Buying text links

Good? Bad?

[tml89]

What are everyones thoughts on buying links as part of a link building stragety. They are non recpricol, so thats good. But can things go wrong? How many people buy text links? Pros. Cons?

[Receptional]

Buy links primarily for visitors, not search engine rankings and you will be on to a pretty good thing IMHO. When I say "buy", I really mean "get by hook (not) by crook" but do base the success on traffic from the link not on changes in the serps.

I am not saying link schemes don't work. But I am saying try the safe stuff first and do any risky "testing" in a controlled environment if you want to go below the radar.

[Nawaralsaadi]

I have been buying links for a couple of months now, we have had good return from this strategy in terms of targeted traffic and higher SERPs (except for google so far after their last update), I believe buying text links is much more cost effective then PPC especially if you are buying PPC for competitive words, my advice when buying text links is:

-Always ask to see the link first and try to find out where your link will be placed.
-Avoid packages (my experience is that they pack a lot of low quality sites together which can not be sold easily interpedently).
-Avoid pages with over 20 outbounds, many people build pages today just to sale Page Rank, make sure your advertising in a real site.

If sites are selected carefully, and links placed clearly, you will have the added benefit of rising pagerank, better SERPs and targeted traffic.

Remember that quality links require quality sites, if you are aiming to buy a link from a quality PR7 or PR8, you’d better have a quality site yourself.

I see buying text links as legitimate and cost effective marketing strategy especially if you limit your buying to relevant content websites.

Nawar

[ownerrim]

"Avoid run-of-the-site links"

I've always believed this...but I know a webmaster who runs a very high PR public service site with over 2,000 pages. The site funds it's charitable activities by two means: donations, and by offering run-of-site links to other sites. I checked the sites that get these run of site links. All have pr 6 or pr 7, and I'm guessing a big chunk of this pr is the result of these run-of-site links on this 2000+ page site.

Thoughts?

[rover]

Track referrals and the impact on your anchor popularity for your target term

Sorry if this is really obvious, but what does "impact on your anchor popularity" refer to?

Is it possible to track the anchor text from a link to your site?

[I_Brian]

Buying links so far seems fine, but as above, the primary reason for advertising has to attract human visitors first, who then can convert into income via your own products/services/advertising.

Buying links simply for search engines can end up building a house of cards, and an instable way to develop traffic. Google Sandboxing means you may be unlikely to see any advatnages for months.

I hear people advise against Sitewide advertising - I say go for it, and ignore single link advertising.

1. it will make your ad more visible to users of that site;

2. because sitewide's absolutely do still have SEO advantages over single page (though in a diminishing manner);

3. because a lot of single page advertising is very over-priced for what you are actually getting.

2c. :)

[mrhazelj]

i just like buying themed links for traffic and serps. high quality sites are out there and so are good text link brokers. I always ask to see the url of a site to make sure it has was it says it has. I'm not real worried about the sandbox myself. i know it will happen but oh well, I still got my day job(s) :). i'm just looking a the end result in tageted traffic and serps in time.

[glengara]

I tend to take the Groucho view, I wouldn't buy text links from anyone who's selling them :-)

[clearvision]

Text links are what people click on!

I wouldn't buy text links for SE popularity...this is a never sure thing. I have seen some sites high ranked and others not and they are linked from the same page.

If the audience of a site is who you would like to reach and the site ranks high in the multiple search engines...WHY NOT buy some real estate on their site! It has been very profitable for us. Basically you are buying ad space.

1. They are getting your target visitors...quick way to make them your own. Capitalize on their search engine success.
3. Be a wise link shopper...( as said before) avoid the link farms & mass directories where you will never be seen etc.
4. I like run of site links...it exposes you to more visitors.
5. Never agree to long term advertising until you have tested it out for your self.
6. Remember why you are buying the link...do you want higher search engine ranking ( always iffy) or do you want to get some of their traffic. Make sure you can profit from the expense.

Just MHO

[mrhazelj]

the only way i ever see buying links working for seo reasons if you have on page seo already done (kw density, title, etc, etc) and the right anchor text and the authority of a site. As I stated i try to buy links from sites that sell 15 or less links per page. I personally check that before I buy. I also check for unique c-class(3rd set of ip adress numbers) and I check thier backlinks... everything is checked befor i buy anything. If I can't check, i won't buy it, period. BUT, i also do link exchanges. mixing them both (one way and reciprocal) is the way i'll go from now on.

[tenerifejim]

The first text link I bought was on the front page of the number one site for the main keyword I chase. I got a PR jump a few weeks later from 4 to 5 and they are also now my number 1 referer (apart from Google and Yahoo).

I guess I got lucky, but when I get the option to do something similar again, I go for it.

[JuniorOptimizer]

The less you spend out, the more profit you make. Most of the links being sold today are not worth the money. And for the guy earlier up who can't contact the cheesy text link broker, charge it back.

[Marc_P]

Yes I think I will charge back. I am giving them one last chance to redeem themselves this morning with a warning email which basically says get in touch with me before the end of the day or face the consequences.

[walkman]

"Lets not forget that text links are a great form of advertising. I buy them all the time (I loath banners and never had any luck with ppc engines)."

Brett, and if you send your site to G to check it out, you think they wouldn't say anything (provided you aren't Brett of WebmasterWorld)?

[clearvision]

Why would a link broker be better than locating individual sites for buying text links? (which is what we do). Not for Search Engine Op, but for quality text advertising.

Why would Google poo poo that?

[Marc_P]

Update: They did not redeem themselves on time, they never tried to contact us, so this morning, our lawyer is working on a nice letter for them.