Backlink Badges - Good or Bad
-
One of my free tools for creating web pages automatically inserts a back-link to my home page as a footer, or 'badge' from the free web pages it creates. Hence there are tens of thousands of low quality sites out there linking back to my home page. While this was great ten years ago, Google looks on things differently these days. So the question is, will Google penalize me for this? Does the negative outweigh the positive - should I remove the insertion of back-link badges from the product?
Thanks,
Peter
-
This is what I'd do:
- Use the brand name in the anchor text
- Allow people to remove them (or, to be extra safe, turn it off by default and prompt people to turn it on)
- Keep the links followed.
You could definitely debate the last point, but as long as you're not paying people for the link itself or trying to manipulate Google's algorithm it shouldn't be a big deal. If you're extremely risk averse, go ahead and add nofollow to the links.
-
Thanks for the helpful responses!
Peter
-
First what you need to control is anchor texts. If the tool you use uses one commercial keyword as anchor text for all sites it is a big problem for your link profile potentially. For a start check your backlink profile and see the anchors (use MajesticSEO or Ahrefs for this). For natural profile most used anchors will be brand names, url as anchor or domain name as anchor.
-
Hi Peter,
It is widely known now that any kind of compensation given for a link is against Google TOS (that includes affiliate links, "powered by" links, PRs, sponsored posts, etc). All of them should be not followed, in that way, you still get the people that may want the services you offer without affecting Google rankings.
There are some rel alternatives that could help Google recognize those links and not count them towards your rankings (or counting them differently). Take the case of Wordpress, most of their hosted blogs have a "powered by" link, but they use rel="generator" which helps Google distinguish between spam and "powered by" links.
Anyway, there are 2 sides of the coin here. Google said that affiliate links should be nofollow, but I still see sites that have hundreds of thousands of links (over 95% of their link profile) from affiliates, which are followed and not blocked by anything and the site ranks 1st.
I would recommend to nofollow those links, but that is my approach. I even created a javascript method to insert our affiliate links (including the nofollow tag), still, we are ranked 10th on the same query that the site I mentioned above ranks 1st.
Hope this answer helps you at least decide what is your approach and what to do...
-
I really can't wait to hear people opinions on this. If it works without a penalty, I will try it.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Is GSC data (branded clicks + impressions) a good indicator for how well your PR activity has performed for the year?
We are reviewing our creative / PR agency and are intending to use our GSC data as a way to assess their performance...
Branding | | Jacksons_Fencing0 -
Dealing with a former associate's bad behavior
A former associate (law firm) has gotten into hot water since leaving the firm. The problem is that he has numerous profiles across the web that are still associated with the firm's address and website. A search for his name in Google often leads directly to the law firm or their profiles. Is there anything that can be done to dis-associate the firm from this person? Thanks
Branding | | ericbarbier0 -
Scribd embed links - bad idea?
My client's site in question has a TON of outstanding, constantly updated, highly detailed articles. The site owner also has a branded collection of nearly all of them on Scribd. I guess I can live with that because dupe content isn't an issue and the pdfs there link back to the site and another domain of ours. Plus it gets a lot of eyeballs on our newish brand and content, and we can run reports on users. BUT, we have Scribd social share buttons on each article on our site that (among other things) allows a user to grab a direct link to the content on Scribd or an embed link for their blog or whatever. So, two questions really - Foremost, shouldn't we get rid of that embed option on our page? I mean, isn't is stealing from our backlink potential? I can't imagine juice would somehow pass back to us through a Scribd-located doc or embed but I haven't found info affirming or contradicting that. And secondly, isn't a Scribd collection a bit analogous to posting videos on YouTube and hoping your page will ultimately benefit from it via clickthroughs, etc? At this year's MozCon I heard a strong argument against that. Thanks -
Branding | | Jen_Floyd0 -
Is it a good idea to participate in review / giveaway bloggers
Hi, I sell Gift Baskets for children and the best customers are Moms. Is it a good idea to participate in review / giveaway mom bloggers? The way it works I give the blogger a product to review. They write their true experience with the Gift Basket and they link to my site Then we do a few product giveaway to moms / (bloggers subscriber) once a month. Then moms will review the winning products. To participate in drawing moms will visit my site, follow my tweeter. Like or dislike me on Facebook……. For each action they do they will get one extra chance on drawing. In here I will get few links to different page of the site. Are these links are good links? I am not paying cash to buy the link. But I give them product to review and they get to keep it. Simply Sassy Media at http://simplysassymedia.com/ is a good example. they manage and connect me to a lot of the blogger sites.
Branding | | giftbasket4kids0 -
Social Bookmarking services any good?
Do you guys use any social bookmarking services to help promote your website? Any of them worth using?
Branding | | TinaGammon0 -
Anyone Know of Good Reputation Management Software?
Does anyone know of a Really Good Reputation Management Software or service? Something that will allow me to post reviews and monitor reviews in real time?
Branding | | kpeacy0 -
Examples of good badges
I'm after any good examples of badges people have used to give to their community. If anyone wants to share examples that would be really helpful. Thanks.
Branding | | ASOS1 -
Hello peers, can anyone recommend a good software system for generating external links? Any help would be appreciated.
We are looking for a good online software system that can help increase our number of external links.
Branding | | balboafinance0