Do the bots crawl the top of the page first - directory listing question

[800GoldLaw]

Hi all,

I've purchased a link from a good PR4 website, but they added my link to the bottom of a lengthy page. They offered to up-sell me to get to the top of the page, where I'll be 10 or 12 links down.

One of my direct competitors is at the top, so I'm happy with the directory choice (they spank me in rankings). The only reason I'm on this directory is to purely capture link juice.

So knowing all of that, my question is, should I go ahead and pay to be on the top, assuming that Google bots crawl a page from the top down? It's important to me for the bot to log this link quickly. Or is paying to be at the top pointless, because the bot will just as quickly crawl to the bottom of the page and pick up the link anyway?

Thanks!

T

[JaneCopland]

Hi Thomas,

It's highly likely that a link from a page like this is useless no matter where the link is placed, I'm afraid. Unless the directory is highly cited from other reputable sources, closely edited and genuinely listing the best in a particular business (which I would say it isn't, since it's selling link space and is very long), Google will understand not to pass authority to the sites listed. If there is any boost from having a link on a page like this, it will be temporary and may well carry much higher risks in the long term than it does short term benefits. You may spur on indexing of your URL by having it listed there, but you are also likely adding it to a bad neighbourhood. Do you trust all the other sites the page / site has linked to, most of which will also have paid to be there?

The issue is also that if you are well aware that you can pay to be listed, Google is probably aware of this too. It should be very easy to crawl for terms like "submit your site" and look for £, $, € values listed by submission request forms. I would honestly consider removing your site - your competitor likely does not beat you because of this one listing or listings like it (especially if their site has been on this page for quite some time). For context, when we do link clean-up operations for new clients who have a lot of poor links or whose sites are under penalties, we remove all links on pages like this.

I hope this helps,

Jane

[KeriMorgret]

Just want to make sure that you know Google's guidelines are against the buying of links to pass PageRank.

[CleverPhD]

It used to be that Google would only crawl only so much of a page or only the first 100 links, generally speaking, I do not think this is an issue.  Your link will most likely get found at the bottom.   Here is a reference to articles and videos on this.  http://www.seroundtable.com/google-100-links-17727.html   If you want, you can go down the rabbit hole of if this is a site wide link or note (pros and cons) and if this link is less valuable as it is in the footer or header or sidebar vs the middle content of the page..

The reality in today's SEO world is that buying links is a short term gain and a long term loss.  It is against Google quality guidelines as well.  I am waiting for EGOL to pounce on this one, but your money would be better spent generating quality content to generate links that are earned on the merit of your site.

Cheers!