Inbound links - Avoiding being penalised!

Hi All,

I am considering using the services of a company to create inbound links to improve my PR.

I have briefed them that this should be done ethically & the links should be relevant. I am concerned that if too many links get added too quickly then google will penalise you (does anyone know if this is true?)

I have asked for further explanation of their ethical link building policies and how they avoid breaking google's rules. Below is their response. I would appreciate any feedback on the comments below as to whether this is an adequate response to my concerns.

1.Links will not be obtained through email spamming of any sort.

2.All links WILL BE be on actual functional websites.

3.No more than 50 outbound links on linking page (if there are more and you feel the link is quality then there is no problem).

4.All Links will be from different domains/IP addresses,

5.Links will not use a redirect code of any kind (javascript, meta, 302 etc.) to link to your site

6. All sites linking to your site will already be included in other search engines to rule out any bad neighbourhoods/banned pages. Rule of thumb will be that all linking pages will have google cached version .

7. All links will be one way only.

8. The incoming links will form part of a mixed-PR campaign.

9.All Links will be from sites that have PR 2+ home page.

10.Links from industry-relevant pages.


Thanks in advance for any help given
Steve

Instead why not improve your ranks?



Myth! Avoid "sitewide links" from all sites... a single links or a few are great... one on every page to pretty stupid.



Irrelevant



What? As oppose to?



Ya well the rules out alot of websites especially blogs.



Good



Good



OK



OK



Mix? ...so what are the other parts?



Ya ok... that doesn't mean a whole lot.



Good



Overall - not bad... some parts I don't even know what they mean... like:



What? As oppose to?



Mix? ...so what are the other parts?

My policy for customers [when I had them] ... never say anything that "begs" for a new question.

Sounds like a directory submission service ??????

That really depends don't it?

Sometimes the little things get by me as well.

A good question to ask.

What is a deliverable for "a link"?

a. A submission

b. A physical link on a page

c. A physical link on an indexed page

d. An actual confirmed backlink

"D" is the only one that matters... a to c are all false positives.

Hi All,

Thanks for all your replies.

I presume the PR Mix is in relation to some links being on websites, some on blogs, some on forums, some press releases etc. Before I went ahead (if I go ahead) I would have to confirm this.

Fathom you mention "Instead why not improve your ranks?" please could you elaborate on this. I thought good quality, relevant links were one of the most important factors affecting PR? I don't pretend to be an expert by any means, this is just what I've read up on.

The company has offered to create 125 links for me for a fixed price. I would imagine that many links will be outside of the UK for my UK based site. The sole purpose is to improve my PR and therefore improve my SERPS position.

Just a couple more questions please...

Would 125 worldwide links provided by this company be better than me going out and perhaps getting 10 links from more relevant UK sites? I've read that google prefers a more organic/natural increase in links, rather than jumping up to 125 links in a month or so. 10 UK links vs 125 worldwide is the question?

Does PR affect SERPS, I've read conflicting opinions about this???

Kind Regads,
Steve

Gaining PageRank occurs from any link that has a even the smallest to proven but that doesn't necessarily help ranks... link from sites related specifically to your chosen keyword phrases are of the highest quality even if their PageRank is much lower than sites that are well outside the pale vale of relatedness... in addition the anchor of the link [the text] should be your phrases as oppose to a company name if possible (assuming the company name and phrase are not one in the same).



Any link from any page that is indexed will likely help... if you acquire topic & regional related links will help the most in regional archives.

I would say [assuming the 125 links have value] get them and also get the 10 from uk sites.

The 125 will be more favorable to ranks dot.com where the uk ones will be more favorable to ranks dot.co.uk



Does it "effect" yes... but isn't a linear effect (where if you have more you achieve more) it's more of a unilateral thing - all sites that have PR regardless of the actual amount will rank equal - based solely on that... all the other variables define the actual "order".

The only benefit of having a high PR (which we see visibly in your Google bar) is to attract link partners that seem to think that it matters.

The real PR is something that we can't visibly see because the little green bar is outdated. We only really see it when watching our positioning and the effect from our linking out.

What Fathom was trying to get across was that you need to pay more attention to your position in Google than your Page Rank. And even more importantly, your position for the most profitable terms (not only the ones that are searched for the most, but the ones that are more likely to lead to conversion.)

The 125 links to worldwide sites are probably going to be crap, but I can't say for certain. I have a lot of distrust for companies selling link building. Some do a great job, but are not cheap. If your primary goal is to reach the UK market, I would concentrate on UK backlinks. Having a link from a well-established site hosted in Brazil with a Brazilian TLD will help you show up in Brazilian search engines. Is that going to help you? Of course (every quality link helps), but not as much as a link from a similar quality site in London if you intend to reach UK visitors.

As for too many inbound links at the same time being penalized, I wouldn't worry about it. Just make sure they vary in anchor text and come from good sites and it'll only help you. If you could be penalized, then it would be easy to destroy ones competitors and that's not kosher.

Again Fathom was right about the power of relevant sites' backlinks. I've seen my position jump 3-4 spots by adding a couple links from low "PR" websites that did well for the same target keyword. That's really key. You get a couple links from sites that are also ranking well for your desired keyword, and you'll see a jump! Get a link from one of the top 3 for that keyword (with that particular anchor text) and you'll probably pass them for that keyword. ((Easier said than done!))

You seem to be moving in the right direction, and asking some decent questions. Keep posting.

Hi All,

Thanks for all your replies...really appreciated!!

Kind Regards,
Steve