Googles stance on Back Links via a Badge/Form
-
Hey guys,
Does anyone know what Google's stance is on backlinks that come via a form, WordPress theme or badge. For example if I offer website security and provide badges for websites that are malware clean (with a back link to my website) and 100 websites sign up to my website will this be deemed as bad practice in Google's eyes?
Also if I create a free WordPress theme with a backlink to myself?
The second question sounds like I'm providing content for a link which seems okay but the first one can go either way.
Thanks
-
Thanks Travis!
-
Thanks Wiqas!
-
Hello,
This is more than tricky. I have witnessed websites that are ranking high doing the same practices (Most of Internet Marketing Companies, Web Design Companies, Themes, Plugins etc) but such link schemes have costed thousands and thousands of websites.
Here is example of one big brand victimized recently by such link schemes
There are hundreds of such examples. So if you like to move this way
- Use Non Money Anchor (May be Brand Name)
- Make sure to turn link into "Nofollow"
I strongly agree with Travis! Nice advice in deed!
I hope that this will help!
-
These would likely be deemed a link scheme unless the links are nofollow. We can bring up a number of examples where sites appear to get away with these tactics, but followed widgets and footer links are definitely high risk. If you genuinely want exposure for your site, nofollow the links and make sure they don't contain 'money terms'. (e.g. Free Malware Scan)
Both of these tactics have been done to death. A lot of sites have been penalized due to dofollow links in themes, widgets, plugins and badges. If you still want to do this, I would strongly suggest using a nofollow attribute on the link.
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
-
We are moving to HTTPS and wanted to know if our link building efforts were in vain or will the link juice pass to HTTPS?
We are switching to HTTPS and want to make sure the links we've gotten in the past will still transfer since they are pointing to HTTP? I'd hate to go back through and ask people to please add an s to the link.
Link Building | | bryant25560 -
Does google flag bad back links
where would we go identify the links that are bad is there a way to get a list of each individual link not just the site and number from the site
Link Building | | CostumeD0 -
What is the importance of root domains linking to your website in Google's rankings? I notice our competition has a much higher number on keywords I'm analyzing. Thank you!
I've noticed our competition has a much higher number of "root domains" linking to their page than we do. Is this simply a result of more websites linking to them? How long does it normally take to build up these numbers/rankings? (I'm assuming it's a concerted effort, which I'll be researching.) Thank you!
Link Building | | mjfinet0 -
Do links from between common sites you run count as "bad" links?
Hi everyone,
Link Building | | AMA-DataSet
Iv recently been asked to review a group of sites. There are 3 sites, each of these sites has a link to the other two sites within the footer or the navigation.
These site are about a similar topic each provides a different perceptive or aims at a specific section of the industry so its not like the links are to irreverent sites. However because the links are in a global section they are repeated thousands of times on each site and count for a large proportion of the link profile to each site, I don't think this is good practise and I want to remove them or at least add a no-follow but my client insists they are relevant to each other and doesn't not want the links removing. What would be best in this situation? remove them? no-follow them? or leave them? Thank you in advance,
Liam0 -
What can i do about link threaths like these? What does Google do abt these?
I asked for links removal and it turned into a threat now see below. Can i do anything abt these? Can google protect us from these? Where can i let google know - my site is already penalized and only showing up for my brand in google 😞 I have deleted the email threads from here - contact me if you want me to send those so you can see them
Link Building | | CMTM0 -
Should you always link back?
I am asking this for two reasons: Courtesy: Is it common courtesy to reciprocate with a link back if somebody has linked to your site? SEO: Does linking back affect your rankings at all? A blog has linked to one of my clients' sites as part of a round-up of "top 100 best" within their industry. They have also sent us an email suggesting that we add a link from our site saying that we've been listed. Of course, I understand that it is in my clients' interest for us to advertise on their site that they've been listed in a Top 100 list... However, it got me thinking (as more of a general question) - does reciprocating a link ever affect it's value at all? ie. Is two-way linking ever considered part of a link exchange in the eyes of Google, and does it penalize you at all for that?
Link Building | | WiredCanvas0 -
Analyzing cometitiors back links
Hello, I have been working on getting links to my site www.healthyjava.com by offering bloggers free products to hand out in drawings and contest. We have had some small success with that but when I was analyzing one of my competitors I found that there strongest link is www.promotemydomain.com. It looks like some sort of free link index, and has NOTHING to do with our relevant product. Yet he out ranks me by a LOT. What gives here? I was under the impression that google does not value free link indexes much. Should I pursue getting in that index too? Or will he someday get penalized by being in there? On the flip side, what if a competitor places MY link in there.. Could I get penalized even though I didn't do it? Thank you, Jacob Bushnell
Link Building | | JacobBushnell0 -
Link Location: In main page or inner "Link" page?
My question is what´s best of Link Building: have it in main page or in internal Link Pages. I have the problem that have to reduce the number of outgoing links in my mainpage to rank better, but do not want to miss any linkjuice. How Linking in Main Page or Internal Pages affects SERP for your website? And should they be Follow or not Follow? Thanks in advance Maria Jesus
Link Building | | goperformancelabs0