7 replies to this topic

[DominicH]

Will linking to low pr sites hurt my own sites pr in google?

Thanks.


D.Hayhoe
MD
Forces Reunited Ltd.
http://www.forcesreunited.org.uk

[Mel]

Hi Dominic and welcome to the forums
Linking to PR0 sites can hurt you and linking to any spammy sites can hurt you, but in general who you link to has no effect on PR, only the sites that link to you are counted in the PR calcs.

[dimok]

Hi, Mel,

I read somewhere that linking to sites that are banned (or just penelized for something) by Google can hurts you ranking.

DominicH, linking to low PR sites is OK.

[Mel]

Well perhaps that need to be clarified a bit.

Linking tp low PR sites does no harm UNLESS the site is banned (PR0) or is a "bad neighborhood" such as a link farm, in which case you can get a penalty yourself, so don't link blindly.

If you link to sites base on thier content and value to your users you will usually be OK.

[Jill]

You can link to any high quality site you want to link to, regardless of what the toolbar shows. It will never hurt you. If it will help your visitors find good information, then you should link to it.

Use your own common sense.

If a site is spammy or seems very unprofessional, why would you want to link to it?

If it is good, and helpful, then link to it. But linking to sites isn't something you "have to" to do. Like if they give you a link, you don't have to link back if you don't like it.

If you follow these simple rules, you don't have to worry about getting penalized or banned or whatever.

Jill

[deborah2002]

This brings up a good point....I was on a similiar thread a while back in another forum and was told that you wouldn't necessarily get into trouble w/the link farm thing.

Case in Point:
I ran a link analysis on our site (maintenance thing) and found a HORRIBLE site in the process. Panicked, I asked around and discovered that it was probably one of our competitors being sneaky (I never put us on that site and I only found it recently). How could Google know whether you had put the link up or only a competitor? I mean, as a dirty trick, someone could blast your link all over some link farms and porn sites and the like and then what?

BTW, I emailed the webmaster several times to request our link get taken off. Finally, I found his home number (I was getting really irritated at this point) and called him there. He told me "no problem, dude" (yes, he actually said that) and we were off in a matter of days.

So, the short version of the question is:
Does Google ban even the innocent? If not, couldn't anyone put your link up anywhere just to get you into trouble?
If that's the case, that sux!

deb

[Jill]

No, Deb, I believe we're talking about the links that ARE in your control. The ones you put on your site.

The links pointing TO you, are not in your control, and you are right about that, they can't hurt you.

You do have control of the links you put on your site, and you of course need to put them on responsibly. But that's pretty easy if you only link to sites that provide value to your visitor. I don't understand why this is a difficult concept for some to understand!



Jill

[deborah2002]

My bad--switched back to decaf and the morning has gone slooooowly doowwnhillll....................

deb