Paid Links on Credible Sites

[kevinliao]

Hi people.

I'm wondering, what would be the effects of having a paid link on a credible site. The site would feature a brand page about my site and link to it. The site has a good domain authority and they are credible with quality content. Ultimately though the link would be paid. Would Google treat this negatively? Or would they pick up on it at all?

Thanks,

Paul

[kevinliao]

Thank you for the really good answer. This is very useful.

[ThompsonPaul]

Essentially, you are buying an ad for your site. If it makes sense to buy that "ad" in order to drive qualified traffic to your site, then it's perfectly fine and worthwhile. (And you should add tracking parameters to the links so you can track the actual value in Google Analytics of the visitors the "ad" is driving to your site to decide if you're getting your money's worth.)

But! If you do buy such an "ad", you MUST require the site selling it to you to include the rel=nofollow attribute on all the links that point to your site. This is the clear requirement from Google to keep you from being penalised for manipulative linking practices. (i.e. There is a commercial relationship between the two sites so the link MUST be no-followed). And yes, Google will pick up on it.

Hope that helps?

Paul