There is no shortage of “miracle cures” that promise to get your company website on the coveted 1 page of Google. However, while many of these services did work at some 3 Internet Marketing Sales Pitches to Avoid at all Costspoint, Google’s ever-evolving algorithm and constantly changing rules have since made them not only obsolete, but detrimental to your online presence.

The Internet Marketing Engineers at Spectrum suggest taking a pass on the following marketing pitches: 1.      The Infamous Link Exchange

The Pitch:

“Google likes links…so we will get many websites to link to you. In return, you create a page where you provide links back to their sites – everybody wins!”

The Catch: Net Effect = ZERO:

When someone links to your site, the website owner is telling Google that they endorse your site as a good source for information (which can help your rankings). However, when you link back, Google interprets that action as a business exchange – since both parties are helping each other. The net effect is that Google discounts the endorsements from both sites – so nobody receives any rankings benefit. Like, zero.

2.      Structured Linking Systems… any Structured Linking System

The Pitch:

“We have set up a SYSTEM that creates a series of back-links from one site to another, with some of these links ending up pointing to your site!”

The Catch – You are playing with fire!

Google’s goal is to present users with websites that have been deemed worthy by the community at large. Any form of structured linking arrangement is an attempt to circumvent Google’s goals (which generate billions of dollars in revenue) – so you can bet Google is figuring out every type of structured linking arrangement possible. If Google finds that you participate in a pattern of linked websites that looks “too perfect,” your site could end up in the Google penalty box.

3.      Forum Links & Social Bookmarking Services

The Pitch:

“We have created user accounts on thousands of web sites. We add key-word rich links in our user accounts pointing to your site – creating hundreds/thousands of links to your website –propelling you to page 1 of Google.”

The Catch – Spammers ruined it for the rest of us.

The idea behind these types of websites was noble – share knowledge with others while promoting your web site. Unfortunately, spammers saw them as a way to generate easy links and abused these sites until Google took notice. These types of links are on Google’s hit-list, and Google has imposed penalties on sites that partake in such activity.  It’s OK to participate in these types of sites to interact with customers and prospects – just don’t use them for placement of out-of-context back-links.

     Visit Spectrum for more information on how to protect your company’s online integrity.

It’s important and it’s a big part of what we do.