Does google know we're asking for links?

... or have i just got paranoia...

[londrum]

i'm sure most of us have emailed a load of websites asking for links at some stage in our life, but i've been wondering recently if it's a wise idea.

if you have google toolbar installed, then google register which sites you're visiting (i think that is written in their terms). presumably they also track which site you're visiting if you reach it through their search engine.

so if i visit ten completely different sites on monday and ask them for links, and a couple of days later links appear on each of them, will google 'know' that i've asked for them? i don't think it is beyond the realms of possibility.
even if they turn out to be one-way links, it is still possible for google to work out i asked for them.

they can match up my searching habits with my website through my IP, because i've got analytics on it.

or maybe it is just me being paranoid.

[Bones]

I would say that's extremely unlikely. It's not exactly conclusive evidence and I'm sure Google would have more effective link analysis to look at. Besides, it's also highly unlikely that all of the sites you visited would link back.

[trinorthlighting]

Someone could report you via a spam report.

[LifeinAsia]

Besides, it's also highly unlikely that all of the sites you visited would link back.

And realistically, besides link spammers, who is going to ask a site for a link without first looking at the site?

[Phrasebase]

I would say... Going around and getting sites to link to your site isn't going to boost you up enough in rank order to make it worthwhile for Google to track this activity.

[willybfriendly]

if you have google toolbar installed

I uninstalled it the first time it updated itself without a prompt. I haven't looked back since.

"I'm free -- I'm free,
And freedom tastes of reality
I'm free -- I'm free,
And I'm waiting for you to follow me..."

- The Who

[eltercerhombre]

I think you're being too paranoid.

Don't engage on links schemes, but ask for links if you have to do it AND you really think that it will benefit the other(s) website(s).

If you ask for links to everyone the toolbar data won't harm you, but you won't do any good to yourself.

I.E: asking for links before you have something worthy maybe makes the other webmaster to never link to you (no matter what you have on your site in the future).

Edite: do engage to "don't engage"

[Quadrille]

As Google know much, much more about your link partners than you do - simply by looking at the linking pattern, which is what their spiders do 24/7, I doubt Google feel the need to do anything of the kind.

And as has been suggested above, anything silly will be reported by your rivals. Not forgetting that most link exchange links are worth zilch ... but they can still get you reported. Then anything that's borderline may get looked at.

Most people stopped emailing for link exchanges well over a year ago (if they ever did it), as the only certain result is being labelled a spammer. Unless dealing with spammers turns you on, it really isn't worth bothering. ;)

[voices]

Why would you want google looking over your shoulder everywhere you go? Get rid of the useless toolbar!

[Quadrille]

That's a good point, actually - if you even suspect that Google may be spying on you, it's a no-brainer ... ditch the toolbar.

I'm one of those who believes that my web sites and I are simply not important enough for conspiracy-theory activity: in fact, I'm more than happy for anyone to watch over me. And if my web wanderings help Google, that's absolutely fine with me. I think I'd be flattered that anyone cared enough to look over my shoulder (stalkers aside).

But if I had one single doubt ... why would I even think about the toolbar?

Let's face it, 98% of people only have the toolbar to feed their little green bar obsession, and there's other ways of getting that fix, if you need it! ;)