Avoiding Google's links penatlies

I haven't posted blogging tips in quite some time. One of the reasons is I haven't had anything new to offer. Well, that I got around to writing about.

Anyway, I ran across an article the other day about what Google has done to penalize Websites, particularly blogs, that are doing things that Google considers improper. The article is actually a couple of years old, but it does have some good information. I remember when Google started doing some of the things mentioned and the uproar it caused. However, Google's intent for this is, I believe, correct.

Some of the things that you shouldn't do include:

Link exchanges

Truth be told, I got away from that a long time ago. My links policy is, and for years has been "We don't do that." Here's the full policy.

Google came to this conclusion because it artificially raised a blogs' status. This little blog even benefitted from that. However, I began to get requests for link exchanges from, well, all kinds of blogs. Some were pretty much useless and were for the sole purpose of showing ads.

I finally decided that if someone was linking to me simply because I was linking to them, then my content wasn't something they'd normally link to. If they were legit, a link to my blog was actually a disservice to them. And, of course, the same was true from my end. So, my policy became I'll link to you if you want, whether or not I link back. And I won't promise to link to you. If I want to, I will, and if I don't I won't. Treat me the same way.

My reason wasn't exactly the same as Google's, but the result was the same. No link exchanges.

Don't do it.

Blog networks

Google doesn't like blog networks. They feel it artificially raises the members' status. And they're correct.

Some networks were created solely for the purpose of raising blog status. Some were for other reasons. I've participated in both.

A network for the sake of helping readers interested in certain topics easily find other blogs of interest is, I think, a good thing. But, those networks still do artificially raise the status of members. I understand Google's reasons for this. It's unfortunate (for interest networks, not links networks) but it's a reality.

There are 15 more items the article talks about. It's actually a pretty good read, despite being over two years old. Read it here.