Free tool which includes a link back to my site
-
On one of my sites I provide a free tool to other webmasters to use that allows them to copy some code to use the free tool on their website and under the tool on it says "Powered by: mysite.co.uk" with a link to "mysite.co.uk".
Now I have no real control over which sites can come and use this free tool (a tool to test how fast an internet connection is), on the whole though it is aimed at a specific niche but a range of sites do use it which means good or crap sites can pick up the free code to place into their sites.
The link to mysite.co.uk is now always mysite.co.uk as the anchor text, I used to use the websites name (which is the actual name of the URL - link to site at end of post) so the links were keyword rich but only to my sites genuine name, however I now just leave it as the URL to my site.
I am not aiming to do anything untowards with the linking other than to get the acknowledgement that it was provided for free by my site, however I'm wondering if google etc will be able to tell they are natural and not dodgy?
My site is: http://bit.ly/MsNQwS (n.b. a new improved test is being created before anyone says it's not accurate).
-
Hi Wardy, probably I was not clear enough, sorry!
Y suscribe to your original proposal, "speed test tool" as a correct anchor,
Good luck!
-
Hi Claudio, I presume you mean to use the following as my full anchor text : "BroadbandSpeedTest.co.uk speed test tool" rather than just "speed test tool"?
I'll be sure to keep track and respond back when I have any useful data etc.
-
Hi again Wardy,
In my opinion your url and anchor (url BroadbandSpeedTest.co.uk and "speed test tool" as an anchor text) are natural enough not to bring any problems. Do not forget to tell us how it worked!
Cheers
-
Hi Robert, thanks for the great reply and sorry it's taken me a while to respond, I was having problems with moz.com last week after I'd posted my question with the site not allowing me to reply despite being logged in.
Anyway, I will perhaps add that webmasters can no follow the link if they wish in the information for the tool and also change the anchor text too then.
With regards to the link will it not look spammy if I use my sites name and then a description of what the tool is considering my sites name is what the tool does?
For example: "BroadbandSpeedTest.co.uk speed test tool" as an anchor text do you think is OK?Thanks for the reply again, very much appreciated!
-
Understood. I guess I just wanted to say that with so many of those tools out there, it will take quite an effort to get the tool into widespread use and that doing so just for to obtain followed links of that sort may not be worth the effort.
-
Definitely agree with Robert, I find no concern on a do follow link and I also would go for a long tail alt text, telling what the tool is useful for.
Good luck and anyway you can make a try and look for your own experience which by the way we would love to hear about when you achieve some conclusions.
Cheers, today no sunny day even in southern spain... :(!
-
Hello Wardy,
If you are really concerned, you should make the links nofollow. However, I think Robert has got this answered for you!
Best of luck,
Amelia
-
Chris,
I was responding before yours had posted and I am not sure this would qualify as a scheme or as an attempt to manipulate rankings. I think it falls more in the area of someone who has developed a Plugin for, say WordPress. Yes, he is wanting links, but if he is clear (and remember these are webmasters) that it links back to his site, I think it really falls in that area of are all infographics of value? IMO, if I went to the trouble to put an infographic on cats without hair on my marketing firm site, I must have thought it provided something (Whether or not John and Matt agree ;).
But, I have to say, one could argue either way.
Best
-
Wardy,
Kudos on utilizing a tool like this for links.
A while back Matt Cutts talked about Google starting to devalue links from infographics. Whether or not they have followed through is anyone's guess. The reasoning (and I paraphrase) was that they felt too often they were being used by people without knowing they were a link back to a site and the infographic was not really a "vote" for content on the site. So, let's assume that Google would look at your tool and see it much the same way (And I think that is worst case scenario); I do not think they would look at some "negative" links from spammy webmasters/sites in a vacuum. IMO they would look at the overall link profile and, based on what you are saying, you should have a "natural" mix of links for this. As to the anchor text in the imbed, I think I would mention the tool and not use your domain. Something like, SiteName's Test Your Broadband Tool, would seem appropriate. The url for the link can be your site's homepage or other.
Hope this helps a bit,
Robert
-
Wardy,
Technically that qualifies as a link scheme according to Google. The thing is, they're not exactly editorial, are they and they might not even provide that much algorithmic value to you now or in the future. John Mueller says this:
“If you are providing really useful widgets and you’re linking back to your website in a way that’s clear to the webmaster and maybe in a way that the webmaster can choose whether or not they want to link there then that’s something that might be a great service to those webmasters and might provide value on other websites and those webmasters may be happy enough that they say, ‘Oh this is a great service. I want to tell my friends about this great service that they are providing."
