't find it right now, I will continue looking, but I think remember reading something from Matt stating that if you are giving away a product you have to ask them to no-follow any links.
-
In my situation I am doing this for introducing my brand. I give them a product to review and I have a giveaway / prize every month. The link will always stay but may be to same or different page of my site. I also want to do it for many sites.
I appreciate to hear from SEOmoz staff also
Thank you for your response
-
They get the giveaway and then remove the link!
-
This was my question yesterday and I got completely
different answer!!?? I wish we would get more response. I understand both sides of arguments.http://www.seomoz.org/q/is-it-a-good-idea-to-participate-in-review-giveaway-bloggers
-
It can constitute a link scheme. When a search engine finds out, they could determine that the links you've received aren't legitimate and may subject you and the sites linking to you to a penalty.
It also technically counts as buying a link. You are essentially trading something that has value for a link to your site. Absent following one of these suggestions you run the risk of being flagged for buying links.
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
-
Moz bot not discovering important links (high DA sites link)
Moz bot is unable to crawl and discover my links on the high authority websites like microsoft, linkedin, pinterest, etc. Where is the problem?
Link Building | | TechG0 -
What is the number of links do you require your link builder to attain each week or month? What is a reasonable goal?
Hello Mozzers... I would like to get a survey or feedback from other Mozzers who owns an SEO company or manages / hire link builders. **What is the average number of links does your link builder need to attain per week or month? what is their goal? ** I understand quality over quantity but I want to make sure there is a reasonable average to provide them goals and something to achieve on. Of course reward them more if they exceed or get .edu links. What do you institute? What do you think is fair and achievable per website? PS. There is no right or wrong answers here. I am looking for a measurable answer not subjectable. Again just gathering MEASURABLE GOALS.
Link Building | | ChatterBuzzMedia0 -
Link Building
I'm having difficulty creating a solid link base. I would prefer to only have links that are on relevant sites that are likely to drive traffic rather then just adding my company page to site directories. I've checked out the whiteboard Friday edition of link building and have also used the new Moz analytics that helps recommend sites to link to, but all the recommendations were directories. So, could anyone hold my hand and guide me through the world of Link building? Your help, as always, is much appreciated. Thanks everyone Dave
Link Building | | david.smith.segarra0 -
Root Domain Link for Affiliate's Link
It seems my affiliate link: http://www.hrmsplugins.com?partners=21 is not being considered as a "root domain" backlink when this link is used on their website. Is there a reason for this?
Link Building | | delphia0 -
Keeping our old links
Hello Forum I just worked on redoing an eCommerce website and part of the revisions were to change the site's URL structure. What I'm curious about is how to maintain the external links we had prior to redoing the website so that these external links continue to point to their respective product pages on the new website. From what I understand, you need remap the old links to the new links in your CMS and set up 301 redirects. What's the easiest way to find the all the old link URLs and remap them? Or is there a different, easier way?
Link Building | | pano0 -
How long does it take for crawlers to update links? As in number of back links
How long does it take for crawlers to update links? As in number of back links
Link Building | | tom14cat140 -
Value of Inbound Links to Pages With a lot of Outbound Links
Suppose you have a resource page of the Top 50 Awesome Sites in your niche. Since there are about 50 outbound links, then I would think there will be less Page Rank being passed to internal pages from internal links on the resource page. Since you are getting less PR passed to internal pages, are there other ways the inbound links can be beneficial, such as increasing the diversity of links of your domain? Sites like SEO Optimise seem to create a lot of Top 30 Resources lists and I have read that they think it is a strong tactic.
Link Building | | SparkplugDigital0 -
The Value Of A Link
Hi There, Let's say I am able to get a link from a very well trust worthy blog that writes abot things related to my business. Now my question is how much value does another link with the same anchor text, from the same blog has compared to the first link, or compared to a new link from a slightly less powerfull blog? Or in another words, if I got 1 link from this great website should I invest my time to find another website where I can get a link from or should I invest it in getting another link from the website I already got a link from ( which might be easier)?
Link Building | | liors0