Client Selling Links On One Site Hurt Their Other Site?

[94501]

Hi,

I have a client who is thinking about selling ads on one site they own via something like textlinkads.com. Do you think they run any risk of exposing their other sites to scrutiny, penalties  or problems?

[RyanKent]

Well there are two ways you can sell a link, using white hat methods or black hat.

White hat: the links have the nofollow tag applied and are clearly indicated on the site as paid links or advertisements.

If your client chooses to use white hat methods to sell links on their site, then that is not a concern at all.

I am guessing the above information isn't of interest, and what you really want to know is more about the black hat method. It's simple. If you client breaks the rules and gets caught, then yes there is a significant risk of all the bad things your client fears happening.

Search engines have tremendous resources at their disposal. It's their job to grab information from many sources and relate them together. It is likely they could relate your client and his many sites together.

[94501]

Hi Ryan,

Thanks for the message. What I mean is my client has a bunch of sites. They want to take some smaller sites of theirs and sell links for SEO purposes. They don't care that much what happens to their smaller sites. Their main concern is could it cause a problem for their main site? Thanks...

[RyanKent]

There is nothing wrong with selling ads on a site. Selling ads on site A should never cause any issues for site B. It is a perfectly legitimate activity.

If the two sites have links to each other, use the same GA account, etc. and you violate the rules, then there is a cause for concern.