Linky party buttons under attack by Google?
Following on from the post about Google thinking your blog comment is spam, Google may also be thinking that your linky party button is part of a subversive and devious link scheme designed to manipulate the Google search engine results. Really!
If you run a linky party on your site, the chances are that you publish a pretty button to brand your party. You may feature it in the party post and offer it to readers if they would like to use it. All very well. But you may go further than this – you may say that in order to link up, the blogger should include the button either in their post, in the sidebar or on a linky party page. Or you may even say that in order to have the chance to be featured on your site, the blogger must display the party button or a link back to your site.
And you are doomed by Google to be considered a devious link builder who is trying to manipulate page ranking and search engine results.
Page rank or page authority is passed from one site to another by way of links. If you link out to a site, you are effectively recommending it, giving it a vote, and Google counts all those votes and gives your site a Page Rank, named after Larry Page who first developed this system. The more votes you have, the higher your rank. And votes from sites with a high page rank, count more than votes from lower ranked sites. But if you attempt to gather additional links to your site other than by the usual organic means, Google will want to look into this and know why. Because sites and pages with a higher page rank get a better search engine result too.
Examples to look through
Read here from Google all about what they consider to be inappropriate Link Schemes –
https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/66356
And you can also watch this Google video about links, and although this discusses primarily paid links such as sponsored posts, items for review, anything for which you were paid, the same applies to your link-building too as it is not natural and organic.
{UPDATE: So also this video from Google about including links in Widgets where people copy and paste a code that links back to you – this could also apply to the code you give with your link party button.}
You can read more about how Business to Blogger recently came to the attention of Google for their badge and Holly asked all of her 9,200 members to change the badge code to include a no-follow link address.
What do you need to do?
So what can you do to make sure you don’t upset Google with your party or blog button, and risk loosing your search engine traffic? You have to change the link to a ‘no-follow’ link so that the link does not count for Page Rank. The link will still work, but the site with the button does not pass ‘link juice’ to your site, protecting both the linking and the linked sites.
Simply insert the rel=”nofollow” attribute to the link and Google will no longer count it for Page Rank or possibly penalize you for offering it.
For example – Old link to your site – <a href=”http://moms-make-money.com”>Moms Make Money </a>
New link to your site – <a href=”http://moms-make-money.com” rel=”nofollow”>Moms Make Money </a>
What about existing buttons?
There’s not much you can do about the existing buttons on sidebars and posts from before. You can ask bloggers to remove or change them to the new code like Holly did in her post above. But do offer the new button code going forward, and make sure to use the no-follow code when posting buttons and links on your own site too.
Authored by: Deby at Moms Make Money
Image courtesy of chanpipat/ FreeDigitalPhotos.net
July 15, 2013 @ 11:28 pm
Very interesting thanks for sharing. I love learning more about the blog world.
July 16, 2013 @ 2:32 am
Seriously!? I can’t believe all this info you are giving, I would never have found out otherwise. Thanks so much!
July 16, 2013 @ 4:53 am
We were docked our page rank last year when Google busted us for not using no-follow. We installed a plug-in to fix the problem, filled out some paperwork and Google gave my page rank back…it was a hassle. Wish I had known before that. 🙁
Visiting from Ladybug Blessings.
July 16, 2013 @ 7:59 am
Sorry to hear that Stacy. I’m surprised that this post has been out a few days and hasn’t attracted a lot of attention – this could be a real problem as you found out.
July 16, 2013 @ 9:10 am
Deby – so what if you’re the person who has the Linky Party page? Does having all of those links – no doubt as “follow” links – hurt your SEO as well? Should I be changing all of those links to “no follow”?
July 16, 2013 @ 11:01 am
I think that you should certainly change all of the links to no-follow. Not only will it help to protect the sites you are linking too, but you don’t want Google to mistakenly think that you are helping other sites to manipulate search results. I know they hate useless ‘directory’ sites so we don’t want our ilinky party pages to be incorrectly marked as such.
August 24, 2013 @ 1:59 pm
If you are the linky host an easier way is to no index the page.
August 24, 2013 @ 2:35 pm
Can you explain more about what you mean for this – I’m intrigued. My thinking is that most linky buttons would usually link to the home page of the site, not a separate category page for the linky parties, so unless you wanted to noindex your home page, I don’t know how this would work.
April 25, 2014 @ 6:22 pm
According to Inlinkz, all the links in their link parties are already set to “No follow” for exactly this reason. There is no option to change them. http://blog.inlinkz.com/2014/03/are-your-links-nofollow-will-google-penalize-me-for-using-inlinkz/
July 16, 2013 @ 9:30 am
This is great information. Thank you for sharing it.
