PalatnikFactor.com

The Hypocrisy of Google and Paid Links

June 16, 2011 by Pablo Palatnik

There’s always the on-going talk about SEO and how Google will penalize you for paid links. Maybe I haven’t read EVERYTHING on the web but it seems to me there are certain things that are very Unclear about Googles stance on paid links.

This post actually may not even come out the way it’s being thought of in my head and it’s just for discussion purposes, I may not be on point on a few things or maybe even just the basic principle of paid links and why Google deems them ‘evil’ almost…right? Do no evil.

I think all SEOs and those who want better rankings (WEBSITE EXPOSURE) should be allowed to buy links if for the right reasons. It seems link buying is always associated with a negative connotation and how it’s all about manipulating the search algorithm for better search rankings.

I guess we have to think about certain things in practical manners. Why would Google punish a company for purchasing links? What about the purpose of buying those links? Besides links helping search rankings, many links that one could buy can and do provide real benefits in regards to traffic which leads to sales and lead referrals.
What about paying for a directory link? Why isn’t that penalized? A directory is a business that is purely made for profit (if they charge for links) and create content of no real substance (not in todays web.) SO, a blogger who consistently works on his/her blog and puts good content will get penalized for selling a link somewhere in their content (or wherever they choose) because a company approached them for a link. They worked hard at building their blog and content…why not let them be rewarded? What about the company buying the link? Besides having a benefit of having a new link placed in a good blog, that company may see a real benefit from that link, more than just POSSIBLE better search rankings.

Google on Paid Links: “…However, some SEOs and webmasters engage in the practice of buying and selling links that pass PageRank, disregarding the quality of the links, the sources, and the long-term impact it will have on their sites. Buying or selling links that pass PageRank is in violation of Google’s Webmaster Guidelines and can negatively impact a site’s ranking in search results.

Not all paid links violate our guidelines. Buying and selling links is a normal part of the economy of the web when done for advertising purposes, and not for manipulation of search results. Links purchased for advertising should be designated as such. This can be done in several ways, such as:

• Adding a rel=”nofollow” attribute to the tag
• Redirecting the links to an intermediate page that is blocked from search engines with a robots.txt file”

So, Business.com or the Yahoo.com directory aren’t directories that people choose to buy for ranking (pagerank) purposes and are do-follow links? It seems that statement is too general to apply to a world wide web. If you’re a website that sells beatles memorabilia, shouldn’t you have the option to buy a link from a website with the intent not only for traffic but to better your search engine exposure as well as having the publisher provide a service (passing authority, pagerank, whatever you want to call it) to an advertiser as a perk. After all, that publisher is creating content that is also serving Google.

The web MADE Google…Google didn’t make the web. They shouldn’t penalize link buying but should have a better method of ‘quality control’ or I guess that’s what Matt Cutts and his team is there for, really trying to make the web a clean place…I just don’t see paid links as spam unless a company like a big department store decides to buy links from something like a network which places links in porn websites, etc…I give this example because I was looking at a backlink profile (don’t remember whose now) and came across a few adult websites with followed links to this big company…I should have saved it.

We all want an anti-spammy web. I just don’t believe companies/websites should be penalized automatically for purchasing links from websites as it’s not only about better rankings but also an economy based on work (content) by many bloggers, website owners who could monetize (and deservingly so) their content.

I guess the argument would be that if all link buying was OK, any company with a lot of cash can come, buy thousands of links and dominate the search result for specific keywords. For the most part, I can tell you that that may already be the case with most big companies that have the money to really promote their website.

Like anything else in this world, theres some good in link buying and some bad. My thoughts on this aren’t finished…I’ll get back to them.

Just a rant…still thinking about this one.

p.s. i dont buy links and i love google. really.