Is this bad for seo for my site?

[gorentals]

I recently purchased advertising on a vbulletin forum site and am placed in the footer. My backlinks from this site are way over 1,000 and climbing. Since its on every page on the forum, is this going to hurt my ratings in the search engines? Thanks for any advice you might have.

[gorentals]

Thanks seomachester, I wasn't sure if google would punish me for it or not. Most of the backlinks are garbage, like the member profile pages, etc. Still trying to figure out the search engines.

[PatriciaJ]

Sitewide links only count as one but they should be nofollow

[Adam H]

1. First question is the forum related to the niche you are in ?

2. Second, if you were to look at that footer would you automatically assume that those links are paid links , are there some unrelated, how many links are there. etc etc etc.

If the answers to the above is 1. no , 2. Yes then its probably not a good idea to have brought them .

[gorentals]

Thanks Patricia, I believe they are follow links, so I assume this is a bad thing then? In market samurai it shows up as having a ton of backlinks.

If they are nofollow, then would my site recieve any credit being on the pr4 forum?

Thanks

[gorentals]

Adam, yeah i'm thinking I will have to pay more just to be listed on just the home page. So I wonder if google will punish my site once i'm removed from the footer page(with all those backlinks).

[omk]

Well, if it is a quality forum that relates well to your nich product or service, it will help you. If the opposite holds true, you're screwed!

[John Romaine]

Originally Posted by PatriciaJ

Sitewide links only count as one

WRONG.

Sitewide links count for each individual page from that domain. This is a method not only I, but many others use here, and it WORKS.

[gorentals]

confused more then ever now. Yes the site I am advertising has really nothing to do with my niche, it just was a Pr4 site. I'm really thinking I should remove it from the footer page and have it posted on the home.

[Alexa Smith]

Originally Posted by gorentals

Yes the site I am advertising has really nothing to do with my niche, it just was a Pr4 site.

Sites don't "have page rank".

Only pages have page rank.

I suspect that what you really mean is that the home page of the site has PR-4?

Almost all the pages on which you have your backlink will be PR-0, most likely, and if they're also non-context-relevant, then the value of their additional backlinks to you will be absolutely minuscule.

Johnny (above) is quite right, of course ... but the additional benefit here is "academic", perhaps.

Don't let the people selling backlinks on PR-0 pages of sites with higher-PR home pages know that it was me who told you, but relevance is far more important than page rank.

Originally Posted by gorentals

I'm really thinking I should remove it from the footer page and have it posted on the home.

I'm really thinking you should stop thinking about page ranks and get some relevant backlinks to your site.

[tehnolife]

You need to get relevant backlinks to be a "good man" in google eyes.

If you get 100 irrelevant backlinks to your site , and 1 relevant backlink from an authority blog/site in your niche, for sure the 1 backlink will be much more powerfull and will help you more in ranking high on google.

[PatriciaJ]

Originally Posted by gorentals

Thanks Patricia, I believe they are follow links, so I assume this is a bad thing then? In market samurai it shows up as having a ton of backlinks.

If they are nofollow, then would my site recieve any credit being on the pr4 forum?

Thanks

It depends on whether Google perceive it as paying for links.

Originally Posted by ramone_johnny

WRONG.

Sitewide links count for each individual page from that domain. This is a method not only I, but many others use here, and it WORKS.

I checked this out when a customer wanted to advertise on one of my sites last year. The customer was worried that sitewide would cause a problem with Google and was prepared to pay more for a homepage link rather than sitewide. I found something on Google Webmaster saying that sitewide links were counted as one by Google, but they raised a flag as far as paid links are concerned.

[Alexa Smith]

Originally Posted by PatriciaJ

I found something on Google Webmaster saying that sitewide links were counted as one by Google, but they raised a flag as far as paid links are concerned.

Interesting ... but clearly a little difficult to interpret, Patricia: that would surely apply, if true, to all "blogroll" links, because the sidebars are usually (by definition) on every page? ... Hence my being a real skepchick about this ...

[PatriciaJ]

Originally Posted by Alexa Smith

Interesting ... but clearly a little difficult to interpret, Patricia: that would surely apply, if true, to all "blogroll" links, because the sidebars are usually (by definition) on every page? ... Hence my being a real skepchick about this ...

blog roll, side bar, footer, they are all sitewide unless you use something like XSitePro where you can have a different sidebar for each page. If I get time I'll search for the info, but it makes sense that Google are aware of sitewide links and are highly unlikely to count or value a sitewide link on a site or blog with thousands of pages as more links or higher value than a single home page link.

[Multi]

Originally Posted by PatriciaJ

Sitewide links only count as one but they should be nofollow

Says who?

Sure, sitewide links are discounted after a certain point, but they count as more than 1 link, and the "discount" only applies to a portion of the links. Think about it - by placing a sitewide link, that website is basically telling Google that your site is so important it deserves a link on every single page. If Google is valuing the website the sitewide is placed on, they'll follow the links and credit your site accordingly.

