Who Made Google Web God? Paid Linking is Legit, Even Google is Doing it
Debunk the Link Authority Algorithm and Send Search Engines Back to the Drawing Board
Face it, paid links are not going to go away. Why can't we pay someone to link to our sites? I can pay them to blog about my site or pay for an image ad. Even Google buys links
It will have to become an unwritten rule (not published on your site) that any web site is willing to link to another and all you will have to do is contact them and ask. Everyone has a price. If a competitor is asked for a link and the price was right would you give it to them? I get offers for domains I own and if the price is right I sell them. I would let go a link before a domain any day.
Google does not like paid links because their algorithm now places such a high emphasis on links as a quality indicator, and paid linking subverts their system's integrity. Is Google performing a service to the internet community by cracking down on paid links and thwarting Internet spammers? Or are they making a big mistake using links as a top measure for authority? Does Google practice what they preach? Notice how the right half/third of the search result page is called "Sponsored Links". Those are all Google Adwords customers paying for links to their sites. Heck, Google will even pay you to put paid links on your web site using Google Adsense.
Do you want to sabotage your competitor? You can sign in to Google's webmaster console and use the authenticated spam report form, then include the word "paidlink" (all one word) in the text area of the spam report. Or use the unauthenticated spam report form and include the word "paidlink" (all one word) in the text area of the spam report.
So here we are trying very hard to be the best we can be, optimize our sites for keywords related to our products and services and being penalized for advertising them. The very authority handing down punishment is guilty of the same crime and makes 99% of its billions in revenues with "Sponsored Links".
Ok, let’s take money out of the equation. All web sites stop accepting money for the links. Everyone would still work with respective web sites to obtain the links because it is the method for improving rankings. The same linking would exist only no one would have gotten paid for it, including Google. Problem is, Google would no longer exist as we know it and its “Web God” status removed. We would likely then, not be so concerned with linking and use other search engines like MSN who do not hold such a high authority on linking. "MSN isn't exactly following Google in this regard. They obviously aren't going to recommend anyone use cloaking and paid links, but they don't discount either practice as forbidden." Mike McDonald - Web Pro News. One of my favorite articles on the paid link topic is How to Profit from Google's War on Paid Links and A pragmatic defense against Google's anti paid links campaign.
Maybe this whole paid linking algorithm is a temporary solution to a bigger problem. What if Google could not keep up with spammers and this was just a quick way for them to fix their search results to buy more time to come up with a better, more legitimate method for assigning authority. Certainly Google does not want the public to learn they are hypocritical when it comes to paid links. Or maybe they are just upset others are stealing their own business model.
When I look at the right hand side of my search results I consider that spam. Rarely are those links even helpful, maybe one out of 100 is what I am looking for. I do a lot of searches each day. I have almost trained myself not to even look at sponsored links much like we all did with banner advertising. Eventually the majority will do the same and Google has noticed this as a trend as they have started moving the sponsored advertising into the natural search results. Hence the blue and yellow box just above all natural search results.
How is this any different than Yahoo selling paid links within the natural search results? Didn't know you could pay to have your site ranked in Yahoo? Contact me at 720-982-7770 and I will get it all setup for you. Google claims to be the all mighty figure in the world of search. They also claim not to tamper with the natural search results but, they do.
The following is a question posed to Matt Cutts regarding what is considered a "paid link" to Google...
Face it, paid links are not going to go away. Why can't we pay someone to link to our sites? I can pay them to blog about my site or pay for an image ad. Even Google buys links
What is the difference between a story link, a text link or a banner image link? How is that any different than a quarter page ad in a magazine or the newspaper classified or a 30 second spot on a TV show? Is the magazine and newspaper not advocating the product in their ad the same way a web site suggests a sponsor? Google even holds a double standard as they pay for links on MSN, Yahoo and many other sites. Just check the top of the page in the blue or grey box marked "Sponsored Links".
It will have to become an unwritten rule (not published on your site) that any web site is willing to link to another and all you will have to do is contact them and ask. Everyone has a price. If a competitor is asked for a link and the price was right would you give it to them? I get offers for domains I own and if the price is right I sell them. I would let go a link before a domain any day.
