Having StatCounter a problem post Penguin?

[wolv23]

Do you think having StatCounter on every page is a problem after the Penguin update? It does give a hidden (follow) link to them after all. I have many sites with the counter on every main page. Could G be looking at this and imposing a penalty for mass linking?

Sorry if this has been posted before, I didn't find it in a search.
Thanks

[Simsi]

I have Statcounter - a paid subscription that removes the link - and the site's been fine all through Panda and Penguin. In fact it's actually strengthened it's ranking over this period.

[wolv23]

What is this? Looks like a link out in the stat counter code to one of the statcounter pages. These links are what I'm talking about.

<noscript><div class="statcounter"><a title="godaddy
tracker"
href="http://statcounter.com/godaddy_website_tonight/"
target="_blank"><img class="statcounter"

thanks

[setzer]

Incredibly slim chance of a penalty. Google's algo heavily devalues site-wide links. You'd really only get hit if you were linking out to dozens of these sites on each page or if the URLs linked were a known spam site.

Still, I'd nofollow the link provided their TOS allows it.

[Simsi]

Or buy a subscription. It's only 4euros/$5 a month and that gives you permission to remove the link if you are unsure.

[wolv23]

I did just buy the subscription, but I'm wondering if anyone thought it would cause G to discount my sites because of the link from every page. Also a link from every site that I own and maybe look at it as if it was a link scheme.

[canhopper]

The era after penguin, pay to unlink :)

[netmeg]

Meh. I have it on every page across more than fifty sites and no penalties.

[cabbie]

I have had statscounter on several of my sites.They all were banned recently after doing very well.When I say banned, I mean banned.No longer show for search for site name.Never happened before.The only common link between all 4 were that they had statcounter

[wolv23]

@netmeg, do you have the paid version without the link back?

[aakk9999]

I have it on some sites paid and on others unpaid (with link back). Makes no difference, no penalties.

I would imagine Google knows Statcounter is well used tracking software and would just discount this link rather than penalising sites having the link as a part of tracking script.

[wolv23]

I was just curious, I don't want to give G to much credit. They have Billions of links to consider, maybe they might forget a few and discount them by mistake.

[seoN00B]

i have a statcounter (hidden) and i dont have an issue.

[The Shower Scene]

The only common link between all 4 were that they had statcounter...

Judging from the feedback here and the lack of posts about StatCounter here, there and anywhere for the past half year, it's safe to say that StatCounter is not the problem. Think again. There's another common link.

[edited by: The_Shower_Scene at 6:34 am (utc) on Aug 31, 2012]

[newsnshop]

I did all statcounter code links rel="nofollow"

<script type="text/javascript" src="http://www.statcounter.com/counter/counter_xhtml.js" rel="nofollow"></script>
<noscript><div class="statcounter"><a title="web analytics" href="http://statcounter.com/" rel="nofollow"><img class="statcounter" src="http://c.statcounter.com/8062786/0/fbea72f2/1/" alt="web analytics" /></a></div></noscript>

[Simsi]

<div class="statcounter"><a title="godaddy
tracker"
href="http://statcounter.com/godaddy_website_tonight/"
target="_blank">

Pretty sure as you pay for Statcounter you are within your right to remove that. It certainly doesn't contrbute to the stats collection.

Anyone using the free version is obligated to retain the link and not alter it to add nofollow. That's the deal for getting SC free. Although I'm inclined to agree with the comment above that Google must be well aware what SC is and does and makes appropriate allowances for it.

[netmeg]

@netmeg, do you have the paid version without the link back?

Nope, the free version on everything. Never had a problem, no penalties, no notices, no bad rankings.

Google knows from statcounter. They have a *huge* base.

[bhartzer]

I have had statcounter on several sites..and they've never had any ranking issues whatsoever.