What is the danger in offering giveaways in exchange for links?
-
In this Whiteboard Friday video, Rand says there is a danger in offering products for blogs to give away, simply requesting a link to your product or website in exchange for the giveaway. Could someone elaborate on what the danger is?
Is this also the case with offering products for review?
-
The answer is - it is risky ground. Some say it is good marketing, but there are examples of this backfiring - so the best advice is to be aware of the risks and tread lightly. Technically when you really look at it - it is good marketing, but it is also an alternative to paying cash, and Google doesn't like this type of link building
Giveaways and even offering a discount in exchange for a link can land you in hot water. Take the whole Overstock penalty for example, they were getting links on EDU sites by offering discounts to students and faculty. Good marketing or shady link building? Debatable. Would they have gotten caught if they weren't such a big name? Who knows...
To be on the safe side, my recommendation is to host a giveaway, but make no mention of "linking back" to your site. You can probably say "please share this contest with your friends and family" but "sharing" isn't necessarily asking for a link. Any links obtained out of interest in the contest are earned through good marketing/content.
Edited to add:
You also have to consider FTC disclosures when giving away any product for a review.
Also, I can't find it right now, I will continue looking, but I think remember reading something from Matt stating that if you are giving away a product you have to ask them to no-follow any links.
-
In my situation I am doing this for introducing my brand. I give them a product to review and I have a giveaway / prize every month. The link will always stay but may be to same or different page of my site. I also want to do it for many sites.
I appreciate to hear from SEOmoz staff also
Thank you for your response
-
They get the giveaway and then remove the link!
-
This was my question yesterday and I got completely
different answer!!?? I wish we would get more response. I understand both sides of arguments.http://www.seomoz.org/q/is-it-a-good-idea-to-participate-in-review-giveaway-bloggers
-
It can constitute a link scheme. When a search engine finds out, they could determine that the links you've received aren't legitimate and may subject you and the sites linking to you to a penalty.
It also technically counts as buying a link. You are essentially trading something that has value for a link to your site. Absent following one of these suggestions you run the risk of being flagged for buying links.
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
-
Reddit LInks
Are Reddit links worthwhile? I hear they are sometimes follow and sometimes not follow. Also what about links verses self links? I'm pretty handy with reddit so I can probably make content that would actually be upvoted a lot. Let me know, thanks.
Link Building | | RafeTLouis1 -
Self linking
There are 10 links on page that point to this page where they exist (link to the page itself). Does it influence on ranking?
Link Building | | templatemonster0 -
How Do I Know which links are bad?
Hi All I have currently got a Manual Action on my Webmaster Tools account due to some unnatural links and I am in the process of seeding out the poor links with a view to having them removed or disavowed. Other than looking at each link individually to see if it looks relevant or spammy. Any ideas on how I can gauge which links are bad and which aren't??
Link Building | | Pete40 -
Do footer links pass less link juice?
One of my best inbound links for PA and DA happens to be a footer link, curious if it's less valuable or has any value at all.
Link Building | | Theskimonster0 -
Link building
What is the difference between External Followed Links and Total External Links, why are the numbers different? Should the numbers not be the same? I have a difference of 24 links can anyone explain why?
Link Building | | vendorshop0 -
Different Link Titles Linking to the same page
So I'm doing a lot of link building but my question is how do search engines treat different link titles to the same page. For example, my main page is www.musillawfirm.com If I have 20 links from 20 sites linking to it as Melbourne FL DUI Lawyer and 20 more linking as Melbourne FL immigration Lawyer and More linking as Cocoa FL DUI lawyer etc... what happens? Do the search engines just rank me higher for all the terms or would it be better to always just link to separate landing pages? Thanks in advance
Link Building | | musillawfirm0