Pay for Post may be a new idea in the blogosphere but essentially they are paid for links, which is an old SEO technique where a website pays another to put a text link to their site for two purposes:
1. Visitors will click to the (advertiser’s) website
2. Search engine spiders will follow the link and pass value for the link text and the link
In the golden age of SEO, this would be a great think to get if you wanted quick organic listings in Google. Because of the underlying value, website owners would request more and more money for links from higher value (pagerank) sites.
Was this a good practice?
Hindsight 20/20, no. However, it did not get you banned from the search engine index, so, most thought “no harm, no foul.” Since then, Yahoo and MSN stopped using the Google index for search, MSN stopped using the Yahoo index for search, Ask.com retired Jeeves and became a player in the search engine market and every single engine (these four) have their own pay per click advertising platforms.
The Conspiracy of Google, MSN, Yahoo and Ask
It is because of this, that many speculators have built a conspiracy theory around the fact that search engines want to devalue these links that were purchased because they were not purchased through the engines. I will have to break that theory wide open: Even if I purchase links from an engine as a marketing source, I get no additional value than that of the visitor.
The intent of the engines is to value and rank websites for specific queries based upon non-disclosed guidelines. These are content, popularity and age. Yes, links do make up the majority of the popularity rank, but it is only a part of the algorithm and the results. The search engines want to provide their users with the best possible experience and websites that artificially rank for a search term diminish this experience because they are their fraudulently.
Google has recently posted on Webmaster Central about this specific topic.
Some consider that “Good SEO is no SEO.”
So if search engine optimization is about ranking better in search engine results, then how can your focus be on ranking better without doing anything to rank better? It doesn’t make sense.
I will put it to you like this, Good SEO is about the User. I have posted about that on World Usability Day.
Back to Pay for Post
Pay for post has a new portal called ReviewMe – an online marketplace for blog reviews. Basically, bloggers write reviews and get paid by advertisers.
Simple, right! Not quite. The search engines are working diligently to devalue paid links, because they are not earned, and should have less value than a link that is from a relationship. SEOs are concerned because they do not want to waste the value and reputation that they have built for a pay out. I would agree. White hats like myself have been concerned for other site owners that do not understand that they may not be banned from the search engine index to have their website damaged.
How bad can it be it’s just a blog post?
“The Federal Trade Commission yesterday said that companies engaging in word-of-mouth marketing, in which people are compensated to promote products to their peers, must disclose those relationships.
Word-of-mouth marketing can take any form of peer-to-peer communication, such as a post on a Web blog, a MySpace.com page for a movie character, or the comments of a stranger on a bus.
As the practice has taken hold over the past several years, however, some advocacy groups have questioned whether marketers are using such tactics to dupe consumers into believing they are getting unbiased information.” FTC Moves to Unmask Word-of-Mouth Marketing Endorser Must Disclose Link to Seller – Washington Post
I am not telling you how to post or what to post about, but your words can come back to haunt you, especially when they are published across the World Wide Web.
What are others saying:
And Now A Word From Our Link Sponsor – The Link Spiel – Debra Mastaler
Earned Organic Links – SEO Buzz Box – Aaron Pratt
I Was Paid to Blog This – BruceClay.com – Lisa Barone
Bloggers Must Disclose Sponsored Posts – Search Engine Watch Blog – Greg Jarboe
Bloggers Must Disclose Sponsored Posts – AP Internet Writer – Anick Jesdanun
Giving ReviewMe a Try – SEOBook.com – Aaron Wall
In the spirit of full-disclosure – No one was paid to write this post!
Related Posts >>
- Google Fixes a Bug
- SponsoredReviews.com is Set to Launch
- Google – Click to Call Cancelled?
- No Fake Post Here – Google gets Giddy over Reader
- MyBlogLog Addresses Changes