July 16, 2013 @ 10:36 am
Wow, great info on this post and your other post about blog comments that I saw on the Homework link party. I never would have known any of this! I have one sponsored post that I just went in and quickly changed those links to no follow, but I’m thinking of all the blogging buddies I have that have link parties and hope they don’t get dinged. It’s a fine line with Google I guess between networking with other blogs and spamming. Thank you for sharing this. Sharon
July 16, 2013 @ 10:58 am
Yes, I HATE it that Google effectively runs the internet. Really, of course they don’t but their search is so huge that if we want traffic to our sites we need to make sure our sites comply with their policies in order to be included in their search results. They are doing it for everyone’s benefit so that we get real results in our search and not some of those rubbish sites – but with so much to look through they have to have an automated system to filter results and sometimes a site can look like spam when it is not. So we need to know about and understand their policies to get the best traffic to our sites. Bah – Google.
July 16, 2013 @ 4:07 pm
This is so true. i just had another site who has talked about her fight with Google for the past few months trying to get off the blacklist for this very reason.
July 16, 2013 @ 5:07 pm
Hi Traci, thanks for the confirmation. Would you mind sharing the link to the other post, I would find it really interesting to read about a real case.
July 16, 2013 @ 6:58 pm
Oh my! Looks like I need to fix my linky party page! Thanks for the info.
July 17, 2013 @ 2:32 am
Thanks for the tip, Traci! Just made my entire link party page no-follow. And I’m glad to see the Moms Make Money is still up and running and doing its part to make the bloggy world a better place. Thank you for ALL that you do.
July 17, 2013 @ 6:16 am
Wow, I had absolutely no idea about this, thanks for the info! Off to fix my linky party page…
Jenn
July 17, 2013 @ 8:47 am
I don’t have a linky party, but found this very interesting. It seems that the blogging world is constantly changing! I’ve only been blogging for a few months and there are always new things popping up. Love your site!!
Gina
July 17, 2013 @ 10:20 am
Thanks for the information. You’re right that you have to “play the game” but link parties are part of the game and one of the easier methods for driving traffic. Thanks for the information. It will be helpful to many bloggers, I’m sure.
July 17, 2013 @ 10:41 am
Interesting! I never thought about this. I appreciate the information. There seem to be so many Google rules these days….
July 17, 2013 @ 7:43 pm
I guess after reading your post and the comments I need to add “no follow” to my buttons on my link party page. It was really just a way I kept up with parties I enjoy.
July 17, 2013 @ 8:12 pm
Wow, as always this is very helpful! I have added the “no follow” to all the linky badges I use regularly, and will be going back to add to those I currently have posted. Happily, I haven’t been doing linky parties for long, so this was very timely!
July 18, 2013 @ 2:51 am
GREAT info! I had no idea, so this was a timely post. Thanks!
July 18, 2013 @ 7:31 am
I love your helpful blogging posts and always get excited when I see you’ve posted a new one! I’ve just started a link party myself and found this information incredibly useful.
July 18, 2013 @ 9:34 am
Deby,
You have such great tips – thanks so much for sharing this information about link parties.
Ang
Juggling Act Mama
July 18, 2013 @ 2:13 pm
Thank you, Deby, for explaining this and walking us through it in straight forward ‘layman’s’ terms. I’m exhausted working at all the ins and outs of this blogging business. This post was exactly what I needed!
July 18, 2013 @ 7:07 pm
Awesome.. Thanks so much for sharing this great piece of information.. I must add the “nofollow” attributes to my buttons too.. 🙂 Have a great day.
July 18, 2013 @ 9:23 pm
Wow – every time I turn around they change something! And it seems that instead of them hurting the spammers, they end up hurting us and small business websites.
July 18, 2013 @ 11:48 pm
I don’t like how much control and how much say Google has on our blogs. What is more valuable? Having your buttons visible for everyone to see and click and know you exist – OR – the possibility of being found in a Google search? That is the question. What do you need the Google PR for? http://www.prchecker.info/check_page_rank.php (in case you want to check your page rank). If people are finding you by your buttons and other ways then that takes away some of Google’s control and it bugs them. They want to be able to promote the people that “PAY” them to be promoted – that is all it is. You get higher in the searches by paying and they don’t want you to be found unless they help people find you. That is all – sorry for the rant. Blessings Honey
July 19, 2013 @ 7:53 am
Very interesting post.
I wanted to follow but can’t find a Google Friends link….??
July 19, 2013 @ 7:15 pm
Sorry, I don’t use Google friends, but you can use any of the other channels, Facebook, Twitter, Google Plus or sign up for the newsletter to get a weekly round up of posts. Or add the URL to your RSS reader. Lots of ways to follow.
July 19, 2013 @ 10:57 am
I think its too bad that Google is going to take those links into account. I’ve never “required” a button for my link party, so anyone that has one has chosen to post my button {or link to my party} I don’t like that I am being penalized now :o) regarding your post I was reading that blogger automatically adds no follow links to any hyperlinks left in my comments. Do you know anything about that? I’ve been busy deleting comments based on your post … but now think I may not need to…
July 20, 2013 @ 1:09 pm
Excellent information. I immediately added the rel=”nofollow” tag to my button codes. Thanks for sharing! I am pinning this.
July 20, 2013 @ 9:05 pm
You’re teaching me something new every day! Thank You!
