Google always says that you can not be penalized for someone linking to you, so I think the coop network should be ok with regards to that. The reason I am concerned is that if G can tell that you belong to the coop they could lower rankings for trying to create "artificial links". This would differ from other incoming links bc we have to have the coop network files on our server, something that only we can do. I see no reason why G wouldn't penalize us for it. I am not saying that I am quiting the network, I love it so far...just looking ahead, any thoughts?
Penalizing the network is the same as penalizing advertising. No one can guarantee that Google won't penalize it, but it would pretty damn stupid if they did.
Don't know about anyone else, but I changed the name of the files just to prevent such snooping by anyone...
The only way to tell will be to look at yous stats and see if the traffic is dropping for your keywords. I supposed the ones used in the network will be most affected.
I think if people start getting penalized (and it can be verified) there won't be much of a network to talk about. I'm not worried about it though...but then again that's just me
im not saying i have any reason to believe the network had any negative effects, but I thought it is something that we should all keep an eye on. if one decides to rename the files, is there a lot of code to change? or i guess you can just do a "replace all" w/ a text editor, which would be very easy.
I doubt there would be a penalty, but maybe links will only be listed as a backlink if it's still there when google revisits. I think it would be a good idea (for both ad value and serps) if, instead of new links appearing with every reload, the network could be set up to show the same links on the same pages consistanty. Then google could revisit and find the same links, and visitors could come back to your site and find the same ads in case they decided they wanted to visit one. There would need to be some flux I imagine, as advertisers lose/gain wieght, but it seems like this could be done. Every page on a site could have different ads, but individual pages would show the same ads with each visit. I trade content for links, and the links on my content used to be dynamic and the anchor text changed often. My serps did much better (both improved and stabilized) after I redesigned my system so that each individual page showed the same links and anchor text every time the page was viewed.
i agree, i think it would benefit both the user linking out and the site receiving the link. i am not sure we are obtaining the full weight of the incoming link since they switch all the time.
If G decides to penalize sites....I'm guessing there could be an updated version of the COOP that would prevent this from happening....
lets hope so...lets also hope G has bigger fish to fry and never even thinks about the network. I added a lot of incoming links to my site with the addition of the coop network. however I added a lot of weight very fast so G noticed that I added a lot of links very fast and I dont think they are getting the full value. i have heard it will take 3-6 months for me to obtain the full value of the links in G's eyes. any input?
That's likely to be a good timeframe estimate indeed. With steady weight, my SERPs keep improving (coop links only) and have done so for 7 weeks now and still 20 off #1. 3 Months and they should be fully taken up I guess.
i wonder if G will wait to give full value to my home page only or site wide. i have most of the links going to my home page obviously, so maybe the small amount of links going to other specific pages will obtain full value quicker?
Damn, I'm sick of this threads 'oh, what if Google bans the coop?' or 'ohh, will google penalize my site, I have a spammy site linking to me...' If you are so damn afraid why don't you just leave the coop? I'm in the coop, i'm #1 at one keyword and going up on another, i'm getting a higher CTR due to that in Adsense and guess what... YES, GOOGLE DIDN'T BAN ME OR SEND THE FBI AFTER ME SO GET A GRIP PEOPLE!
If you think about what we are doing and how you we are doing it, what's so dishonest about it... You join You weigh in through the "Google API key". You are assigned EARNED weight to now advertise for your better cause. All sites and advertisements are subject to review by humans. Based on these principles I believe there are other things we could be worrying about There are many networks similar to this that have be running for some time. If anyone thinks that G doesn't have full knowledge of this, and other networks like this, yur nuts . We will always benefit in some way as long as we keep it clean. If flags go up I'm sure a solution will made available soon enough. I think everyone should sit down, eat a big bowl of speghetti for dinner, with a glass of wine and 'figet abod it'
i dont think that it is so much that any of us are horribly worried about it, but it is worth discussing. which is after all what you do in an online forum, you discuss! it may be you that needs to get a grip, i didn't see anyone talking about getting banned. i think you might need to calm down, hit the caps lock button, and get laid my friend.
I'm going to look into the coop network shortly - but a question that comes to mind is if it's a possibility, youo would want to weight the pro's and con's... Is it worth the chance?