What is the definition of 'Paid links' for Google ?
-
Many high authority sites are doing paid text linking and linking sites through 'Sponosred linking' sections, But, Google does not seem to be bothered. Just because they are already ruling the industry. Sponsored links are obviously not natural, they are absolutely paid, still Google is giving them priority that is why only people are paying huge for them.
Please go through the website http://goo.gl/tgfH and see "Sponored link" section
So, What actually Google considers as paid link?
-
How do you know Google is not considering these paid links? The site owner does believe Google is considering them paid links and that his traffic is reduced because of it.
Please read his post at http://www.seroundtable.com/sponsored-links-12978.html for background on his view of the links on his site and Google.
-
And as noted in my response above, I do not work for Google, So therefore I nor any (IMHO) can answer that question on this board.
The only answer that can be given (once again IMHO) on that specific question would be speculation and conjuncture. (as i clearly already stated my opinion above)
-
But the question is why Google is not considering these links as paid links and not taking action against them?
-
Hi,
Yes, In my opinion those would be paid links
Only one is No-Followed (which is also weird, do they actually have a pay structure for paying for a follow link?) Also there is no Javascript redirect, so this looks like a plain HTML link, that is supposed to be a "Sponsored Link" but does not follow the guidelines below, so it most probably in my opinion is a paid link, but since I do not work for Google, I could not (and not sure who could) tell you why this site has not been penalized for selling links. Maybe it is because the sponsored link is in return for content?
Even below cited from Google, as in everything with Google, It is referred to as "Guidelines" not rules... So this means just in the verbiage it is at the discretion of Google on how closely or far away these "guidelines" are followed at, before a penalty is leveraged. Although this does seem to be the EXACT behaviour Google is looking out for at the moment, from a very visible SEO site - Maybe his social reputation and contribution to the SE community gains him the leverage to do this (since he is doing it "tastefully", as it could just be a mistake (LOL)
"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 <a>tag</a>
<a>* Redirecting the links to an intermediate page that is blocked from search engines with a robots.txt file"</a>
<a>Source</a>
<a></a>http://support.google.com/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=66736
- Adding a rel="nofollow" attribute to the <a>tag</a>
-
If you pay for a link, it's a payed link. I don't think there is any difference in a sponsored link or just some link in a blogpost on some random website. As you also pointed out, Google doesn't seem to bother much, but if they find out you bought it, you can get a penalty because of it.
But,.. if a sponsored link is a payed link. Would an article submission on some pay-for-your-article-submission-website with any links in that article be also a payed links? And what about signing up for Le Web simply for your link in their directory? I don't know!
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
-
How Google Search works
I watched this video over the weekend. If you haven't yet, this is a great documentary every SEO client should watch. watch?v=tFq6Q_muwG0
Paid Search Marketing | | WebDaytona0 -
I've 'lost' my Google Referral Traffic
We recently re-launched our website on a new platform, PrestaShop. Up until that launch,our website, based on the DNN platform, received several thousand clicks per month from what Google Analytics classified as 'Google/referral', and several thousand more clicks collectively from international Google/referrals, i.e. Canada, Germany, UK and France. When the re-launched site went live, these clicks all went to zero on Google Analytics. My question is: Did we actually lose this Referral traffic through an improper setting on our new platform, or is this Referral simply being re-categorized in some other Source category like Organic Search?
Paid Search Marketing | | bmayer091 -
Gap in Google PPC Ads & Organic search results - New test by Google?
Hi All, Just noticed an unusual gap in PPC ads and organic search results in google NZ. while searched the same term in Google AU, it wasn't the same. Did anyone here see something similar? Is this a new test by Google to get more clicks on PPC ads and pushing down organic results? Looking forward to hear from the community. Cheers, Rattan wcB6DL1.jpg
Paid Search Marketing | | FRL0 -
Campaign Tagging (Medium) for Paid Social
If we tag our paid social links with medium=cpc, will that traffic and conversions rollup under social or paid search in the channel reports? The other option we're considering is tagging with medium=social. Thanks,
Paid Search Marketing | | SDLOnlineChannel
Greg0 -
Best practice to separate paid from organic conversions in Google Analytics
I have a PPC campaign for a client with standalone landing pages with a form, not reachable from the website (although in the same domain). I've added the AdWords conversion code to the "thank you" page and I also added a Goal in
Paid Search Marketing | | DoMiSoL
Google Analytics whose counter is increased every time the thank you page is reached. This way I can track conversions with both AdWords and Analytics. Is that correct? Should I import back in AdWords the goals from Analytics, as suggested in the AdWords account? I have another landing page with a form in the website, where I send users coming from
organic search, so I set up a second goal in Analytics for the thank you page of this form. Is this the reason why I am supposed to import in AdWords the analytics' goals, so that I could see both kind of conversions in both accounts? But the most important question is: If I send both PPC/organic visitors to the same landing page is there still a way to separate PPC from Organic conversions? Thank you very much for your advice. DoMiSoL Rossini0 -
AdWords/Analytics Paid Search conversions not matching up - any idea why?
Hi all, Any ideas as to why AdWords and Analytics are showing different Paid Search conversion numbers for me when I check on a daily basis? Both accounts are linked, they share the same destination URLs to trigger a conversion, some days each reflects the same amount of conversions, then some days it's anything from 1-5 conversions different (Analytics is always the one to show more). Thanks M
Paid Search Marketing | | Martin_S0 -
Top Ad in Google Adwords
Hello. How much of a difference does it make in click-throughs to be the first listing in Google Adwords versus the second or third (still at the top of the page)? Thank you!
Paid Search Marketing | | nyc-seo0 -
What's a good CTR for text ads in GMail?
I'm running text ads in Google's Display/Content network, and these ads are targeted only to display in GMail. I'm getting a rather low CTR, but this is to be expected? Then again, how low is too low? What's a good CTR for GMail ads?
Paid Search Marketing | | monetize-2660060