Link Building with Widdgets and Tools

[MotoringSEO]

Hi,

We run a affiliate program and as part of that program we offer free tools that our affiliates can take in order to help them promote our product. We have also used these tools as a link building method as we provide highly useful information.

We have seen on Google Link Schemes page (http://support.google.com/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=66356) the following part which we believe has only just been added:

Links embedded in widgets that are distributed across various sites, for example:

Visitors to this page: 1,472
car insurance

Our tool basically consists of a link of JavaScript with a link outside of the tool as per the following example:

this super widget was provided by <a>mydomain.com</a>

We are now concerned that a link building process that we have used for many years is now considered to be gaming Google.

We also do something similar with badges that we give out to approved suppliers. These would look something like the following:

http://mydomain.co.uk/

Any recommendations on whether or not the style we are using would now be considered as wrong to Google, even though they add value to our partners sites.

Thanks for any help in advance.

[MotoringSEO]

Thanks for the help Simon. The other post has a lot of helpful information.

Cheers!

[SEOAndy]

There was a good discussion on this very topic a week or so ago. You can find it here:

http://www.seomoz.org/q/is-widgetbait-no-longer-valid-at-all-according-to-the-new-quality-guidelines