Moz Q&A is closed.
After more than 13 years, and tens of thousands of questions, Moz Q&A closed on 12th December 2024. Whilst we’re not completely removing the content - many posts will still be possible to view - we have locked both new posts and new replies. More details here.
Googles stance on Back Links via a Badge/Form
-
Hey guys,
Does anyone know what Google's stance is on backlinks that come via a form, WordPress theme or badge. For example if I offer website security and provide badges for websites that are malware clean (with a back link to my website) and 100 websites sign up to my website will this be deemed as bad practice in Google's eyes?
Also if I create a free WordPress theme with a backlink to myself?
The second question sounds like I'm providing content for a link which seems okay but the first one can go either way.
Thanks
-
Thanks Travis!
-
Thanks Wiqas!
-
Hello,
This is more than tricky. I have witnessed websites that are ranking high doing the same practices (Most of Internet Marketing Companies, Web Design Companies, Themes, Plugins etc) but such link schemes have costed thousands and thousands of websites.
Here is example of one big brand victimized recently by such link schemes
There are hundreds of such examples. So if you like to move this way
- Use Non Money Anchor (May be Brand Name)
- Make sure to turn link into "Nofollow"
I strongly agree with Travis! Nice advice in deed!
I hope that this will help!
-
These would likely be deemed a link scheme unless the links are nofollow. We can bring up a number of examples where sites appear to get away with these tactics, but followed widgets and footer links are definitely high risk. If you genuinely want exposure for your site, nofollow the links and make sure they don't contain 'money terms'. (e.g. Free Malware Scan)
Both of these tactics have been done to death. A lot of sites have been penalized due to dofollow links in themes, widgets, plugins and badges. If you still want to do this, I would strongly suggest using a nofollow attribute on the link.
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
-
Back links from seller review platforms
I did a back link research on one of our competitors and saw a back link from resellerratings.com listed as back link from a high authority website. My question is do any of these review platforms shopper approved, resellerratings, or trust pilot gurantee a do follow back link if i create an account with them? if so, which one?
Link Building | | Swifttechbuy0 -
Back link from site with DA of 72 to a website domain. Clicking on the link redirects to our website not the attended one.
Hi,
Link Building | | JIMBO16
I've ran a back link check and discovered a good back link to a site which then gets redirected back to my company's website. I have a feeling that an old SEO agency has purchased a small website which has a decent link back from a relevant organisation with a high Domain authority and then redirects the domain to our website to get the link juice. What are your thought on this? Is this really bad practise and possibly damaging? Thanks, Jim0 -
What is a good ratio of total links to linking root domains?
Is 100 total links for every linking domain too high? I suppose I could also look at ratios of sites that are doing well in the rankings.
Link Building | | ProjectLabs0 -
A link with "return false"- OSE sees as a No Followed Link
Hello, I couldn't find a clear answer to the impact on SEO for a link written in this way: [" class="expert_info" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">](w</span>ww.yourwebsite.com<span style=) [Does the "return false" act as a "no follow"? I came across this in our link data in Open Site Explorer which lists these links all as "no follows." However, an engineer I spoke to said that it shouldn't impact search engine behavior. Any ideas? Thank you in advance! -Sarah K.](w</span>ww.yourwebsite.com<span style=)
Link Building | | OneMedical0 -
Linking to sites that link to porn or casinos, my site getting penalized?
I have some link exchanges with some sites to get web traffic but when i ran the bad neighborhood link checker, i found that one site links to some casinos and another site has one link to a porn site. Is this getting me penalized? should i remove the links to these sites? Thanks, Ron
Link Building | | Ron100 -
Site Published Our Guest Post but Removed the Link Back
I recently developed a nice article for a career site and they agreed to publish it as a guest post. Once they published the article I noticed they had removed the link back to my site in the byline. What is a best way to approach this situation? Would you ask them to take down the article if they are unwilling to link back to your site?
Link Building | | Charlessipe0 -
Should I link from my blog back to my product pages?
Hello... I just installed a blog on my Magento site. My question is whether or not i should be linking within posts on the blog back to the product or category pages that i am talking about...from an SEO perspective. If in my post i am talking about flashlights being important when preparing for a storm, should i link the word flashlights to the flashlight category on my site? I know I can do this, the question is should i, from google's perspective. A) should i link the word (flashlights) to that category on my page B) should i put a line at the bottom of every post that says something like "if you are interested in purchasing flashlights, visit this link" and hyperlink that whole sentence... THANKS!
Link Building | | Prime850 -
How many links per week is too fast in link building?
For a new website/blog how many links per week looks suspicious or hurt the rankings?
Link Building | | aaran1