If you want to be clear that you're not attempting to manipulate rankings by adding your link (anchor text or not) you should just go ahead and nofollow it.
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
-
Relaunching a site that has had thousands of posts linking to the same 20 articles. How to properly setup internal linking?
I'm in the process of relaunching a music news site (www.prefixmag.com) that once did quite well in search (over a million monthly search visits in its prime). The site got crushed by Panda, etc. and we stopped updating it. I'm starting to do more research but one thing that I noticed was we have modules in the right rail (desktop) that are found on all of our article pages that point to the same posts. (Edit: Added attachment. The links in the right rail under Editor Picks, Features, News, Media, etc. are found on every page of the site). In other words, we have thousands of posts that all link to the same 20 or so articles. Should we not do this if we're not trying to emphasize these posts in Google? Assuming this is the case, what is the proper way to do internal linking? Do we simply setup a sitemap and link to it? I'm hoping to have the thousands of articles we've published over the years have a chance to rank in search again. Also, we have a number of posts that are thin in content should those pages not be submitted in the sitemap? Thanks in advance! 2KmX0
Link Building | | leggo0 -
A website with a spam score of 5 is back linking to me. How important is to get that link removed?
There is a website that OSE has identified with a spam score of 5, it back links to me with a very specific key word. How important is it to have them remove those links?
Link Building | | absoauto0 -
Removing links from rubbishy 'blog' sites
I need to remove around 800 bad links, probably about 500 domains as a very rough estimate. These were built by a previous link building company. Here some example domains: http://globalweddingblog.com
Link Building | | Coraltoes77
http://theweddinginsider.net
http://www.couturefashionissues.com
http://www.topfashionlabels.com
http://weddingworldnews.com
http://www.savingsdistrict.com
http://bestfemalesblog.com
http://mylatestfashion.com
http://lastfashion.net
http://womansonlineblog.org I have already tried emailing a hundred or so with a manual link request - with zero outcome. Hardly surprising when you consider the types of sites they are. I've had a quote for a link removal service, but I'm not sure if it's wise to pay someone to do this work - not sure what resources/tools they would have above and beyond what I can access and there could be increased risk. Any advice?0 -
Best Tool For Diagnosing A spammy Back Link Profile
Buongiorno from the river Wharfe 🙂 With Googles crusade to penalise sites with dodgy backlink profiles I'm looking for an automated tool which could flag up any dodgy links. Yes ive used Open Site Explorer but I really am after something that gives me a simple "yes theres a problem and heres where it is" type solution. Any inights welcome 🙂
Link Building | | Nightwing
Grazie tanto,
David0 -
I am getting links on people's wordpress blogs but are not showing up on the just discovered tool. Is it true that wordpress links are no-follow links that do give off any link-juice?
A blogger told me that "wordpress.com does not allow blogs to show advertisements or use links to sites that sell merchandise of any kind" is this true? Am i wasting my outreach time trying to get links from wordpress operated blogs?
Link Building | | odegi0 -
Bought links from sites with target keyword in their URL
One of my rivals in a competitive field (real estate) has done this deliberately and extensively -- it accounts for about 2/3 of his inbound links. Result: he's now #1. How strong a ranking factor is keywords in source URL - ie, how easy is it to beat with other ranking factors?
Link Building | | Jeepster0 -
LInk Building Ideas for Large Site
Hi, I have a very large sized website of about 5 Million Pages. Earlier i used to rank very well with many naturally occurred links, But now, i lost my rankings with numerous Google updates. My content is user generated content and it wont be pure original as my users will post the same on other forums too. I all of my pages rank on #1 page for their keywords. Can anyone suggest me good link building strategy for larger websites as each url will have different keyword, i want all of my urls to be ranked well. Waiting for your replies.
Link Building | | Vegitss0 -
Header and Footer Links on Home and other catelog pages of site
Hello, in our site www.mycarhelpline.com - we have just reworked on header and footer links. Have removed lost of unncessary footer links. However, the header links on extreme top right side has some links like - login, register, about us, partner with us etc. Is is that google will give importance to these links and i rather should move them to footer links of page and should move the most important anchor links on the top header. Pl suggest
Link Building | | Modi0