So the first high profile paid link hit has occurred in JC Penney. Just maybe not as we expected, the NY times had to do an expose on paid links for something to happen. Mat Cutts of Google also admitted some manual adjustment to search results. Bruce Clay himself has also been talking about why you should not buy links.

Link buying or media spend, conveniently forgetting the rel=nofollow is common in Australia and we have this discussion on a weekly basis with clients, as to why we do not buy links and that this is against Google’s terms of service. When everyone is doing it and it seems getting away with it, it is tempting to join the so called club. After far too long, maybe there will be some change.

What will be interesting to me is the following:

  • Whether clients are aware their agencies back linking practices?
  • If they are, and they are buying links, are they going to stop? Roll back these links?
  • More rigour into SEO firm selection given the potential reputation risk involved?
  • Insist on a code of ethics

So if you are a large corporate and are uncertain about the practices of your SEO company, I would suggest the following:

  • Find out what linking protocols and policies are in place for your website
  • Get your SEO agency to confirm they are not breaching Google’s terms of service
  • Understand your SEO agencies link building strategies in detail
  • Analyse your back link profile and anchor text, Yahoo Site Explorer is a good place to start

Don’t forget Bruce Clay 1 day SEO training on the 23rd Feb in Sydney and 2nd March in Melbourne. We will be covering this…