This has been my experience for dozens and dozens of website. I use them on every single website I promote. When I login to Google Webmaster Tools, for example, under "Top Backlinks" Google is showing nearly 5,000 links that it's counting from a single site.

To say that sitewide links aren't valuable is very shortsighted.

[Alexa Smith]

Originally Posted by PatriciaJ

it makes sense that Google are aware of sitewide links and are highly unlikely to count or value a sitewide link on a site or blog with thousands of pages as more links or higher value than a single home page link.

Well ... I respectfully disagree.

To me, it makes no sense, if you'll excuse my saying so.

Nor does it match my own observations - nor does it match what I've read in any SEO textbooks at all.

My own belief (partly because it's that of everyone's I've read in textbooks, I admit) is that the additional link-juice value of backlinks from multiple pages on the same site declines as the numbers grow: in other words, there's a "law of diminishing returns" about it, such that 10 backlinks are much better than 1, but 100 backlinks maybe only a little bit better than 10. To me, this sounds far more plausible and reasonable. The idea that having hundreds of links from a site is worth no more than having one link makes no sense to me at all (especially when you think that different pages on multiple-page sites nearly always have different page ranks themselves and that the home page doesn't have to be the page with the highest PR at all).

However I can't offer any direct proof or evidence of what I'm saying at all, and clearly you're no less entitled to your view than I am, I freely admit.

[PatriciaJ]

Originally Posted by Multi

Says who?

Sure, sitewide links are discounted after a certain point, but they count as more than 1 link, and the "discount" only applies to a portion of the links. Think about it - by placing a sitewide link, that website is basically telling Google that your site is so important it deserves a link on every single page. If Google is valuing the website the sitewide is placed on, they'll follow the links and credit your site accordingly.

This has been my experience for dozens and dozens of website. I use them on every single website I promote. When I login to Google Webmaster Tools, for example, under "Top Backlinks" Google is showing nearly 5,000 links that it's counting from a single site.

To say that sitewide links aren't valuable is very shortsighted.

Not short sighted, more likely the opposite. Sitewide links are are often paid for links, links to your own or friends sites, affiliate links. They are links that make Google suspicious because they are not natural and look like and often are an attempt at manipulation. This is why they get devalued sooner or later.

Google may show that you have lots of links from one site but I doubt very much that Google thinks that your site is so important that it deserves a link on every page. More likely it will be flagged sooner or later as manipulation unless the links are nofollow.

[RankMaster]

Originally Posted by PatriciaJ

Not short sighted, more likely the opposite. Sitewide links are are often paid for links, links to your own or friends sites, affiliate links. They are links that make Google suspicious because they are not natural and look like and often are an attempt at manipulation. This is why they get devalued sooner or later.

Google may show that you have lots of links from one site but I doubt very much that Google thinks that your site is so important that it deserves a link on every page. More likely it will be flagged sooner or later as manipulation unless the links are nofollow.

Remember a lot of information that Google puts out is mis-information to scare webmasters and SEO consultants. I don't take anything from Google Webmaster guidelines as set rules. I test and see the results myself.

[John Romaine]

Originally Posted by RankMaster

I test and see the results myself.

Exactly.

This is a technique that I have tested extensively since 2004, and its never failed me. Infact Ive found it to be one of the most effective backlinking strategies.

I can also say that I have links placed on sites with absolutely no relevance at all, and they have helped boost my rankings.

[PatriciaJ]

Originally Posted by RankMaster

Remember a lot of information that Google puts out is mis-information to scare webmasters and SEO consultants.

That's true enough, and all the more reason not to trust Google. There are a lot of varied opinions and that includes people who say that their sites were harmed by sitewide links. I used sitewide links because of the advertising benefits, more chances of clickthroughs, but when an advertiser paid me more for a home page link than a sitewide and I read the stuff against sitewide I became more careful and stopped using sitewide for my newer sites, or made them nofollow. You just never know when Google are going to kick your butt.

Originally Posted by ramone_johnny

Exactly.

I can also say that I have links placed on sites with absolutely no relevance at all, and they have helped boost my rankings.

Yes I've got links on sites with no relevance and those links have helped. I also keep seeing stuff about article directory links not being worth much but some of my sites only have article directory links and they rank high for several keywords. So the links are worth plenty to me.

[dadamson]

So much rehashed bs on this forum!

This kind of link would be great!

Even better if the forum is on topic to your site.

Better again if it is a do follow link

Better again if it is a busy forum

Better again that it's a pr4 forum

Hmmm what are the cons, I guess if there are a lot of outbound links on all of the pages that you have a link on or if the forum is obviously off topic.. But guess what, it's not a bad thing, it just won't be bad..

In no way would you be 'screwed'.. These backlinks just wouldn't count as much.