Link Buying

Is it (still) working?

Ofer Dascalu

Founder & CEO, WiseImpact

ofer@wiseimpact.com

Highly Controversial Subject

• Is being used for many years (and still kicking)• Whether you like it or not, approve or

disapprove - it exists and many site owners are still using it

• Buying links that are search engine friendly is against Google TOS

• If buying links was ineffective, it probably wouldn’t be against Google TOS

• I will present the practice then let you decide for yourself

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Understanding how buying backlinks can produce positive and negative results is an imperative part of your SEO success.

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Google’s Chrome Page No Longer Ranks For “Browser” After Sponsored Post Penalty

Jan 3, 2012, by Danny Sullivanhttp://searchengineland.com/google-chrome-page-will-have-pagerank-reduced-due-to-sponsored-posts-106551

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Google Caught Buying Paid Links Again

Jan 3, 2012, by Barry Schwartzhttp://www.seroundtable.com/google-caught-for-paid-links-14539.html  

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There are many ways to get backlinks to your website… There is no one tactic.

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Are we partners?

I wish we were partners !!!

• What is your industry?• How well established are your competitors?• Do your competitors buy links?• What is your marketing budget?• Are you willing to take the risk?• How heavily does your business

rely on search traffic?• What are your real alternatives?

To Buy or not to Buy? It Depends…

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• It's an entire industry on its own• Analyze your competitors’ backlinks• Contact link brokers and SEO agencies• “Google” relevant forums, look for sellers' posts

and also publish a buyer post (never write your site name)

• Facebook, LinkedIn & Twitter

are goldmines

How to Locate Opportunities

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Is it a buyers

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or sellers market?Buyers !!!

• Use common sense, be smart and carefully evaluate each opportunity

• Look for real sites – meaning, real content that attracts real visitors. Be wary of fake sites whose sole purpose is selling links

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How to Evaluate an Offer

• Be carful of SEs’ honey pots• Be carful from PR scams, they

are everywhere

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How to Evaluate an Offer (cont.)

Very important: stay awayfrom link networksand link farms

• Evaluate the whole site not just a page, make sure a few pages have PR

• Avoid pages with more than 10 outgoing links• Check how the seller site got its backlinks• Focus on your niche, and truly seek

relevance• Don’t move too fast – develop a long term link

buying text based advertising strategy

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How to Evaluate an Offer (cont.)

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For sure it will not last forever !!!

Are you joining the party?

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Q&AOfer Dascalu

Founder & CEO, WiseImpact

ofer@wiseimpact.com

Thank You for Listening