In October of last year, Google made some major adjustments to PageRank because of paid links, then in November, Google noted that buying or selling links that pass PageRank is in violation of Google’s Webmaster Guidelines and asked for webmasters to report them. I have heard, since this time, from a few sources, that this may not be the case consistently, but I was unable to validate these any of these.
Recently, while doing research, a friend inquired about some link behaviors that appeared to be purchased links, however with a little bit of searching he found that these links appeared to pass an ample amount of value to the site. This was not for a low volume search term:
- Search Term - “engagement rings“
- Daily Search Volume
KeywordDiscovery - 1,682
WordZe - 1,498
WordTracker - 5,432
Google Trends “engagement rings”
OK, I know what many of you might be thinking, “this is probably under the radar,” right? Not so much…
This website, along with others are clients of a SEO, design and marketing service, here, with a list of clients that utilize a site-wide block of links that are consistent on most of these websites without the “no follow” tags or any reference that they are sponsored. Many of these also engage in exchanging links to non-relevant websites. This also led to finding another grouping of a link exchange network, that state “PageRank boosts benefit both sides and is a win-win situation for all.”
Back to the action…
Doing a quick analysis of the website in question, www.mysolitaire.com, also gives insight into other concerns with the relevance of search results.
Links
Google - 309 (predominately from link exchanges and site-wide blocks)
Yahoo - 13,810 (same as Google plus lots of blog links and pages of only links)
On Page
28 instances of “engagement rings”
2 - title
3 - meta keywords
2 - meta description
3 - content (included in “h” tags at bottom of page)
10 - alt tags (many in spacer or non-ring images)
4 - text links
4 - table summary
So, what does this all mean? The question is whether Google is concerned with paid links, site-wide links that are passing PageRank, irrelevant sites linking to move websites to the top?
Is this blackhat behavior? In my opinion, this is as gray as it comes?
Is this a valid reason for reporting to Google?
Does this fit within the Google Webmaster Guidelines as a “link scheme?”
Examples of link schemes can include:
- Links intended to manipulate PageRank
- Links to web spammers or bad neighborhoods on the web
- Excessive reciprocal links or excessive link exchanging (”Link to me and I’ll link to you.”)
- Buying or selling links that pass PageRank
What are your thoughts?
Related Posts >>
Bookmark this post >>
{ 16 comments… read them below or add one }
Craig 06.16.08 at 11:03 am
It definitely looks like they’re using (abusing) links in order to gain PR and rankings.
Did you notice that most of the sites in question are hosted on the same server? Something fishy is going on there!
pittfall 06.16.08 at 1:42 pm
@Craig: Thanks, something that I didn’t look into further, but it highlights the depth of these tactics.
spostareduro 06.17.08 at 1:17 am
when i first began blogging, i used to add “blah blah” to my img tags even when they weren’t “blah blah” related. thats because i was totally new and thought that they could be used that way legitimately. duh..
did you see their sitemap?!! holy cow..all of the keywords are linked to items, plus all of the links beneath them are outlined to define each type, whether pearl, diamond, silver, band, bracelet, ring, etc..talk about repeat links? spider glory? it’s the same as using two sitemaps on one page for heaven sakes.
i would have to say that if one technique is being used to manipulate PR, then it’s POSSIBLE they don’t know any better. But when you combine ALL of the techniques that are being used, they should be informed of their behaviors. their SEO is at fault, as they probably do not know any better. (or not..who knows if they have been willing participants in crooked behavior)
maybe someone should tell them that their SEO could have them penalized? just a thought..
Nick Wilsdon 06.17.08 at 1:53 am
It just looks to me like the SEO has created a link network with all his clients. One of the oldest ‘tricks’ in the book and more asshat than grey or black.
In Google’s eyes - yep, it would probably come under “Links intended to manipulate PageRank”. Probably more relevant though to read their notes on deceptive SEO practices, as it appears he initiated this.
http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=35291
Basically alarm bells should ring if your SEO asks you to link to his or her other clients. If I were the owners of these sites, I would remove these link-blocks pronto before someone posts about it…ah.
pittfall 06.17.08 at 3:06 am
@spostareduro: I have to say that I didn’t spend as much time on the site in question, rather, I was looking at how deep it went across other domains and sites.
As much as it pains me, I hate to see this kind of behavior from those who are promoting themselves as adding value to their clients. I think that more than anything, it uncovers a pattern of behavior that is trying to manipulate SERPs, maybe not PageRank.
Thanks for the comment.
pittfall 06.17.08 at 3:10 am
@Nick Wilsdon: Nick, thanks for the comment.
I think that many website owners are seeing the end results of the engagement… traffic and not asking questions. I think that, for this reason, website owners have a responsibility to researching the people and companies that they do business with, at the least, the tactics used.
Web tools & Tips 06.24.08 at 1:38 am
Nice informed discussion.
It adds many bells to my wisdom. But I still feel howsoever Google tries, such tactics cannot be stopped completely.
rosezar 06.26.08 at 3:30 am
there are many tricks about it but at the end, google find to solutions and develop to itself.
pittfall 06.26.08 at 8:32 am
I think that we will hear about this well into the future!
Thanks for all of your comments!
Enache 07.02.08 at 12:42 am
I don’t think there is anything wrong if you link a network of your sites together if those sites are in the same niche and interest area, even hosted on the same server.
Remember the backbone of internet is linking together resources.
pittfall 07.02.08 at 5:04 am
@Enache: Thanks for the comment.
I would tend to agree, however these are not related sites (fishing and jewelry) and they are client sites not all owned by the same person.
I am sure you have seen this as well, a design or SEO company puts a link at the bottom of their clients’ sites. Great marketing opportunity, but I feel that the owner of the design company should not receive a great deal of link value for all of these.
IMHO - this is a link farming tactic, small, but still passing link popularity value from an unrelated network of sites.
Faiz 07.10.08 at 11:35 pm
hmmm, if such links are violating Google’s webmaster guide, then they who earn money from paid review, etc will be the party who are disadvantaged. For me, it’s never mind. What harm will such links cause to Google?
pittfall 07.11.08 at 5:45 pm
@Faiz: Thanks for the comment.
The harm for Google is that they aren’t providing the “most relevant” results for the user. If people feel that the “unpaid” results are for sale, then it may give competitors like MSN and Yahoo! the opportunity to gain market share.
EH 07.30.08 at 12:02 pm
Google is getting increasingly selective about what links are actually related to your site. When building links, it is import to remember to stick with sites or blogs that have related content to your own website. If you are linked to unrelated websites, those search engines will discount your website and it will put you lower on the PageRank instead of moving you up like you want it to.
designer jewelry girl 09.29.08 at 2:50 am
I do not think Google is anyone’s enemy (except maybe YHO or MS!).
Alek 10.30.08 at 12:43 am
One step at a time Google is improving the search engine to show more relevant results but i dont underestand why they want to penalize such a grey area. And for penalizing also for links from unrelevant sites is a really bad idea and will making link bait harder.. You must now make sure that your link bait is Only interesting to your site or page niche and if it happen to be interesting for others as well you will risk losing your search engine traffic? :0