Buying Textlinks: The Latest SEO Craze

With search engine algorithms changing seemingly daily, the quest to rank high in the search engines and stay there is proving to be quite the challenge for most webmasters. One of the more recent popular ways of achieving this is through buying text links on websites that have high PR's (page ranks) on Google and that also rank well in the other major search engines. Is buying text link placement worth it?

Purpose
The primary purpose of buying a text link on a website that ranks better in search engines than yours is to receive a backlink to your site, without having to reciprocate a link back (as this dilutes the quality of a link). This backlink counts as a "vote" for your website and especially if coming from a site that is credible to the search engines, helps your site establish credibility as well. For example, a website has been online for three years and currently has a PR of 7. Your site is three months old and has a PR of 2. The 3 year old website places a link to your site from their homepage. As this site has history and is therefore established, this "vote" from a PR 7 website holds a lot of value. Compare this to a site linking to yours that is only a year old and holds a PR of 1 ? it makes sense that you would want links coming from older sites that have high PRs. The higher the number and the better the quality of backlinks your website receives, generally the higher your rank on the SERPs (search engine results page).

Not only are text links great for search engine purposes, but if placed well, can actually drive traffic to your site. And whose website nowadays couldn't use more traffic? Enough said.

Those are the benefits behind purchasing text links. But what are the disadvantages?

1) Cost ? it's not uncommon to pay $100 monthly for a 3 word textlink on a PR 6 website. If you do choose to go this route, choose your text carefully and budget wisely.

2) Relevancy to search engines ? if you're running a homemade toys website and have a popular online pharmacy website linking to yours, this won't be as relevant as say having Mattel® linking to you. Remember that search engines are becoming more and more sophisticated and they can tell whether two sites have complimentary, competitive, or completely unrelated website content.

3) Limited link length - rarely are you given the option of selecting more than three words when purchasing links. You may have difficulty coming up with only three keywords relevant to your website, so this can often prove to be a difficult task.

4) Page is already populated with other text links ? online auction sites that have sellers auctioning off website text links are notorious for selling textlinks on websites that already have 50 more on the same page. Look for sites that limit the number of textlinks sold.

5) Search engine spam ? your site linked on every single page of a 3000 page website using the same keywords and url can be considered spam to a search engine. If you choose to purchase multiple text links on multiple websites, make sure your linking text varies.

The lesson is to be simply cautious. Using a textlink broker to find relevant and complimentary websites to buy links from can prove to be highly beneficial ? just do your research first. Would a $100 monthly textlink investment be better spent on a pay-per-click (PPC) campaign, or will the long term benefits of buying a text link outweigh a temporary influx in visitors? Return on investment is key ? whichever route will yield you the highest ROI should be your ultimate determining factor.

Veronica Dubak is an SEO expert, internet entrepreneur, and the owner of the successful free online paid surveys directory, SurveyBounty.com. With a comprehensive listing of market research companies classified by region, and background information on the online survey industry, SurveyBounty.com is the legitimate source for online survey information.

---

Easy SEO in 6 Simple Steps

If you want to increase traffic to your website and... Read More

Google Has No Content On Page

One of the post from My SEO world Meet Up... Read More

MLM and SEO - Bad Business! No Business!

MLM has been around way before the Internet. It is... Read More

Get Listed in Google Without Submitting Your Site

With Google delivering so much traffic, it is only normal... Read More

Google - PR & Backlinks

Here are some observations that I have made recently:1. On... Read More

New Site and Sandbox: How to Get Rid of It

You have put lot of sweat in making your site.... Read More

Search Engine Optimisation - Getting Targeted Traffic

Getting SEO right is an art and it's based on... Read More

King + Queen = Royal Success

Ever wonder how or why your competitor gets better search... Read More

SEO and Directories

If you are a webmaster, then you've probably submitted your... Read More

Adding City Names At The End Of Your Keywords Can Bring You More Profits

In recent times, I have been closely studying keywords that... Read More

The Role of the Robots.txt File to Improve Site Ranking!

Not many web master take the time to use a... Read More

Improve Search Engine Rankings - The Real Deal!

Ok, here's the deal, follow these steps and shoot me... Read More

Keyword Research And Overture

Many of us who build websites get in the habit... Read More

Google Patent Application - User Data As Part of Ranking Process

In this third article, we continue to dig into the... Read More

Why Is SEO So Important To Your Site?

You have heard the phrase LOCATION LOCATION LOCATION. But wait,... Read More

Six Reasons Why Your Alexa Rating Is Still Important

1. Additional Exposure For Your Site.At the end of 2003,... Read More

Is Google Having a Tough Time with Their Website Limit?

If you are one to pay attention to what happens... Read More

Search Engine Marketing: Are You Accidentally Hiding From Potential Customers?

You may be hiding if the search engines can't 'see'... Read More

Does Javascript Affect Ranking?

Almost all SEO's agree that using too much javascript can... Read More

The SEO Gurus poem

Am I alone as I survey that vast wilderness outside,Sat... Read More

Yahoo!/Overture Site Match: A License To Steal

Unless you've been living in a cave somewhere, I'm sure... Read More

Search Engine Spam

Running an online business relies to a greater or lesser... Read More

Using Blogs for SEO

Why Start A Blog?I knew about blogging and blogs for... Read More

Google Slavery...Old Habits Die Hard

For the first few months after Yahoo decided to go... Read More

Good Things Come to Those Who Wait (and Other Analogies and Cliché?s for SEO)

We've all heard that familiar expression, "Good things come to... Read More

How To Make Your Website More Successful? (Part II)

In part I of our series of how to make... Read More

All You Need to Know About Your Website Traffic is Contained in 5 Key Stats

You built that content rich web page optimized for your... Read More

Stay In The Know With Google SMS

The Short Messaging Service (SMS) from Google sends short, quick,... Read More

The Real Search Engine Optimization Guide

Nowadays, there is so much talk about SEO (search engine... Read More

SEO: The Good, The Bad And The Ugly

I seem to have created quite a stir, on a... Read More

The Matrix Help For Keyphrase Analysis

Keyword analysis is a major part of search engine marketing.... Read More

Search Engine Saturation Tool ? A Must Have SEO Tool

Search Engines have become the soul of the Internet. They... Read More

Five Simple Steps to Getting Links to Your Site

Today if you want your site to survive in the... Read More