Hi I wanted to clarify whether what I am describing is a link wheel and is this black hat ?
-
There is a SEO company that is creating a page on each of their clients' sites called 'pages of interest' or 'links' they then list all their other clients websites - using a variety of their keyword phrases as anchor text as well as a brief description. But then in the footer of these sites the SEO Company are also putting a link back to their own website using a variety of keywords such as SEO, search engine optimisation,link building etc and linking to their home page. At the moment the SEO company are ranking really well for their search terms. I thought that this was really quite 'dodgy' as the only two things that link all the clients are -(1) that they are all clients of this one firm and (2) all the websites come from the same country - no theme, or related industry at all. The clients that I have spoken to were not even aware that the company had put the link back to their site in the footer which in itself is pretty sneaky
-
I agree Mat, but it's difficult to tell who is who. Client worked with a big name in the world of digital marketing. They checked references, put in place a carefully worded contract (phew!) and (thankfully) I had the knowledge to identify a well-hidden blog network, and secure link takedown. The SEO industry needs an aggressively policed quality standard, in my opinion.
-
That's like not trusting builders, or cab drivers, or in fact anyone because there are bad ones out there.
There are plenty of agencies that don't use such tactics. There are others who will use tactics from across the spectrum, but ensure that the client is able to make informed choices based on risk v reward.
-
Exactly the reason I don't use (or trust) SEO agencies. I've seen this, I've seen blog networks. You name it...
-
It's not what I would call a link wheel. However it certainly does demonstrate the intention of building a network of sorts. Sadly quite a few SEO firms (including some quite large ones) do this. What is really bad is that they don't tell the clients that they are effectively abusing their websites for them either. Really underhand tactic if you ask me. I don't think that the "white hat / black hat" thing is particularly useful. It's over simplistic and makes our industry sound childish. However these are not links that have editorial merit, so you would think/hope that they don't pass authority. It is also a clear case of trying to manipulate pagerank, which is against google quality guidelines. As such it would seem to be putting the host sites at risk. Oh... it's really damn easy to spot as well.
-
Totally agree, even if they seem to be getting results at the moment it's not sustainable and will likely do far more harm than good in the long term. Give this SEO company a wide berth!
-
Send the PM - I'm curious - I want to analyse their site. Plus what are the sites you are comparing i.e. yours and their clients....
-
Thanks for the response I really thought it was. What gets me is that they are continuing to rank highly at the expense of their own client's who really don't know the first thing about Seo.. Will pm the name
-
Dodgy and risky as hell!!! If the sites have nothing in common and link in time it will all fall apart. At this stage I think it's risky but probably getting away with it....
Go on rat on the company or at least private message me the name... I'm curious
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
-
Internal Link Building and Link Juice Quality
Hi There! I manage the website for a law office that covers many geographical locations. For very specific niche content, we would prefer to create one piece of content and link to the various geographic locations where we would handle that topic instead of posting multiple variations of the same content for each specific geographical area. If we put a button on these pages that has links to each location, will that have the same "link juice" effect to the pages we're linking that linking directly in the text would? (example: the Where can we help you? button on this page : http://www.zdfirm.com/volkswagen-recall/) Thank you!
Link Building | | ZDAdmin0 -
Self linking - loss of link juice?
There are 10 links on page that point to this page where they exist (link to the page itself). Does it influence on ranking? And what's happening to link juice? How does it spread? Is there any loss of it?
Link Building | | templatemonster0 -
Link Auditing
Anyone have any useful ways to link audit? I'm stuck picking up the slack from a previous worker who decided buying links was a great idea for our clients.
Link Building | | CGR-Creative0 -
Outsourced Link Building
Hello, I'm pretty sure everyone will just tell me to do the link building myself, but the truth is I don't have time. I've looked at link building firms in the past (and even used one), and they were all pretty dodgy. What should I look for in a quality link builder? What costs do you think are reasonable for a quality link? Is there anything you wish you'd known before going down a similar path? Thanks in advance for any help!
Link Building | | OTSEO0 -
Link Ratio
Hello, When Building backlinks is there a specific ratio I should try to follow to avoid any issues with google? Thank you!
Link Building | | TP_Marketing0 -
Does the ratio of external nofollow links to external "do follow" links matter in terms of SERPs ranking?
My site has an external link nofollow:dofollow ratio of approximately 1:1 That is, there are about as many nofollow external links as "do follow" external links. I have an impression that the ratio of no-follow to "do follow" links is a factor in the way that our website shows up in SERPs. I have the impression from reading a variety of sources, and from looking at Seomoz, that calculate "trust" factors as if they mattered (in SERPs), that seem to value a relatively low nofollow:dofollow ratio. Am I correct about that? Thanks,
Link Building | | tcolling
Tim PS - I don't know whether or not this matters, but our website is at: www.trustworthycare.com - Tim0 -
No more Juicy Link Finder!
hi all, I really loved using the juicy link finder for my link building activity, but I've just noticed it is now no longet available redirecting me to the tools page when clicking on: www.seomoz.org/link-finder Can anyone recommend a tool i can use that offers exactly the same information or alternative tools out there? Essentially I just need to understand what/which websites to target based on entering a keyword Thanks! Simon
Link Building | | simonsw0 -
Many competitor's backlinks are in content anchor links. Ho do I get these same links?
Hi I managed to open up OSE. I'm finding that much of the competition's backlinks are in content anchor text links. Am I supposed to get backlinks from these same pages using the same anchor text but linking back to my page or is that allowed? If so, how do I get these in content blog post links? Thanks. Sunil.
Link Building | | sunilmuse0