Stop Blowing Money on Text Link Ads

Not all paid links (don’t forget to read the update) are easy to detect, but if you think Google can’t detect blatant schemes like Text Link Ads you’re dreaming. They stick out like a geek on American Idol because:

  1. Anchor text targets money terms. Anchor text like “buy viagra”, “car insurance”, and “search engine optimization” are more likely to raise Google’s suspicion than if you used anchor text like “click here for more info on why Text Link Ads suck.”
  2. Links are off-topic. (e.g. “online casino” link on a “paris hotel” site)
  3. No context. Anchor text without context is like fish out of water. Sure, there are legit reasons for linking out from your sidebar. But the reason is unclear because there’s no surrounding text to provide context.

If you’re buying links through link brokers like Text Link Ads, stop wasting your money. Your chance of avoiding detection is lower than Boris Yeltsin scoring a one-night-stand with Maria Belluci. Instead, surf on over to technorati, search for topics related to your niche, sort by authority, and start at the top of your list. Email the owner of every blogger you see there, offering them money for blogging about your site. Remember, every blogger has a price, so don’t take no for an answer.

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16 Responses to “Stop Blowing Money on Text Link Ads”

  1. Eh? What are you talking about? Links sold via TLA are usually relevant links.

    Mike said this on May 15th, 2007 at 1:08 pm

  2. “Links sold via TLA are usually relevant links.”

    And what do you base your conclusion on? Wishful thinking? Or was there a survey I missed?

    blogcatalog.com/directory/law-legal

    This is a site related to law selling Text Link Ads:

    “Bankruptcy auto loans” pointing to fundingway.com

    Yeah, real relevant.

    How about moofx.mad4milk.net/? a site that offers “superlightweight, ultratiny, megasmall javascript effects library”

    “English ISP in Japan”
    “Canadian dating”
    “EU Web Directory”

    Wow, those links are super-targeted, aren’t they?

    Last one: cre8asiteforums.com. An SEO forum (one of my favorites) selling links with anchor text like these:

    “cardboard boxes”
    “accessible legal information”

    Lmao, CARDBOARD BOXES! Relevant my ass.

    Halfdeck said this on May 15th, 2007 at 1:41 pm

  3. Well, I can’t agree with emailing a lot of people asking for links. Sorry, that just doesn’t work for me. There are, in my opinion, more efficient, less spammy ways to get links.

    Do paid links still work? Sure they do. They will probably always work to some extent. So does reciprocal linking. So does link farming.

    But as more people invest their time and energy in these approaches, the more screaming and hollaring you see in various SEO forums when it comes time to pay the piper.

    It takes less time and effort to BUILD links than to BEG for them.

    Michael Martinez said this on May 15th, 2007 at 3:38 pm

  4. “Well, I can’t agree with emailing a lot of people asking for links. Sorry, that just doesn’t work for me.”

    Good, because I was being sarcastic.

    Halfdeck said this on May 15th, 2007 at 5:32 pm

  5. Hey HalfDeck, I feel like a poop for not listing you on my Google post on SEOish I have corrected that. Hello Michael, I don’t know well yet what is the best way to ask for things from other webmasters, but I like the idea of Halfdecks of going to the source instead of through a broker. The trick is the method of doing it.

    Constant Traveler said this on May 15th, 2007 at 7:50 pm

  6. It’s your choice to purchase or accept links only from relevant sites. It’s not TLA’s fault that someone accepts link on a car site from a drugstore. It has nothing to do with TLA.

    Blaming TLA from irrelevant links is like blaming a supermarket because you bought wrong spices for your Sunday cooking.

    Mike said this on May 16th, 2007 at 2:16 am

  7. “It’s your choice to purchase or accept links only from relevant sites.. It’s not TLA’s fault that someone accepts link on a car site from a drugstore. It has nothing to do with TLA.”

    Mike, first of all, don’t get me wrong. I’m not blaming TLD for anything. The point of this post is to make you think a little harder about link buying tactics.

    Second, the default option is to let TLD approve links for me. And if I don’t approve links in 24 hours, TLD will review the links themselves. So its true that a link seller has a choice but to say the choice is completely up to the seller is not exactly true.

    Halfdeck said this on May 16th, 2007 at 4:41 am

  8. Hey Constant Traveler,

    Hows it going? :) I added your blog to my Google Reader.

