Backlinks are one of the keys to a websites success in search engines as the number of backlinks can be indicators of the popularity or importance of a website (they are not the only indicator.) There is not a day that goes by where I don't see advertising for 'backlinks for sale.' There are those that would assure us that buying backlinks is a sure fire way to get your website to the front page in search engines. I'm fairly certain however that in many cases those assuring us of this are the same people selling us the backlinks. In my research buying backlinks is a risky business in which you are almost always throwing your money away. When I say this, I do say it with a reservation realizing that there are always exceptions. Also recognize that I'm primarily referring to services that sell mass amounts of backlinks, guaranteeing 'thousands instantly'.
There would be two primary motivators for purchasing backlinks, 1. search engine placement, and 2. drive traffic to your site. If you were to decide to pay for backlinks you need to realize the bottom line needs to be increased traffic to your site, what I mean is that you need to be assured you are paying for a link that will generate traffic - that is what you are paying for, not the link. Since paid backlinks 'en masse' at least the ones that advertise the will get you thousands of backlinks instantly, are very likely garbage links (low quality links on pages that do not rank well) that will generate no traffic, you can be assured you are wasting your money. You can also be fairly certain that these links will be placed on link farms and other such sites which will not accomplish much of anything in your search rankings. There has been much discussion over the quality of a backlink and it has been stated directly by Sergey Brin and Larry Page that "PageRank... [does] not count links from all pages equally, and by normalizing by the number of links on a page." What Brin and Page are clarifying for us is 1. not all links have the same value for search engines and 2. pages that are nothing but link farms or have low PageRank's are noticed and backlinks on those pages are very ineffective. What's more, how many humans do you know that spend time looking at link farms?
In addition you can bet there is a time limit on your purchase, and that the link(s) will eventually disappear... once it's gone anything that was accomplished for traffic or search engines will be undone, and you will fall off the map... unless you pay again.
Many website owners successfully optimize for SEO and build fantastic traffic in their niche without ever paying for a single backlink. What's more with the social web word of mouth, and social networking can effectively build you quality backlinks as well. It may take a bit more work and time, but you can be certain the individuals you are connecting with are human, and that their loyalty goes deeper than that of a backlink machine.
Here's an interesting article I read recently titled, Does Backlink Quality Matter. It's worth a read. What are your thoughts on purchasing backlinks, or your experiences? How do you think the companies that guarantee results and money back are able to do this? I'd love to hear from you.
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Daniel Snyder was raised just outside of Vancouver, British Columbia. I am a huge fan of social media and a total twitter addict. Completely intrigued by all things security related, I seem to be exploring my potential by blogging. One of my goals is to inform & educate on the importance of proper computer security. You can follow me @danielsnyder1 on twitter or visit infocarnivore.com
