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Grey Hat Back-Link Technique Question

by Infinite Shades of Grey
13 replies
  • SEO
    • |
Just a hypothetical:

A person is creating back links on niche relevant news stories and blogs... and as the anchor text for their signature, they use the name of prominent competitor.

Your thoughts?
#backlink #grey #hat #question #technique
  • Profile picture of the author 747eagle
    I personally would not do that.
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    • Profile picture of the author Janeth
      It's a good way to upset the competition. However, in most cases you want put them out of the number 1 spot without a lot of links.

      And in most cases the competition is going to do what they need to do to push you out of the top 10 and return the favor by trying to rank for your name.

      Is it black hat, I don't think so but it's a tough game to play and can come back and bite you, if you aren't careful.
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      • Profile picture of the author Gary King
        Originally Posted by Janeth View Post

        It's a good way to upset the competition. However, in most cases you want put them out of the number 1 spot without a lot of links.

        And in most cases the competition is going to do what they need to do to push you out of the top 10 and return the favor by trying to rank for your name.

        Is it black hat, I don't think so but it's a tough game to play and can come back and bite you, if you aren't careful.
        Hey Janeth, welcome! Think I've run across your postings on webpro, no?
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        • Profile picture of the author Janeth
          Originally Posted by Gary King View Post

          Hey Janeth, welcome! Think I've run across your postings on webpro, no?
          Yes, I've not been on the forums very much in the last couple years, kind of got burned out. But thanks for the welcome, seems to be a really nice forum.

          Originally Posted by jasonmorgan

          You ask this like it hasn't been happening for years now. How else am I supposed to sell "Nike Shoes" , "Viagra" and "Gilmore Girls" DVDs

          People do it everyday with their anchor texts without even thinking about it.
          I believe trying to rank for Nike while selling Nike shoes would be different then Rebook trying to rank for Nike.

          I might have misunderstood the question, but we had a competitor try and rank for one of
          our clients domain names a couple years ago and in return we ranked for their name. I was extremely surprised, at the time, with the amount of traffic that could be obtained by ranking for a competitor's name.

          But again, I might have misunderstood the question.
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  • Profile picture of the author timpears
    Maybe I am not too bright, but what is the point of giving your competitors more back links? What am I missing?.

    I wouldn't do it either as I think it is pretty stupid. But, as I said, I must be missing something.
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    Tim Pears

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  • Profile picture of the author Infinite Shades of Grey
    The idea is: a competitor has higher name recognition. When a person searches their name, your link comes up.
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  • Profile picture of the author Infinite Shades of Grey
    If you google "drudge", the "drudge retort" comes up, too.
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  • Profile picture of the author EvanScott
    I stay away from Grey hat techniques. I never needed them and have done fine without.
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  • Profile picture of the author debra
    Originally Posted by Infinite Shades of Grey View Post

    Just a hypothetical:

    A person is creating back links on niche relevant news stories and blogs... and as the anchor text for their signature, they use the name of prominent competitor.

    Your thoughts?
    I get it. Your competitor has a branding that has a large search volume and you want to capitalize on that.

    Just make sure that the phrase is not trademarked.

    FYI:

    What he's trying to do is take a phrase that has been branded to another group and leach off that effort of buzz in the serps.

    Like the term "Just Do It" was coined by Nike. He's talking about using the phrase "Just Do It" as an anchor (in commemting aka. user name) and point it to his product/service.

    Perfectly white hat....just so you fussy ones know.

    And widely used technique. Just make sure it's not a phrase that has been trademarked to a brand. aka Kindle
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  • Profile picture of the author Gary King
    Yep, as Debra says (hey Deb), it's trying to rank for someone else's name/product etc.

    Just like doing review sites/CPA stuff - you optimize for pink weasel plr because they are running the latest affiliate program and you know the tire-kickers will be searching for them... i dunno, pinkweaselreview.com or pinkweaselscam.com anyone?

    Works for names too - Jimmy Joe Jackson Smith is selling the latest hotcake thingie. JimmyJoeJacksonSmithInfo.com tries to rank for his name to sell his stuff as an affiliate.

    Deb's point about trademark is *very* important here folks.
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  • Profile picture of the author juniorbiz
    Yeah I agree with debra

    I don't see a problem with that, maybe you guys are reading it in the wrong context. It's like trying to rank for some guru's name or a product as long as it's not trademarked. People do that all the time, for like IM guru's product launches, or amazon products.

    If you're an affiliate and you know a well-respected guru that doesn't mind, you could try ranking for their name and have a kind of review site for their products. Of course, I'm not saying it would be easy.
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  • Profile picture of the author jasonmorgan
    Just a hypothetical:

    A person is creating back links on niche relevant news stories and blogs... and as the anchor text for their signature, they use the name of prominent competitor.

    Your thoughts?
    You ask this like it hasn't been happening for years now. How else am I supposed to sell "Nike Shoes" , "Viagra" and "Gilmore Girls" DVDs

    People do it everyday with their anchor texts without even thinking about it.
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    I'm all about that bass.

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  • Profile picture of the author Goatboy
    I think it sounds like normal business. The only thing I can think of that might be trouble is using a trademarked name or slogan to sell a product that doesn't belong to that product.

    I've heard of some people who tried to optimize on the "Got Milk" slogan a few years back and wound up getting a lawsuit. I expect "heartbeat of America" could get you into trouble too, expecially if you are selling Ford parts.

    It seems to me that to at least some degree, the use of the phrase, name or slogan will depend on what you are selling. For instance, if you use the keyword "Campbell's Soup" to link to a website selling Campbell's soup mugs and other fan items, Campbells probably won't have much problem with you. If, however, you are linking to a website selling non-Campbell's brands of soups, you might have trouble if your site grows popular enough to show up on Campbell's legal radar.
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