Is it good to accept paid text links?

Hi,

A) Lately I'm receiving a lot of offers for paid-for text links, usually casino related.
I don't do it often as I think it looks tacky and affects site integrity, but I'm also concerned about how it affects the SEO for MY site. Are there some rules of good practices for this?

B) Would anyone know what a good amount to charge for a text link is? Usually within a post, or sometimes on site-wide footer.

Thanks!

 

Is your website in the casino niche? You only want links from and to websites similar to yours

 

It doesnt matter what site you have, if you start increasing the number of links away frm your site then it will work against you.

Google clearly states it does not allow "paid links" into its algo. If you or the people you take money off, have proof against them for link sales then you will be considered a bad neighbourhood site and negatively impact your SEO.

 

You can have all the links you want as long as they are nofollow.

 

hi, for my first post and comment in this forum, let me tell You that you wouldnt have any problem with Google if you link sites related to your blogs topic. Sometimes you need to link other sites and thats that merely a review or paid link..how would Google detect it?

 

Thanks for the feedback.

My site is sports related, not casino related. We try to make links look natural most of the time. I assume this helps? Sometimes it's just a straight link though, eg: Sports Betting

I have heard that, but if it is nofollow, then the people paying for the links won't be pleased because it won't help their SEO, correct?

Does anyone have any tips of if the money would make it worth the risk?

 

The small amount you would get is never ever worth the risk! It takes months and months to get your site unburried once it has had a penalty.

 

If they won't accept nofollow advertising then send them packing. They just want to violate Google's paid link policy and bring you down with them.

 

Paid link is good on earning money but it is bad if the link from your site is pointing to non-related or bad site.

 

You simply use nofollow for paid links other wise your website will be down on search engine.

 

Does nofollow mean that they are getting nothing out of the link though, other than clicks? ie: it's pointless for their goals?

Is there any way to find out if I have already been penalised, other than searching for site name on google?

Thanks

 

The thing with no follow links, it is accepted that no follow links are considered natural and all sites should have some. If someone is happy to buy a no follow link they are appreciating that they need some natural links.

You can clearly sell no follow links providing they are labelled as advertising clearly on your site. That might be a good way to do them. There is no considered "strength" to your link if it is no follow but it can possibly help the rankings for a natural site

 

These guys are paying for their links to work though, so I don't think they would accept nofollow. I can ask though.

The other thing is that they don't want the links marked as sponsored, advertising, etc. So they obviously want them to look natural.

I think I need to read more about nofollow links..

 

Build only natural links, eventually paid links WILL work against you. It`s just a matter of time. Perhaps at start you will get a good ranking and all, but after a while .... Google sees it all.

 

We don't recommend it, usually the price received for the outgoing link does not make up for the damage you're potentially causing.

 

And is there a way to make sure that the outgoing, paid link is seen by Google as natural? Is that were the nofollow comes into it? So everything without nofollow will be considered bad?

 

People here don´t see the real problem. People think google algo is god and can detect everything. Most people who think that are those who did place crapy porn and casino links on their site to earn some money. If you do so too then you have the problem of bad neighborhood. It´s not about placing some links.. it´s about the amount of links you place and if you do link to crap websites.

Don´t worry mate... if you get some serious offers.. place their links and earn some money. Check their webprojects out if they are a linkspamfarm, if they have bad gramma on their site, if they have horrible spun content... if their website is in good quality and so on... If so then forget them and don´t place a link.

But if they have a good website then just place a text link in your blogroll for 12 month and take money from them.

I have 10 backlinks on one of my blogs and the blog gets still good traffic and has a not so important but anyway high PR. But I do not link to crap websites.

Google is not god. They simply can´t know if you earn money with backlinking. Sorry to say this guys.. but you need to check out the webprojects you are linking to. Thats all.

 

That sounds like logical advice, thanks. I suppose I will continue to experiment and be careful with the kind of links I accept deals on.

 

Links from same niche are not a big issue but if you have links from site other than your niche then it matters a lot. People pays you a price so that they can have a healthy link from your site which benefits them a lot in terms of rankings & trust in google search.

 

Here is a deal. Paid links can be a very nice source of income. However they also might be a big source of headache.

Please keep in mind it is against Google policies to publish paid backlinks that do not have correct "rel" property. All paid backlinks must have "rel" set to "nofollow".

Here is what I do in order to still generate revenue from paid links and not get banned from Google.
1. Be very careful with text link requests. Try to get the idea who is the person and what they want. I try to avoid dealing with link brokers as they tend to create lists of websites and send them to lots of people. It is easy to get banned in this way. I prefer to deal with the website owners. It also helps to establish long lasting relationship where you can exchange useful info/experience in your niche.
2. NEVER publish dofollow links site wide. It will get you banned right away.
3. Integrate text link into the content of the page so it looks organic. Try to avoid using text links separate from the content.
4. Consider writing a blog post with the text link you are trying to promote and featuring it on the section page or home page permanently. This way it will work the best for the advertiser and you.

Keep in mind that even if you follow the rules above your website might get banned as selling text links for passing Google PR is against their policies. However, the four steps above will drastically reduce risk to be banned by Google.

I hope this mini guide will be useful to Digital Point community.