So I stumbled across this little bit over at SEO Space: http://seo-space.blogspot.com/2008/08/matt-cutts-on-big-sites-and-black-hats.html Now, in regards to brands who use black/gray SEO tactics, but don't seem to get penalized for it, I ran across a competitor in my industry that is ranking for one of most competitive search terms using a free hit counter. They went from the sandbox to page 1 in less than a month. I know Matt has said in the past that off-topic and hidden backlinks from free tools are being devalued, and I checked out their backlinks only to find that a majority of them are from their free counter. Basically, I'm wondering why I should continue to use ethical SEO strategies when I could use an old-school counter to get the results in a few weeks that could take me a few months. Here's some examples: http://www.dissident-media.org/stop_nogent/acceuil.html http://toiletepiphany.blogspot.com/2007/08/another-lazy-day.html http://www.atin.org/default.asp?cmd=articledetail&articleid=241 Here's the sites they're promoting http://www.port-lawrence.com/ (real estate) http://www.younevercall.com/ (phones) http://www.actionlens.com/ (contacts) I mean, if tactics like this still work (even though I thought they were dying out, apparently they're alive and well), what's the point of being white hat? If fly-by-nighters can waltz in and get results in a matter of weeks, I just don't see the point anymore. /rant
Until now I haven't seen this type of links being devalued much, if at all. Most websites who apply this or similar techniques are on the top pages. But I don't see this as a blackhat method at all? What's blackhat with doing this? You give your client a free tool and in return he gives you a backlink. I look at it as smart marketing.
Well most of those free themes got this kind of back links. I never thought its a black hat and I don't think so too. you just get tons of non ralated backlinks same like when you submit to web directories.
Last year, I have view a site ranking no 1 in google with simple black seo. At the end of the homepage, there is a large white text with white background. The keyword is a bit competitive.
Oh, don't get me wrong, I believe it to be only grey hat (a little bit shady, not necessarily black), but I'm just wondering about how ethical it is as this idea has popped into my head more than a few times. As for non-related backlinks: I do, however, believe that the backlinks that you would get via a free counter, related or not, are valued far more than the backlinks you would receive from a directory given the fact that these free counters are normally placed on the homepages of the participants site. And I would say more often than not that the person using the free counter has no idea they're promoting another site. If this isn't necessarily in the black, and it's acceptable, I have some thinking to do.
That method of promoting a site is often referred to as link baiting google will not penalize a site for doing this.
Well sure, free hit counters have been link bait for years, my gripe is that although G never said they would penalize link/widget bait, they did state that they would devalue it if the links were hidden and off-topic. Apparently this is not the case. Like I said, this site was in the sandbox not more than 4 weeks ago, then it shot up to the first page with a high ranking. It's just odd. I mean, to be honest with you, if free hit counters can pull that much juice, I might as well create a quick churn-n-burn site for some fast cash.