Backlink Badges - Good or Bad
-
One of my free tools for creating web pages automatically inserts a back-link to my home page as a footer, or 'badge' from the free web pages it creates. Hence there are tens of thousands of low quality sites out there linking back to my home page. While this was great ten years ago, Google looks on things differently these days. So the question is, will Google penalize me for this? Does the negative outweigh the positive - should I remove the insertion of back-link badges from the product?
Thanks,
Peter
-
This is what I'd do:
- Use the brand name in the anchor text
- Allow people to remove them (or, to be extra safe, turn it off by default and prompt people to turn it on)
- Keep the links followed.
You could definitely debate the last point, but as long as you're not paying people for the link itself or trying to manipulate Google's algorithm it shouldn't be a big deal. If you're extremely risk averse, go ahead and add nofollow to the links.
-
Thanks for the helpful responses!
Peter
-
First what you need to control is anchor texts. If the tool you use uses one commercial keyword as anchor text for all sites it is a big problem for your link profile potentially. For a start check your backlink profile and see the anchors (use MajesticSEO or Ahrefs for this). For natural profile most used anchors will be brand names, url as anchor or domain name as anchor.
-
Hi Peter,
It is widely known now that any kind of compensation given for a link is against Google TOS (that includes affiliate links, "powered by" links, PRs, sponsored posts, etc). All of them should be not followed, in that way, you still get the people that may want the services you offer without affecting Google rankings.
There are some rel alternatives that could help Google recognize those links and not count them towards your rankings (or counting them differently). Take the case of Wordpress, most of their hosted blogs have a "powered by" link, but they use rel="generator" which helps Google distinguish between spam and "powered by" links.
Anyway, there are 2 sides of the coin here. Google said that affiliate links should be nofollow, but I still see sites that have hundreds of thousands of links (over 95% of their link profile) from affiliates, which are followed and not blocked by anything and the site ranks 1st.
I would recommend to nofollow those links, but that is my approach. I even created a javascript method to insert our affiliate links (including the nofollow tag), still, we are ranked 10th on the same query that the site I mentioned above ranks 1st.
Hope this answer helps you at least decide what is your approach and what to do...
-
I really can't wait to hear people opinions on this. If it works without a penalty, I will try it.
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 GSC data (branded clicks + impressions) a good indicator for how well your PR activity has performed for the year?
We are reviewing our creative / PR agency and are intending to use our GSC data as a way to assess their performance...
Branding | | Jacksons_Fencing0 -
Dealing with a former associate's bad behavior
A former associate (law firm) has gotten into hot water since leaving the firm. The problem is that he has numerous profiles across the web that are still associated with the firm's address and website. A search for his name in Google often leads directly to the law firm or their profiles. Is there anything that can be done to dis-associate the firm from this person? Thanks
Branding | | ericbarbier0 -
Animated Favicon... Good or Bad Idea?
I'm about to create a favicon for my company and noticed an animated favicon option. I can't remember a major website using an animated favicon, but I use Chrome, which doesn't support them. Are animated favicons visible on many browsers? Do they have any impact on SEO? Does anybody use animated favicons? Is it worth my time to create one?
Branding | | Branden_S0 -
Author Site And Book Site - Multiple Sites Bad Idea?
The question: I've been doing work for authors lately and a common question is if they should have a site for their book and a site for themselves. Separate sites with different domain names. At first I thought this would be a bad idea. Why spread information across two sites if they can be related and used together in one? But I see a lot of authors doing this and some with marketing companies. One site for the author with information about them, their books, their social media presence. Then another site for their book, with new social media accounts, other info, etc. What do you guys think? Has anyone tried both and seen any pros and cons? Is there a perfect answer?
Branding | | JoshBowers20120 -
Is having two websites that sell most of the same products a good idea?
Hi - Please read this in full before you answer. I currently own a website that sells kitchen cabinets and bathroom vanities that match the kitchens. This website has been operational since Arpil 2009 and we have built good rankings over the past 3 years. The site is operated on the Volusion platform (my mistake from the beginning, but we're kind of stuck now). We are in the process of designing a new website on the Magento platform - everything will be 100% different from look, speed, the way our customers shop, content, product skus, etc. The original plan was to keep the same domain but implement 301 redirects for subpages (subpage urls would have to change) and shut down the Volusion site and transfer the domain name to the Magento site. Our current website does make money right now and we would hate to lose rankings (even if only temporarily) during the switch or have something go wrong. What I am now thinking is keeping our current website on Volusion where it is currently making money and having the new Magento site have a new name/domain. The sites would sell most of the same products (the Magento site would sell more types of vanities and accessories though). The two sites would have different email addresses, phone numbers, and mailing addresses. Is it a bad idea to try and rank two websites selling pretty much the same thing? We have competitors out there that sell the same products as us, I would just prefer to compete with myself rather then someone else. Another issue is our name, one of our competitors names is extremely close to ours and we rank for pretty much all of the same keywords and customers get us mixed up all the time. This other site would have a different name (one that makes more sense). I want to make a decision that will not come back and bite us later. I know there are a lot of bigger sites that operate tons of niche sites, and of these website could eventually be similar to that. I really appreciate your help and guidance! Thanks
Branding | | tyler7560 -
Is adding SEO links within Clients Footer good?
With the Google Panda update craving quality, relevant content is it acceptable to place a targeted keyword within other customers websites such as " SEO in ......" ????? Cheers
Branding | | samr2170 -
What are good paid white hat link building opporunties?
What are some good sites that offer white hat link building opportunies for the Hospitality vertical? I like the guest blogger option but dont know what site(s) are the best options?
Branding | | Melia0 -
Is it good/bad to place a press release on a third party website as well as your own?
I have read that if a Company issues a press release via a third part service (e.g. PR Web) it is best not to place the release on the company’s own website due to negative SEO effects. Is this the case? I‘d really appreciate others thoughts on this.
Branding | | E2E0