Link to/from a site with the word hacker on it

[bob100]

I just got a link exchange request from the guys who control or are doing SEO for this site:

http://mile2.com

[requested link text below]
<a href="http://www.mile2.com " target="_blank"><b>Certified
Penetration Testing, Digital Forensics, Ethical Hacking - Mile2 </b></a>
Mile2 provides IT Security, Certified Ethical Hacker Training, Digital
Forensics, Penetration Testing, and more.


If you go there you will see they are trying to rank for the term 'Ethical Hacking' etc - they even have this in their link description text - see above - they want on my links page.

I told the guy I am not linking to any site with the words hack, hacker or hacking on it etc.

Was I right to worry about this.

These guys are still trying to convince me it is OK to do a link exchange with them.

Since there are a lot of people here who are a lot smarter then I, what do you guys think?

bob

###

[Tom Goodwin]

Ethical Hacking is legit, you should look it up. You can get certifications and get jobs with big corporations or the government with that sort of thing. I know lots of people get scared with the word "hacking", but there isn't anything negative about this.

Just my 2 cents.

Tom

Originally Posted by bob100

I just got a link exchange request from the guys who control or are doing SEO for this site:

http://mile2.com

[requested link text below]
<a href="http://www.mile2.com " target="_blank"><b>Certified
Penetration Testing, Digital Forensics, Ethical Hacking - Mile2 </b></a>
Mile2 provides IT Security, Certified Ethical Hacker Training, Digital
Forensics, Penetration Testing, and more.


If you go there you will see they are trying to rank for the term 'Ethical Hacking' etc - they even have this in their link description text - see above - they want on my links page.

I told the guy I am not linking to any site with the words hack, hacker or hacking on it etc.

Was I right to worry about this.

These guys are still trying to convince me it is OK to do a link exchange with them.

Since there are a lot of people here who are a lot smarter then I, what do you guys think?

bob

###

[JamesM]

You have absolutely nothing to worry about. The term 'hacker' has its roots in software engineering, and until Hollywood decided to pervert it's use it was generally considered a complement. What most people think of when they hear the term is more accurately described as a 'cracker'. Although the layman may not know the difference you can be certain that the guys at Google do. If the link request seemed genuine and the company looks legit you could consider the link exchange without any concerns. However, I'd question whether you should be linking to a company whose services you don't fully understand.

[bob100]

Originally Posted by Tom Goodwin

Ethical Hacking is legit, you should look it up. You can get certifications and get jobs with big corporations or the government with that sort of thing. I know lots of people get scared with the word "hacking", but there isn't anything negative about this.

Just my 2 cents.

Tom

I thought it might be ok but did not want to do anything stupid as the related site I own is a money machine and I don't want to screw it over.

bob

###

[bob100]

Originally Posted by JamesM

You have absolutely nothing to worry about. The term 'hacker' has its roots in software engineering, and until Hollywood decided to pervert it's use it was generally considered a complement. What most people think of when they hear the term is more accurately described as a 'cracker'. Although the layman may not know the difference you can be certain that the guys at Google do. If the link request seemed genuine and the company looks legit you could consider the link exchange without any concerns. However, I'd question whether you should be linking to a company whose services you don't fully understand.

I understand their services but still had the little voice in the back of my head saying hacking, hmmmm, maybe I should get some advice.

I understand lots of things pretty well but don't claim any kind of deep understanding of Google and how they think so thus the request for your opinions on it.

bob

###

[JamesM]

Sorry Bob, I didn't intend to come across negatively. I'm a programmer by trade, and would describe myself as a hacker to likeminded individuals, but would never use the term to, for instance, my Mom. I guess I missed the point of your question. I now realise that you weren't asking from an SEO standpoint, but from a public perception point of view. I guess that might change my answer somewhat - I suppose that appearing to be associated with a 'hacker' could leave a negative impression on a customer, especially if they're about to whip out their CC and make a payment! The problem is that once you have an insight into what the term really means you don't have a problem with it, but how many of your customers have this insight?

[bob100]

Originally Posted by JamesM

Sorry Bob, I didn't intend to come across negatively. I'm a programmer by trade, and would describe myself as a hacker to likeminded individuals, but would never use the term to, for instance, my Mom. I guess I missed the point of your question. I now realise that you weren't asking from an SEO standpoint, but from a public perception point of view. I guess that might change my answer somewhat - I suppose that appearing to be associated with a 'hacker' could leave a negative impression on a customer, especially if they're about to whip out their CC and make a payment! The problem is that once you have an insight into what the term really means you don't have a problem with it, but how many of your customers have this insight?

Actually I am more interested from a SEO point of view because I used to feel I understood SEO but that was back in 2005. Then all my PR5 sites fell back to PR2 or PR3 and things got more complicated with Google. I don't claim to understand how Google thinks about such things. I don't think they would penalize my site for linking to a site with the words I mentioned but heck, I am not 100% sure so I wanted some insight form more knowledgeable people. That is why I visit the warrior forum.

My website is more of an info site about different types of certification with adsense on it but it does very well due to the high paying clicks.

I own an ISP but I hire people to do things such as program my cisco router etc. Sure I can log in and execute some basic commands but that does not make me some kind of guru. When it counts I find experts. Such is the case in trying to understand Google and what they consider when it comes to the subject of hacking or in this case "certified hacking".

Just trying to be careful and not do something really stupid because I thought I knew and really did not. That is the type of guy am when it comes to a money making website and any possibility of screwing it up.

I thought maybe Google might have some little hellish category reserved for hacking sites they might want to keep out of the search results. Usually Google is pretty smart but you never know when something that should be easy might trip them up and cause your site to be classified as something it is not.

bob

[CliveG]

In these situations I usually take the view if I have to ask myself the question the answer is don't do it.

You can put forward all sorts of arguments that it is OK but many people will jump to an immediate conclusion without thinking and you don't really want that.