Google does not like paid links because their algorithm now places such a high emphasis on links as a quality indicator, and paid linking subverts their system's integrity. Is Google performing a service to the internet community by cracking down on paid links and thwarting Internet spammers? Or are they making a big mistake using links as a top measure for authority? Does Google practice what they preach? Notice how the right half/third of the search result page is called "Sponsored Links". Those are all Google Adwords customers paying for links to their sites. Heck, Google will even pay you to put paid links on your web site using Google Adsense.
Do you want to sabotage your competitor? You can sign in to Google's webmaster console and use the authenticated spam report form, then include the word "paidlink" (all one word) in the text area of the spam report. Or use the unauthenticated spam report form and include the word "paidlink" (all one word) in the text area of the spam report.
So here we are trying very hard to be the best we can be, optimize our sites for keywords related to our products and services and being penalized for advertising them. The very authority handing down punishment is guilty of the same crime and makes 99% of its billions in revenues with "Sponsored Links".
Ok, let’s take money out of the equation. All web sites stop accepting money for the links. Everyone would still work with respective web sites to obtain the links because it is the method for improving rankings. The same linking would exist only no one would have gotten paid for it, including Google. Problem is, Google would no longer exist as we know it and its “Web God” status removed. We would likely then, not be so concerned with linking and use other search engines like MSN who do not hold such a high authority on linking. "MSN isn't exactly following Google in this regard. They obviously aren't going to recommend anyone use cloaking and paid links, but they don't discount either practice as forbidden." Mike McDonald - Web Pro News. One of my favorite articles on the paid link topic is How to Profit from Google's War on Paid Links and A pragmatic defense against Google's anti paid links campaign.
Maybe this whole paid linking algorithm is a temporary solution to a bigger problem. What if Google could not keep up with spammers and this was just a quick way for them to fix their search results to buy more time to come up with a better, more legitimate method for assigning authority. Certainly Google does not want the public to learn they are hypocritical when it comes to paid links. Or maybe they are just upset others are stealing their own business model. When I look at the right hand side of my search results I consider that spam. Rarely are those links even helpful, maybe one out of 100 is what I am looking for. I do a lot of searches each day. I have almost trained myself not to even look at sponsored links much like we all did with banner advertising. Eventually the majority will do the same and Google has noticed this as a trend as they have started moving the sponsored advertising into the natural search results. Hence the blue and yellow box just above all natural search results.
How is this any different than Yahoo selling paid links within the natural search results? Didn't know you could pay to have your site ranked in Yahoo? Contact me at 720-982-7770 and I will get it all setup for you. Google claims to be the all mighty figure in the world of search. They also claim not to tamper with the natural search results but, they do.
The following is a question posed to Matt Cutts regarding what is considered a "paid link" to Google...
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Q: That paid link example was helpful. Can you give me another example?
A: Sure. This one also has "paid advertising" as an image, but our existing algorithms still discount these links:
If you follow the link you will find an image example of a site that uses sponsored links much in the same way Google does. If I were Matt Cutts I would penalize my own company (Google) for being a spammy paid link site.
What are we to glean from this extremely political and controversial topic?
- Google practices paid linking. It is their whole business model.
- Google does not discredit all paid links. They look specifically for sites that "look" spammy.
- Use common sense when buying links and try to get links from trusted sites and names that are well known.
- Get as many non-paid links as possible before opening your wallet.
- Try not to overpay for links, make sure there is value.
- Do not focus so much on linking but making the content on your website something others will want to link to for Free.
If you have any questions regarding a paid link, feel free to contact me and I will review with you any benefits or potential problems. If you haven't started blogging yet you are missing out on yet another non-paid link to your web site. Download Free Blog Software.
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On 30 January 2008, the Content Management Professionals Election Oversight Committee announced that Joerg Dennis Krueger, Tony Pietrocola, Paul Trotter and Andrew Wilcox were elected to the 2008-2009 CM Pros Board of Directors. The new directors were nominated and elected by members in an open process. The four new Directors replace two outgoing board members, Mary Laplante and Emma Hamer, whose terms expire this month. Directors Linda Burman and Travis Wissnik remain on the Board until January 2009. Barry Schaeffer joined the board in late 2007, filling the remainder of resigning Director Joan Lasselle's term.
