Buying links is not a bad thing as long as they are relevant. Lets face it there are 4 sides to the argument.
Buying links from high traffic sites to boost rankings.
Buying links from high traffic sites to boost visitor numbers.
Buying links from high traffic sites for visibility and branding purposes.
Buying links from anywhere you can to get both the above.
The most important of these I would suggest would be number 3. Buying links to increase visitors or to just boost rankings is counterproductive. Sure you will increase your rankings and visitor numbers in the short term but eventually those visitors will likely not return. You need to improve your branding so people know who you are and want to come back.
Number 4 on the list is what is likely to get you penalised, not because you have bought a large amount of links, but more because you have bought them in known spam networks.
Clever buying of links is important for SEO. Its part of the big picture, SEO has never been just about getting visitors to your site, its about prolonging the relationship you have with visitors or clients for long term gains instead of short term wins.
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Link buying is like being a politician. You never admit the real reason for doing it. To touch on relevancy - of course relevancy should and does play a role, but even natural inbound links, come in from non-relevant sites. I might have a blog about nothing but design, yet link to a local plummer because I just used him and thought he was great.
I think the main thing to ask yourself when link buying, is would you ever naturally receive these types of links.
1. Buy links from pages that are relevant, but don't always rule out non-relevant sites. If it's not relevant, it will be ok, just won't have as big of an impact (of course other factors play into this as well - PR, # of pages, etc.).
2. Don't always use the same anchor text. I don't think any website would ever receive natural link backs with the anchor text always being the same.
3. Tell everyone that your intentions are true, and you simply hope to receive more traffic and exposure by having these links (what is SEO...?)
For example sites that list the marketplace (sites where you can buy links)..it's totally likely that the sites listed there will have discounted value.
I have the same concern about embedded link buying (as in payperpost, blogsvertise, etc) where the bloggers say they're making a "sponsored post." We know search engines evaluate the anchor text of a link as well as the text surrounding the link, so it seems likely they could weed things out by connecting the phrase "sponsored post" to the nearest links. Same for bloggers who categorize their sponsored posts as "Payperpost Posts" or something similar.
I certainly thinking buying quality links -- especially in the case of bloggers doing embedded links, as those are usually quite varied and natural looking -- is worthwhile and generally safe.
I am following a competitor very closely right now. I think they might be one of the first I have seen to really get hit with a "link buying" penalty. All the statements I have read and experiences I have encountered from spending 6 digits on links have lead me to believe its hard to get your site penalized b/c you buy links. All though this is the case, there are spammy ways for even the most authoritative sites to get hurt. Overall buying links does wonders for your site, if your smart about it.
B/c competition could maliciously hurt a site google doesnt penalize sites who buy links (generally) However, just remember that no one is safe, no matter how authoritative you think your site is.
If your interested in following this site then PM me.
I don't think Eric said not to buy links. I think his point was if you're buying them you should be buying them for the direct traffic they can bring and not purchase links for the seo benefit.
There's nothing at all wrong with buying links. If buying links was wrong then so is advertising in general. Google prefers we don't buy links. Given that I would think it logical they try to discover links they think have been purchased.
But can they really tell a natural link from a paid link? Depends on how you go about buying them. Like John said if you leave as a footprint lots of links with the exact same anchor text it probably sends off a flag. If you buy an occasional contextual link each time with different anchor text it's hard to see how they could figure it out.
People do leave footprints though when linking and search engines are able to collect a lot of data. I think Eric's main point was that since Google has stated they don't care for paid links and are likely working to discount them you never know if the links you are buying may one day be discovered as paid and discounted. So when buying links think in terms of the direct traffic from the link (which is still a good reason to buy a link) and consider any seo benefit as icing on the cake.
hey John Scott, what is your say on paying these so called companies that do thousands of directory submissions for say $50 and they submit anywhere from 50 to 100 submissions a day? i have tried them before and i guess they dont guarantee your links to be accepted but maybe out of 1000 that they submit, 50 will get listed, not bad for 50$ but my question is, is this a good idea to go with these companies that do mass directory submissions ?
hey John Scott, what is your say on paying these so called companies that do thousands of directory submissions for say $50 and they submit anywhere from 50 to 100 submissions a day? i have tried them before and i guess they dont guarantee your links to be accepted but maybe out of 1000 that they submit, 50 will get listed, not bad for 50$ but my question is, is this a good idea to go with these companies that do mass directory submissions ?
I would say that links which we buy give us link weight or they are devalued.
If we can get penalized via link buying, we could manipulate rankings of our competitors.
I would buy then 100 sitewides with the same anchor and point to my competitor.
Summary,
If links are relevant they give us some link weight or if they are irrelevant or look spammy they are devalued.
First off, this is a serious thread - I mean it this time - so please do not post off-hand statements you cannot back up.
There is a lot of FUD going around in the form of SEO's telling people not to buy links. I'd like to have a discussion not in the abstract, but based on real experience.
Speaking with another SEO via email, he stated that link buying was bad business for pretty much the same reasons that Eric Ward stated.
Now, Eric Ward has been in this business a long time, and I would find it hard if not impossible to believe that he doesn't buy links for his clients.
At the end of the article he writes:
That sounds like an excuse to me. Intent? Does anybody think that Google can divine intent?
Most practicing SEO's would agree that 90% or more of SEO is about links and the anchor text of those links. To say, "do not buy links" is tantamount to saying "do not do SEO".
I have criticized SEO several times in the past, and I stand by those criticisms. But my point is not that SEO is worthless, because it can be very profitable to have above-the-fold first page rankings for very specific keywords. When I criticize SEO it is due to an over-estimation of SEO's benefits to the exclusion of valid alternatives to SEO.
The fact is that most active and top ranking web sites are either buying link or have bought links sometime in the past. Websites simply do not rank without linkage.
The penalty that people seem to be deathly afraid of is a very rare one, reserved for those extremely dumb link buyers who over-do it.
To say do not buy links because of the possibility of a penalty is similar to saying do not leave home because of the possibility of being hit by a car. Relevant editorial link buying is and will remain a necessary part of SEO.
You don't rank high unless you have links. You dont get too many free links, unless you are having some very unique content.
So buying is a must, but need to be careful.
Dont expect the all 1000 free directories you submitted to list you and that too on pages that is not buried deep under. if you get 10 links from pages with some PR, out of this 1000 - I would say it is good.
every one buys links, or they work to get them regardless your paying for them in any way. I'd say 80 percent if not more of the largest companies buy links, I mean a lot of them, I know this my self.
Is buying links dangerous, nah just don't try to go insane with it, and you'll be fine. (thats my opinion)
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