WordPress Plugin Backlinks?
-
I'm considering having a WordPress plugin developed that would provide content from my site for others to display in their sidebar. It would definitely provide value for users and I know people would use it on their sites, but my question is . . .
If I were to add my link below the widget (e.g. "Content provided by Company ABC"), would this be good or bad for SEO? The anchor text wouldn't be anything special, just an exact match of my brand name (my domain name).
I seem to remember Matt Cutts answering something similar a few years ago and I thought he said it was fine as long as the anchor text was the brand name. But maybe things have changed since then.
Keep in mind that this plugin could potentially be used by tens of thousands of sites, so the backlink profile could be huge.
Thoughts? Would this cause my site to get penalized?
-
I do not think you would get much benefit from this. Your link profile would probably get all kinds of messy. And what if a bunch of poor quality sites start using that plugin and you end up having links on malicious, porn, poker, or other bad sites?
Plugin links and template footer links should be avoided now in my opinion
-
It sounds like one of two things will happen given your explanation. Either the links will count because they are relevant. Or Google will decide not to count them because of their nature as an embedded widget link. I don't see this hurting you currently though with the way Google handles these things since its not a necessarily spammy link and its not hidden deep in some code somewhere trying to trick people.
-
Thanks for the video, Mike. After watching it, I'm still a bit confused. He specifically addresses high keyword density anchor text in this video. And he talks more along the lines of themes and such that don't really offer any content value.
I'm thinking that since I'm only using my brand name as the anchor text, and that I'm providing content on other sites that is directly related to what I offer on my own site . . . that should be enough for Google to accept it as white hat. Because in the end, I would be getting targeted clicks from this widget . . . and hasn't that always been Google's philosophy? If it's bringing you targeted traffic, then it's white hat.
Or maybe I'm just trying to convince myself that it's a good idea? In the end, all that matters is whether Google penalizes me for it . . . not how useful I believe it to be.
-
The Matt Cutts video you're thinking of might be this one from Oct 2012.... Wherein he basically says the algorithm won't count those links because they aren't editorially included and aren't truly organic.
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
-
Is there proof that disavowing backlinks in GSC help to boost rankings in Google?
Hi Guys Let's say you have a website and you got some questionable back links or lower quality ones. Does anyone have proof that after disavowing back links helped in the rankings or had some positive effects? I am concerned that Google will place our website on their radar and instead possibly demote it or smth. Lastly, if disavowing is the way to go what criteria do you use to disavow backlinks? So if you get questionable back links over time, should you disavow ongoing as well? If so how often? Cheers John
White Hat / Black Hat SEO | | whiteboardwiz0 -
Which is Important? Backlinks or Internal Links? For SEO purpose.
Which is Important? Backlinks or Internal Links? For SEO purpose.
White Hat / Black Hat SEO | | BBT-Digital0 -
Do the links from top websites' forums boost in-terms of backlinks?
If we get any backlinks from discussions/forums of top websites like wordpress and joomla forums; do they count as valid and authority improving backlinks? I mean about the dofollow links.
White Hat / Black Hat SEO | | vtmoz1 -
Advice needed! How to clear a website of a Wordpress Spam Link Injection Google penalty?
Hi Guys, I am currently working on website that has been penalised by Google for a spam link injection. The website was hacked and 17,000 hidden links were injected. All the links have been removed and the site has subsequently been redesigned and re-built. That was the easy part 🙂 The problems comes when I look on Webmaster. Google is showing 1000's of internal spam links to the homepage and other pages within the site. These pages do not actually exist as they were cleared along with all the other spam links. I do believe though this is causing problems with the websites rankings. Certain pages are not ranking on Google and the homepage keyword rankings are fluctuating massively. I have reviewed the website's external links and these are all fine. Does anyone have any experience of this and can provide any recommendations / advice for clearing the site from Google penalty? Thanks, Duncan
White Hat / Black Hat SEO | | CayenneRed890 -
Is this a 'real site' or a spam site for backlinks
I have been asked what type of site this is? What kind of page is this? [http://www.gotocostarica.com/](http://www.gotocostarica.com/) In my opinion it is site put up to create back links and should be avoided (especially in the light of the new Penguin and Panda updates coming). But I don't want to give wrong advice. What are your opinions?
White Hat / Black Hat SEO | | Llanero0 -
Powered by/Credit backlinks and nofollow
Pseudo question: I have a website that has 100K pages. On about 50K of those pages I have information that is fed to me via an outside 3rd-party website. Now, I like to give credit where credit is due, so I add a backlink to the website that is feeding me this content. A simple backlink like so: Information provided by: Company ABC Now, this 3rd-party website wants me to remove the nofollow tags from the backlink, but I am very, very skeptical because to me, sending ~50K dofollow backlinks to a single site might make the Google monster upset with me. This 3rd-party site is being very hard-headed about this, to the point where I am thinking of terminating the relationship all together. I digress. Scoured the net before writing this, but couldn't really find anything directly related to my issue. Thoughts? Is a nofollow required here? We're not talking 1 or 2 links here; we're talking tens of thousands (50K is low; it will probably be upwards of 100K when all is said and done as my site has many, many pages). Thanks in advance.
White Hat / Black Hat SEO | | THB0 -
Negative backlinks
Hi I have heard that penguin penalizes a site for bad backlinks. Do you think that it is true? Do you think that is possible for someone to penalize my website adding my link to some spam website? I'm worried that someone could do it...
White Hat / Black Hat SEO | | darkanweb0 -
First of 183 million with 6 backlinks
Hello Everyone, I am from Hungary and i'd like to ask about a Hungarian site: www.viagra.info.hu. (do not need to speak Hungarian to be able to answer) If you type viagra in google.hu this is the first page of 183 million (not bad) with a wonderful number of 6 backlinks, coming before wikipedia and 70000 backlink sites. Additional info: site is one year old:) I can not discover the black hat but surely there is. Any idea? My other question is how they are doing that when looking from the serps below their description tag there are 3 links (their menus) that are not sitelinks? Someone please help me
White Hat / Black Hat SEO | | sesertin0