The Paid Links Debate - Why Buying Links for SEO is BAD
So today the debate about Google's heavy hand in regard to paid links continues. I read Michael Gray's blog today where he posts a scathing review of Google's policies about paid links and point's out the hypocrisy of their position. I like Michael and think he is an excellent blogger but I have to take issue with his stance here. You may accuse me of drinking too much Google Kool Aid, but I think Google's stance on paid links is the right one. The ability for companies to buy their way into the top of organic search results completely devalues the algorithm for both Google and it's users.
Google is who they are because their algorithm is the best that we have so far for getting relevant information from the Internet. You can argue the point if you want, but its a moot point because the overwhelming majority of Internet users use Google search. And the reason they do is the trust that they have that Google will find them the best information for their query based on relevancy, not how much a business is paying.
If you let paid links influence organic search, the whole engine becomes pay per click. And that is clearly not what users want. And that is really the bottom line. Google's stance on paid links reflects what search users want. And giving searchers what they want is how Google continues to dominate search and make billions of dollars. And since it's Google's search engine, they can rank sites however they want. That's why I don't understand why some SEO's continue to maintain that buying links should be an acceptable SEO practice.
Search engine optimization is not about manipulating search engines to rank you ahead of your competition based on your ability to understand link algorithms and buy links that exploit those algorithms. Search engine optimization is about maximizing the signals that you are sending to the search engines about the keyword phrases that your content is relevant for and letting the engine decide based on it's algorithm where you stand. Then depending on the gap between where your site ranks and where you want to rank, you develop a strategy to improve the quality of your content and market your site to increase your visibility. In so doing, you build the link connectivity and trust factors that are essential for top search engine rankings.
Focusing your SEO efforts on paid links results in efforts that do nothing to improve user experience is not a good long term strategy as it relates to SEO. The more sophisticated search engine technology gets, the less ROI these techniques will have going forward. Using those resources to create a better user experience, more authoritative content and a better marketing campaign, is a better bet for your long term SEO strategy.
Google is who they are because their algorithm is the best that we have so far for getting relevant information from the Internet. You can argue the point if you want, but its a moot point because the overwhelming majority of Internet users use Google search. And the reason they do is the trust that they have that Google will find them the best information for their query based on relevancy, not how much a business is paying.
If you let paid links influence organic search, the whole engine becomes pay per click. And that is clearly not what users want. And that is really the bottom line. Google's stance on paid links reflects what search users want. And giving searchers what they want is how Google continues to dominate search and make billions of dollars. And since it's Google's search engine, they can rank sites however they want. That's why I don't understand why some SEO's continue to maintain that buying links should be an acceptable SEO practice.
Search engine optimization is not about manipulating search engines to rank you ahead of your competition based on your ability to understand link algorithms and buy links that exploit those algorithms. Search engine optimization is about maximizing the signals that you are sending to the search engines about the keyword phrases that your content is relevant for and letting the engine decide based on it's algorithm where you stand. Then depending on the gap between where your site ranks and where you want to rank, you develop a strategy to improve the quality of your content and market your site to increase your visibility. In so doing, you build the link connectivity and trust factors that are essential for top search engine rankings.
Focusing your SEO efforts on paid links results in efforts that do nothing to improve user experience is not a good long term strategy as it relates to SEO. The more sophisticated search engine technology gets, the less ROI these techniques will have going forward. Using those resources to create a better user experience, more authoritative content and a better marketing campaign, is a better bet for your long term SEO strategy.
posted by Catfish at
9:42 AM
3 Comments:
If someone has knowledge and power of brain, I can bet that there is no need to purchase links. Truly I hate to do that and hate those sites who do so.
You made a good post, but I do think you're drinking way too much of the kool aid. Google is not interested in the purity of SEO and a level playing field.
Google has a vested interest in PPC, Adwords. If people buy links and get to the top of the SERPs organically, then Google loses huge amounts of Adwords money -- that's the bottom line.
Hey Catfish, maybe I too have been drinking way too much Google-aid, but I agree with you. The end goal of proper SEO should to provide the most relevant information to the USERS. I think the people who are paying their way to the top of organic results are not only fooling the users, but they fooling themselves. If their content isn't relevant they will loose the trust of the users that come to their site from search.
I also feel that if you follow proper SEO techniques, and have authoritative content then you wouldn't need to buy links.
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