Google’s trademark policy up close: the reasons, the impact, the future. Hear from our expert panel
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Most of the discussions about paid links focus on the issue from a webmaster or SEO’s point of view.
In this post I want to have a think about the issue from Google's point of view.
The reason Google doesn’t like paid links is obvious and understandable from its point of view.
Google quite simply doesn’t want websites to be able to buy their way to the top of the search engine rankings.
It isn’t a question about relevance because nobody buys their way to the top of the search results for a phrase that isn’t related to their site.
Once Google has made a stand and said that it doesn't like paid links, the next issue is to take action against the people who are buying and selling those links.
In the past year we have seen Google handing out penalties to link brokers, link buyers and link sellers but so far we haven’t seen Google exhibiting an even hand against any of these groups.
Why have some sites been given minus 50 penalties while others are left alone?
The main issue Google has here is that the abuse is so widespread that it is totally powerless to fix it.
Imagine if Google was to hand out penalties to all the link buyers in the UK finance industry – the result would be the top 20 sites for each niche all being removed from the index.
This mass removal of sites would mean that searchers wouldn’t be able to find the sites they see on TV every day and the high street banks they walk past on the way to work.
In short, it wouldn’t make the search results more relevant - it would just make them different.
Google has to give out the message that buying and selling links is a bad thing -but in reality it is powerless to give penalties to people who are rumoured to sell links and the major finance houses who think that SEO involves buying as many links as possible.
From our point of view, we don’t often buy links for clients for the simple reason that it’s not cost effective in the long term.
Link buyers face a continual battle to find new links that haven’t been devalued and take the risk that the links they buy today won’t work tomorrow.
We know that every single natural link is going to work today, tomorrow and next year.
Why pay £1000 for a permanent link when Google can devalue it at the drop of a hat?
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Google has made a rod for its own back with link analysis, and it isn't helped by the fact that its algorithm doesn't do what its claimed it should be able to do. For all the computerized superiority, it is still largely a link text oriented algorithm, with a series of amplifiers and dampeners to try and help it do its job.
Which it has to do in a world where access to publishing tools and the explosion of un-monetized content, has devalued web real estate, and has made links cheap and easy to pick up, to achieve something that is in many cases, disproportionately more lucrative, even in the face of risks like penalties to strip you of your positions.
I’m not inciting the activity here, but there’s a line in Monty python’s life of brian , where they’re all singing always look on the bright side of life, that sums up the attitude quite roundly.
“I mean - what have you got to lose? You know, you come from nothing - you're going back to nothing. What have you lost? Nothing!”
I think until Google becomes impervious to commercially motivated linking (because commerce isn’t going anywhere), or about faces from looking at links, neither of which look viable in the short or medium term, I think Google will be limited to saber rattling, and coming out every so often for a random witch burning, to remind people that next time it could be you. Kind of like the reverse of winning the lottery.
We’re actually holding a webinar on link building on May 21st (Link Building. The Good, The Bad and The Ugly), where we’re going to be discussing link building strategies in depth.
So if you’re trying to navigate this area, and want to pick up some tips, advice and some of the more honest, straight talking and discrete knowledge on the topic, please feel free to register.
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Warren Cowan, CEO
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