"Paying for links in and by itself is not a Black Hat technique," says Thad Kahlow, a managing partner at Business Online. "You should buy relevant links because you believe that the traffic will provide a positive ROI on the cost of the link, rather than the potential lift the links might provide to your SEO efforts. You get into trouble when you start purchasing links for the sole purpose of increasing your search rankings."
For example, if you're in the manufacturing business, you'll want to list your website on a manufacturing directory like ThomasNet.
"If you're in the business of building and manufacturing ball bearings and you're listed in ThomasNet's directory, you're paying for it," Kahlow says. "In our opinion, that's a good place for you to be, a good place for you to pay, and Google should reward you for it. There is that gray area where it makes sense."
Kahlow added that if it's very relevant and the intent is pure, he's willing to pony up some money to help out a client. "We like to look at linking from a very long-term perspective, and we will supplement that as necessary. If you buy a paid link in a directory or resource, it's relevant, links to your content, and it's a pure path, then Google will often recognize that."
However, Kahlow was quick to point out that link buying should never be the first step of any SEO strategy. "Everyone can justify it, but I would definitely say that link buying should not be the first or last place where you put your chips from a linking perspective," he says.
Domain buyingDomain buying is another SEO gray area that can quickly boost your search rankings, but it's a practice that can ultimately lead to a sharp drop if Google finds out. In fact, some SEOs prefer to keep their distance from the practice and would rather not go on the record discussing it.
Domain buying is as simple as it sounds: the practice of buying an active domain name and inheriting the PageRank (or "link juice") that comes with that website. If you then redirect that website to your current domain -- the one you are trying to boost rankings for -- it theoretically gets a boost in the search ranks.
The practice has grown rather sophisticated, with some SEOs buying up thousands of dollars worth of domains and pointing the link juice to whatever website they want on any given day. The practice is especially helpful for new businesses and brand new websites trying to climb their way to the top of the search ranks. All they have to do is take a big gulp of an established domain's link juice.
Of course, there's a fine line when it comes to domain buying. Google does see a clear difference between buying a domain name to add to your business portfolio, as opposed to buying one simply for the purpose of using its PageRank.
"There are some instances in which it's absolutely fine," Google's Lasnik says. "With some companies, a domain might be hard to spell, and buying permutations of that is absolutely OK. What is a problem is when people are buying in an attempt to deceive search engines. It makes users unhappy, and that comes back and makes us unhappy."
The downsideLike link buying, practicing domain buying also means you run the risk of being demoted in Google results. If you own a picture framing website and buy up multiple domains that all contain the same content, Google looks at that as deceiving the users.
Then there's the general difficulty in the practice itself. Google has indicated that whenever a domain's registered owner is changed, that domain's link value drops to zero. Of course, you can get around this by never officially changing a domain's registered owner, but it's only a matter of time before Google catches you based on the redirects.
"If you need to show rankings and traffic, and you're getting out of business in the next six months, then I would say it's a great idea," Kahlow says. "But if you haven't taken a long-term approach, then [your search rankings are] all going to drop, and you're going to be at ground zero."
Then there's the other side of the coin -- buying up multiple domains and pointing them to your website could be very costly for you, and ultimately do absolutely nothing. If you buy a website solely for its PageRank, and that website's link value resets to zero, you've just spent all that money for naught.
"If you're redirecting and not putting up a doorway page, that's OK, with one caveat: as a webmaster, I wouldn't expect PageRank from that," Lasnik says. You got caught. What now?Luckily for all SEOs and webmasters, Google isn't in the practice of permanently banning SEO sinners from its search Eden. In fact, the search giant is well aware that there are dozens of SEO myths out there, and it has set up a variety of tools to assist SEOs and webmasters, the foremost of which is Webmaster Central, which contains a forum where SEO castaways can go with questions if their search rankings drop.
In cases where the SEO infraction appears to be inadvertent, Google will notify the webmaster to explain the problem. But in cases of blatant deception of the engine's algorithms, there is no note.
"In a large majority of cases, these SEOs have a lot of pressure from clients and they are trying to do right by them," Lasnik says. "Sometimes they push the envelope and hope the search engines don't catch them. Then they do, and they're saying 'I got caught, what now?' I certainly wouldn't advise that, because your client will be unhappy if they're out of the index."
Getting reinstated in the search rankings takes time, and the search giant has a four-step process for getting back on track: Determine what went wrong. In most cases, it's a Google webmaster guideline that has been violated.
Solve the problem. In the case of doorway pages related to domain buying, get rid of them. With link buying, it's a much harder and lengthier process. If you purchased links on a blog, you'll have to contact those bloggers, and they in turn will have to remove the links to your website.
File a reconsideration request. Within Google's webmaster tools, there are full instructions for a filing a reconsideration request. You'll want to explain what happened, notify them that it's fixed, and tell the search engine that you won't use that deceptive trick again. A team from Google then reviews the request and checks your website to make sure any violations have been cleaned up.Stay away from the tricks. "This is probably a given -- don't it again," Lasnik says.In the end, link and domain buying can be helpful in the short term, but you're essentially shooting yourself in the foot. While Google offers the opportunity for a website to redeem itself, the process can take some time.
In the case of link buying, you have to record the links, document them, contact the other webmasters to fix the problem, and then notify Google. It's a process that can take weeks, even months, and it's hardly something you want to do repeatedly.
With domain buying, you're looking at a very short window of opportunity to boost your website before Google finds out, and another costly endeavor.
"When you're thinking tricks, it's typically better, in a long-term perspective, to think content and accessibility," Lasnik says. "What I've seen in the past, talking to webmasters at conferences, is that they try all the time to do the latest trick, but when it comes down to it, their website still isn't accessible."
Every SEO expert interviewed for this story emphasized that while these tricks work in the short term, they're hardly ever worth the net gain. The keys to SEO success lie in accessibility and developing content that Google deems the most relevant to the user. Inbound links work, but the best way to generate those is through time and communication, not through the wallet.
"Rankings are earned," Clay says. "If you spend the time to earn them, then you'll have the time to keep them. As long as you do legitimate things, you're off the search engines' radar. The minute you start doing anything wrong with this stuff, they know you, and they'll start looking at everything else you're doing wrong. I don't see why you'd want to put yourself in harm's way."
"Rankings are earned," Clay says. "If you spend the time to earn them, then you'll have the time to keep them. As long as you do legitimate things, you're off the search engines' radar. The minute you start doing anything wrong with this stuff, they know you, and they'll start looking at everything else you're doing wrong. I don't see why you'd want to put yourself in harm's way."
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