11 replies to this topic

[knowmore]

I just finished reading about 3 of the mega threads on this forum that deal with selling & buying text link ads. My head is spinning a bit. So I am asking a few specific concrete questions about selling text link ads using specifically the company known as [company removed as per [url=http://www.highrankings.com/forum/index.php?act=boardrules]Forum Rules[/url]] .

I have quite a few pages that rank well in Google, so obviously I am very nervous about doing anything that harms my rankings, or my ability to pass on good rankings to sites I like. The threads I read did indicate that selling text link ads without the "nofollow" attribute can damage your ability to pass PR, according to Matt Cutts.

So here are the specific questions:

* Has anyone used [removed] to sell links using their automated publishing program and do they include the "nofollow" attribute on links they sell for you?

* Has anyone seen their ability to pass PR on pages they sold text link ads diminish or be penalized? If so, was the penalty applied to all pages or just the ones the text link ads appear on?

* Converse to the above question, has anyone been selling a text link ads for a long time, enough for let's say 2 Google updates to transpire, and have seen no appreciable penalty applied to their rankings?

* If I sell a small number of text link ads, let's say 4 or less, on only a very small percentage of my site's pages, does that decrease my risk?

Thanks.

[Jill]

Welcome knowmore!

Sorry, had to remove the company as per our Forum Rules, but we can certainly talk about buying links in a general sense.

Did you read my article on buying text links?

[knowmore]

Jill,

Yes that was one of the articles I read. I'm looking for hard data instead of known theory; that is I'm looking for the reports of actual penalization (or not) especially for sites that only do in small amounts.

Sorry about the company name thing. I've tried Googling about the company but because they have such a generic name, even with quotes around the search phrase it's difficult to find what I'm looking for.

knowmore

[Jill]

that is I'm looking for the reports of actual penalization

Penalization? for what? Advertising?

You're not going to find it. How can the search engines penalize for advertising when they are advertising companies themselves?

[projectphp]

I know for sure that some sites/pages don't pass PageRank. phpBb had that happen, for one I am positive of, although who knows if that is still the case or not?

If you sell text ads, and Google stops you passing Pagerank, chances are the revenue will dry up. Something to consider, as a revenue stream.

As for risk, it is all one big crap shoot really. Personally, I have issues with selling text links as a way to make $$ long term. You are relying upon an unpredicatble force (Google) in order to generate revenue that you can do nothing to control.

Seems to me that the TLA market is a fickle one, blowing around and chasing the next alluring target, and not a great way to make $$ longer term. I can't imagine Google won't catch you, if that is what you are banking on, and whata terrible risk in any case.

But, risk is not something absolute, but something you assess. You may find the risk acceptable or unacceptable. Either way, know for sure that you are taking one, and the long term consequences of the risk could be catastrophic, expecially if google is your major traffic source.

[Debra]

I have seen companies, who had site wide links in place, lose rank after a period of time. Was it because of the site wides? Dunno, but would make sense as nothing else on their site changed and the sites moving up around them didn't increase their inbound links or on page content.

But I can't be certain so to that....... no I don't think you can know for a fact if the linking thing was an issue. As for penalization -- there is a big difference there between being penalized (dropped out of index) or being dropped in serps.

Your quest for info on this will be tough to find knowmore.

I also think, based on what I've seen, that Google doesn't automatically penalize a site for outbounds not in content areas unless they come in and look or there are so many of them pointing to different sites it just screams..."I'm stupid!"

Think about that when you're selling links. ( how many you sell, to whom and where they are

[findinforums]

I had a few good sites deindexed in google (including one pr6 site) and I think it was for having lots of "bad" links, so if you're selling links make sure they're ok and may be even use a nofollow

[alemcherry]

Use no follow while selling text link? Then what the hell is the advertiser paying for? I think you need to choose the sites sensibly, thats it!

[Jill]

Then what the hell is the advertiser paying for?

Ummm...an ad maybe?

[oneofthe3lions]

Thats the whole point of this really isnt it.. is it a link or an ad?

You ask 'what are they paying for?'

The only reason that a site should pay for a link on your site is because it is related to your sites theme and therfore u will send them traffic that has a good chance of converting into a sale.

That is what they 'should' be paying for.

That is why you should be 'advertising the link'

If that is the case from both perspectves then it is correct and fine to implement and you will 'not' get punished for it. If both of these criteria are not met then do not put the link there.

[Debra]

Thats the whole point of this really isnt it.. is it a link or an ad?

A link is always a link, but a link placed in "sponsored" areas almost automatically becomes an ad.

IMO, most paid ad links are easy to spot, they live in "sponsored" areas, are grouped with other text links or in the template zone. If you and I can spot them, the engines can do the same. It's these links that appear to be taking a beating especially in the more competitve markets.

If you were to go out and purchase text links in the content area of a website, I'll bet you wouldn't see any issues with them. Do you ever hear people complain about their content-area text links being ignored? Probably not.

So why don't more people buy links in content areas? Simple - it's a time issue. Securing links in content areas is a very time consuming task, even the "build good content" mantra requires a lot of time and promotion before the links come in.

Just as navigation links carry little link weight, so do links in "sponsored" areas. Buy an ad link - just don't buy in the no link-juice zone!

[Alex Choo]

Links that exist in Sponsored areas are not bad per se.

In fact, I think it's unethical to hide sponsored links as normal links.

But we ought to be clear about the purpose of selling text links. I feel that the best intention is to let people that there are sites similar to mine that will benefit them. Being to make some money out of promoting these sites is a bonus to me.

It would be unwise to buy text links for the sake of higher PR. Getting quality traffic should be the priority.