I've recently been researching to find if I should use the Kontera Advertising service for my website http://www.everythinghosting.org It seems to Add advertisements on key words on your articles. However, I was reading that Google really dislikes these external links and will penalise your website in terms of search rankings. Can i ask what your opinions of this is and if anyone uses Kontera?
I use Kontera and rank very well for my site. I've been using them for years ago. The thing is I have been trying to compete harder. I'm curious to know if anyone could find this as a problem as well. I've never noticed any problem.
Hi everythinghosting, This is Jonathan from Kontera. Using Kontera or any other in-text advertising provider will not have any effect on your search ranking. Here's a recent study that does a throughout investigation on the issue: http://www.murraynewlands.com/2012/01/study-does-kontera-affect-your-google-search-engine-rankings/ Essentially, Google treats Kontera as it would any other kind of JavaScript based advertising, including their own AdSense platform. They don't have a problem with Kontera, and if you look at their AdSense Program Policy, Google is cool with you using other ad networks as long as they don't interfere or won't be mistaken for AdSense ads, which is not a problem with Kontera. Here's the specific passage covering it: "Competitive ads and services In order to prevent user confusion, publishers may not display Google ads or search boxes on websites that also contain other ads or services formatted to use the same layout and colours as the Google ads or search boxes on that site. Although you may sell ads directly on your site, it is your responsibility to ensure that these ads cannot be confused with Google ads."
Thanks for your reply Jonathan and that does clear up some of my concerns with regards to google rankings and Kontera. I also see that your company is also interested in this issue as it will greatly affect the number of users who use Kontera. The article also brought up some issues with site speed and google rankings and thats something I really want to look into. For me google rankings is key as I got a significant proportion of my users coming from google