A 2014 perspective on using Awards/Badges for backlinks?
-
Hi all,
Just wanted to get a modern-day perspective on this tactic as a method of obtaining back links. We've recently (legitimately) polled our customer base both on social media and through our email database (40,000+ people) to rank a bunch of different locations / attractions and put together Top 10 lists based on the results. I was intending to put together "awards" badges and provide them to the operators who won along with a back link from the badge to the main article page with the finalists.
I thought I'd ask here though to see what public opinion is on this as a link building tactic in 2014 as all the resources I could find were a couple of years old. Bear in mind we aren't paying them anything at all, but it is still an obvious attempt to both give them their recognition as well as add to our link profile.
Do you think in this day and age that this kind of action would invoke any Google penalties? And if not, is there any indication why they wouldn't pass as much juice as regular text links?
Thanks for any and all feedback.
-
The prevailing view, in my opinion, is that no one should do anything for the sole purpose of getting links. Google is increasingly getting smarter and seeing through tactics such as widgets and awards banners.
First, review Google's rules on link schemes. Second, see that Google recommends that webmasters add rel=nofollow attributes to links within widgets that other websites use. (I'd also include award graphics and banners.) Third, see this Moz post on "Widgetbait Gone Wild."
What I would say is that you should give awards first to reward other quality websites and promote awareness of your website. Don't do it directly to get links. Make the links within the badgets nofollow. If you promote and PR your contest and awards in the right way, you'll get a lot of referral traffic from the links along with possible mentions of you by other websites and bloggers who will give you (dofollow!) links naturally by themselves when they write about you.
This is earning links the right way -- not building them. It is more difficult and takes more time -- but it's much more worthwhile in the end. Don't do some BS awards to get links. Make it a real, noteworthy award that is worthy of getting coverage by others. Be newsworthy -- see a Moz post of mine on using PR to earn links. Good luck!
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
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
-
Are there any benefits to using Google+ for business if it has no followers and no user engagement?
My G+ for business currently has 55 followers and no engagement - apart from me liking the posts from my personal G+ Apart from the benefits of having content indexed faster, is there any other benefits for me in this situation, from an SEO perspective? I would like to grow the followers and engagement but not sure how as my social marketing skills are not as strong as my technical seo.
Branding | | AjazMozPro2 -
Rebranding/Url Structure Change
Hi Everyone, First off thanks for taking the time to looking at my question. I was wondering about rebranding and URL structure changes. Right now my company is planning on changing their domain and doing a massive change to their site which includes a url structure change. The idea is in September they will be changing the site to be a combination of wordpress and ruby on rails (currently the site is ruby on rails). The homepage and design on the site will be completely different and parts of the site will be in php and other parts will be in ruby. The URL structure will also be changing completely at the same time. Each page will be completely different in structure, including the homepage (currently now it redirects you to a subfolder page that is your local page [i.e. nyc if you are in new york]). Then, the following month, they will be changing their domain name to a different domain. I have asked them to do this in stages. First the domain, second the rebrand, and third the URL restructuring or we could lose SEO traffic but they asked a freelancer his opinion and the freelancer said that you could do the rebrand change with the URL restructure and then domain later and while you're SEO may disappear, it'll definitely return in 3 to 4 months. Could you tell me who is right and what the correct method is to make this change?
Branding | | MattJD0 -
Effects of a long-term holding page/503 http code whilst site is being rebranded?
We have a client who is adamant that during the rebranding of their company and website, a holding page is put in place from August 5<sup>th</sup> till go-live date on August 21<sup>st</sup>. They don’t look like budging on the matter, therefore we are looking to set up a 503 HTTP code on the holding page to tell Google the site is down for maintenance and redirect all pages back to the holding page. The general consensus is that implementing this for such a long period of time will see Google de-index all pages and the site will lose masses of traffic as a result for a substantial time afterwards. It would be great to get some insight on best practice for this situation, how Google will determine the situation and the consequences of such actions. If you have any case studies of similar situations or have firm knowledge of how this scenario would affect the site, I would be delighted to hear from you!
Branding | | AndrewAkesson0 -
Protecting Your Domain/Brand
Hi All, We've registered our domain with register.com they will not all us to buy .ca unless we reside in canada, same fro uk. Has anyone run into this problem? I wouldnt want someone to snatch it up and use it to their advantage.
Branding | | TP_Marketing0 -
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 -
What is best way of using facebook share
I recently launched a scrollable web comic at www.shoutout.co.in. In space of 2 days after launch, i got more than 100 likes. While this is great number, i am not sure if this is best usage of options provided by facebook. Which option is best share/like/share-with-comment option? Currently i only have "like" implementation. Is this giving less probability of visibility to friends than "share-with-comment" option? stats and numbers from your experience/campaigns will help.
Branding | | ShoutOut0 -
Google Displays Domain / URL Above Description?
I am seeing a new SERP format from Google. (new for me at least) In the past the title tag would display as the first line of a listing, followed by description and domain / URL. Today I see the domain / URL as the second line. This is placing an emphasis on "Who". If you have a big brand or a great URL this might be helpful to your CTR. Are you seeing this? What do you think of it?
Branding | | EGOL0