What you need to know about paid posts and nofollow links

9 October, 2008 - 08:31 PM - 4 Comments

I have been doing a ton of research on SEO Optimization and how to restore my Google PageRank and avoid having my PageRank whacked in the future. I want to point out that this link tracks a conversation between SEO Scoop, Matt Cutts from Google, and other bloggers who were all penalized from having paid content on their site. This is a must read link:
Matt Cuts Why Am I Still Being Penalized

In summary, every single paid or sponsored post you do, you need to try and use a rel=”nofollow” inside the link itself. If you do SocialSpark or PayPerPost links you will find that they automatically have the <a rel=”nofollow” right at the beginning of the link, but PayU2Blog does not, and I am certain that by me doing 8 PayU2Blog Posts with links to the sponsor’s without rel=nofollow is why my Google PR was whacked from 2 to 0.

By default when linking to any other site, unless it is a fellow blogger that you want to give “props” to.Â Make sure you use a “nofollow” tag.Â This appears to be the consensus from what I can determine by reading over 3 dozen web sites and scouring the web the last few days on Google.

Google is especially sensitive to paid posts and doesn’t like Text Link Ads (that aren’t Google’s own Adsense).Â I am still learning more my friends and attempting to make my blog more “Google Friendly” yet still qualify and monetize my blog.Â It is a catch-22 when many opportunities on SocialSpark and PayPerPost require your blog to be a PR of 3 or above, and yet you lose your PR if you do paid posts.

How Ironic

-Dragon Blogger

Update

Just a note to my readers, PayU2Blog prohibits adding nofollow to the links in their paid advertisements.Â I had asked them prior to doing anything.Â I am sure you can add nofollow after a certain “archive period” of time has elapsed, but don’t use nofollow on new paid assignments.

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Written by Justin Germino (1518 Articles Published)

Working in the IT Industry for over 10 years and specializing in web based technologies. Dragon Blogger has unique insights and opinions to how the internet and web technology works. An Avid movie fan, video game fan and fan of trying anything and everything new.

Follow Justin Germino on Twitter @dragonblogger

Damien

Yikes, a lot of typos ... sorry.

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Going to Google with a question about why you lost your pagerank is like asking your dad to buy you beer when you're 14. Not gonna happen.

Workk on audience, niche focus, nofollow now and then but don't waste a bunch of time on it. Think of it this way: How the hell would Google know whether you were paid for a link? In many ways, I find Google PageRank to be crooked. If they give me rank cool, I have found a way to live without it.

The real question for the good ones should be: "Are you getting what you want from your blog?"

Because I set my own goals, apart from Google's mysetries, I know I am getting closer.

Again, great article.

Damiens last blog post..Looking for a Death Certificate?

Dani

That's just how it is, and a lot of bloggers have complained about the whole Catch-22 thing. But with them switching over to RealRank as their primary focus, you can still get a lot of good opportunities out of RealRank and just forget PageRank as so many bloggers have done.

lotusflower

My city living blog was reduced from 3 to 0 a few months back. Until now, I am still at a loss at why this happened. I did a lot of 'neutral' paid posting stuff there. But there weren't lots of them. Even my page rank has steadily stayed at 1.5 million. I was then doing 800K. Swell.

Someone I taught how to blog is now PR3 and 200K(plus or minus) in less than a year. And guess what - he doesn't do paid posting.

I am not sure if you're familiar with review stream. I have done several reviews there but has yet to get paid. The hassle about this site is you need to request payment in order to get paid. Though they pay through Paypal.

Cheers!

lotusflowers last blog post..A Roof Above My Head?