Linking to a "penalised" Site

Why should it be a crime?

[ukgimp]

The Google ToolBar is a great tool, one that I use a great number of times each and every day. My beef with the toolbar is related to how it has made the average webmaster afraid of linking to sites with a lower TBPR and positively terrified of linking to a site that is greyed out or white.

Here is one of a great number of such threads
[webmasterworld.com...]

So even if a site is a great resource and would benefit the web as a whole if a low TBPR can be seen it might not get the link it deserves. I think that is wrong and all together against what the web should be. Why should I have to be made to check out the history of a site in great detail just to link to them (I do have to though)?

Of course there will be people out there who would say “ignore the green bar and link to whoever you want”. Well that fine if you have a site that has been around for quite some time and would not severely affected but some of us are not always that fortunate. We may have newer sites with less prominance that could fall like a stone if the wrong thing was done.

So what are we supposed to do? Hmmmmmmmmmm, you have got me there!

Cheers

[paynt]

Ukgimp I can appreciate the frustration you express. Luckily for those of us that read and follow here daily, although we may not be happy with the advice we hear about being careful with our linking, we at least have been made aware.

There is enough information to be found here that anyone who has set their mind to it could devise their own fantastic linking strategy and then create really specific and focused campaigns. That’s the key as I see it. Yes we have shared our theories, ideas, and experiences and have made recommendations and there are some real gems to be found. What it comes down to though as I see it, people want automation. They want their linking to come easy as a push of a button. You see though that those easy programs are the ones getting caught out, though the inconsistencies found during research when it’s obvious not all have been caught out. Take link farms for instance. There are still many link farms out there and I have seen link backs where the link farm actually appears to carry some weight with great PR even. It’s not an absolute science.

We’re trying to show the risks though along with the tricks and then as in all decision making it becomes the responsibility of the site owner to determine the direction their strategies will take.

There are two things that help me. One, is to take each site as an individual and then see where it fits in it’s industry and to what audience it appeals to and use that as the basis from which to build a plan. Two, I have to know what the purpose, plan and direction the site has in mind for it’s future. Linking strategies for a highly competitive affiliate site are quite different than for a CPA just coming on to the web from the brick and mortar world.

It’s obvious though and I think inherent in your ponderings Ukgimp, that we continue to want to make this linking thing automatic and easy and Google particularly intends to thwart us every step of the way.

[ukgimp]

continue to want to make this linking thing automatic and easy

There is one side of me that would like it to be easy and there is the other that would like it to remain a bit of a minefield. For example with the minefield model and regular reading I can stay ahead of what is quite a complex arena and people I have worked for know this. That situation has to be good for me and others who keep up to date.

The old adage springs to mind "if it was easy anyone could do it". I have invested time in trying to improve my knowledge by lingering around fora, websites and by experimentation.

It still rings true though that I am unable to link to whom I wish to all the time. That is a bit of a shame.

Regards

[paynt]

You know ukgimp, I completely agree although it's not really that we can't link to who we want but that we have to think now before we link.