    Halfdeck said this on May 16th, 2007 at 4:44 am

  9. Are there other systems like Text Link Ads but with relevant links?

    wyszukiwarki said this on May 16th, 2007 at 6:13 am

  10. I think the best approach to actively seeking links from other sites is to offer them unique content that provides value to their visitors. Let them decide whether to use it. If they do, then they owe you at least the courtesy of a referring link (I would not agonize over whether it passes PageRank or anchor text).

    I’m not talking about press releases. I’m talking about giving some information, news, tool, or something to each site that no other site gets.

    Suppose you have a major inside story, a huge interview with someone in the news. Why not offer excerpts from that interview to other Web sites? Give each site something unique.

    That’s a suggestion to illustrate the principle, not a formula for link building. I want people to think about these things.

    Michael Martinez said this on May 16th, 2007 at 3:34 pm

  11. Good idea.

    The problem is people don’t want to think. Alot of them want organic results to work just like AdWords: plug and play; fire and forget.

    Text Link Ads feed off of that mentality. It’s easy money for the sellers and its effortless link building for the buyers.

    ‘Course now TLA is evolving their business model and doing so under the veil of secrecy.

    Money will always be a driving force in search, just like in politics, religion, medicine, and law. By supporting that system, webmasters are sealing their own doom. Money-driven search results prevent 99.9% of website owners from ranking on the front page.

    Of course, most SEOs will never tell you that. If you don’t have ranking problems, they don’t get paid.

    Halfdeck said this on May 16th, 2007 at 10:55 pm

  12. TLA screens the publisher and not the advertiser and if you are a publisher, you have the option to auto-approve (bad idea) or manually approve (the way to go) any Ad for your site.

    Since the Google penalty, which will be applied to the buyer and the seller (see SEJ and David Naylors post about it), is a manual process, Google should check the surrondings first before they start banning. In the case of TLA would be a ban of the Advertiser be warranted and an Email to the Publisher (if available) with a warning/FYI a much better idea.

    If Google decides not to go through such lengths TLA will have to make a change to their system to prohibit auto-approval. This will spawn a new business opportunity for smart marketers to offer review services and approval management for Publishers that don’t have the time and resources to do it.

    Carsten Cumbrowski said this on May 17th, 2007 at 3:22 pm

  13. “if you are a publisher, you have the option to auto-approve (bad idea) or manually approve (the way to go) any Ad for your site.”

    Yeah, I mentioned that in an earlier comment. Keep in mind too that even if you do opt for manual approval, if you don’t approve in 24 hours, then the ball bounces back into auto-approve court. Anyhow, my point is crap links are finding their way in through the cracks. cre8asiteform’s “cardboard boxes” link is a perfect example.

    “see SEJ and David Naylors post about it”

    Yep, I read DaveN’s article earlier. I also heard Jeremy Leubke comment on seobook he’s not seeing what DaveN is seeing, so who knows what’s up.

    Halfdeck said this on May 17th, 2007 at 5:42 pm

  14. Although this article is a year old, the author is absolutely correct about dealing with TLA.

    I wasted over $1800 buying TLA links on a promise from one of their sales people that my three PR4 sites would wind up PR6 if I maintained $300 worth of links for 6 months. Well, I’m out over $2400 (ON MY DEBIT CARD) and all three of my PR4 sites are now a lovely PR2.

    How did it end up $2400?? Well, those thieves at TLA kept charging my debit card even though I cancelled all my links. Luckily Bank of America came to my defense and had me close my bank account and open a new one and they chargeback’ed $600 or I would have been out $3K.

    I wish I’d read this last May when I started that campaign.

    Joselito said this on May 4th, 2008 at 5:41 pm

  15. “a promise from one of their sales people that my three PR4 sites would wind up PR6 if I maintained $300 worth of links for 6 months.”

    Are you serious? Someone actually told you that?

    $300 is $150 worth of links (since TLA doubles the cost and splits 50/50 with sellers) - or 10 links from run-of-the-mill sites. That isn’t nearly enough links to push a TBPR4 into a TBPR 6 no matter how long you keep a campaign running.

    Halfdeck said this on May 7th, 2008 at 7:23 pm

  16. I think everyone needs to be cognizant of any advertising they have on their blogs. I’m hooked up with Text Link Ads, and just got my first two “clients” so to speak. The listings look okay, nothing improper, so I’ve left them. I now make a small chunk of change, and I know it’s fine. However, if something came across that didn’t seem right, I’d be at their site getting rid of it pretty quickly.

    Mitch said this on October 19th, 2008 at 6:30 pm

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