July 20, 2013 @ 11:49 pm
Thanks for the tip, I just run to my blog to change my entire link party page no-follow. Thank you for ALL the tips and advises you share. Geezzzz Google makes blogging more and more difficult for us, even though I know it is for our benefits at the end, but still is getting hard to keep up! Sharing and pining!
XOXO
Cami @ TitiCrafty
July 21, 2013 @ 6:17 pm
excellent information on Google’s way of thinking about our party buttons. Seems like everyday we learn something new and it’s hard to the keep up with the information changing pretty much as fast as we update it! I pinned it for future reference when I get a linky party going.
July 21, 2013 @ 9:56 pm
Yet one more way Google is trying to make life harder.
Ironically, stopping in from a link up party!
July 22, 2013 @ 2:23 pm
Google is really trying to crack down and it’s getting pretty frustrating! Thanks bunches for keeping us informed though. Great info!!
July 22, 2013 @ 9:33 pm
I didn’t understand why you would use the no follow tag before. This makes sense. Thanks for explaining how this all works.
July 22, 2013 @ 9:54 pm
You are very welcome Betty. Thanks for letting me know this was useful for you.
July 24, 2013 @ 1:01 pm
Wow this stinks I’ve been doing linkys for a long time my party page is huge and I have a featured page with other buttons. Any quick way to do this? Plugin? If so what plugin? Thanks for linking up!
Kim
July 24, 2013 @ 5:46 pm
Hmm, not that I can think of. I just copied rel=”nofollow” to the clipboard and then went through the html on my link page and added it into each link with CTL +V. It actually didn’t take me too long once I got started.
July 24, 2013 @ 4:40 pm
Stopping by to let you know I am featuring you tomorrow on Made in a Day! Thanks for linking up!
Kim
July 25, 2013 @ 6:47 am
Thanks so much for sharing this! I’m stopping by from Lambert’s Lately. Luckily, I already include the rel=”nofollow” tag on all the featured and link party buttons I put on my sight. Its recommended that you should also do this for paid links too (like ads). Check out this tutorial for more info on all the html attributes: http://www.w3schools.com/TAGS/att_a_rel.asp.
July 25, 2013 @ 9:33 am
Congratulations…this post was featured on lambertslately.com Create It Thursday this week! Thanks so much for sharing such a fabulous idea!
July 27, 2013 @ 9:36 am
Good information. I do have a couple questions though…
#1 I don’t require a link back or a button. They are available, it’s up to them. Should I still change my coding?
#2 I have a link party page, but I have that page listed as no-index. Should I still make all those links no-follow?
July 27, 2013 @ 2:59 pm
I would recommend that you make the button code nofollow for your own party. Even if it is voluntary, Google can still ‘misunderstand’ your intentions and penalise you like they did with Holly. I would say that your link party page is fine as it is, no need to go through and amend.
July 28, 2013 @ 11:40 am
I link back to the parties at the bottom of my post by using a text link, then I have a page for the link party buttons. Is this bad? If so, what can I do to change it? Thanks again for another informational post!
July 28, 2013 @ 5:30 pm
It’s those in receipt of the link, or those hosting the parties that are in danger of being penalised by Google for unnatural link building activities. But to protect those bloggers who might be unaware of the risk, you could consider checking that the link/button code includes the no follow link. If you have a party page, then you can change it just once so its not too bad, and then check and change the text links you use, so you can copy and paste the same amended ones next time. Might be a bit of an exercise, but search engine traffic is worth it!
September 14, 2013 @ 3:26 pm
Hey Deby,
The problem I see is that if I ask my readers to change my blog button to a no follow link, then I’ll have a LOT of links pointing from my website to theirs (in the actual party) and me, not having links back (since they are no follow)
So I don’t know what’s worse. The fact that Google thinks I am somehow manipulating links (even though a blog button is not an ad, since I don’t pay these people to put my blog button, they do it cuz they want it) or the fact that I “recommend” all those posts (the ones on the party, that are “do follow” links) and no body recommending me back.
What you think?
Thanks!
September 15, 2013 @ 8:34 am
Hi Blanca. The thing to take from the article I think is that you can protect your site by adding the nofollow to your own code. It all depends on how valuable you think your search engine traffic is to you – if it were all to go away, overnight, and not come back, would this be terrible? The links in your button will still be there and will still direct readers to your site, but not pass Page Rank. It seems page rank authority is becoming less important to Google anyway – there used to be 4 updates a year, then this year only 1 so far.
September 15, 2013 @ 8:38 am
Its definitely very important to me, since I get a lot of people from Google. But my readers enjoy the link parties, so I don’t wanna stop hosting/organizing them, but I’m not sure how can I do that without too much harm
Anyway, thanks for your reply! That was very nice of you!
xo,
B.
April 21, 2014 @ 1:50 pm
Hello! This post was very helpful. I was wondering if I should be adding the “no follow” attribute to other blog’s buttons that I have on my website?
April 21, 2014 @ 2:05 pm
I think that Yes you certainly should, to protect your own site. I’ve heard a lot of blogs have been hit with penalties and manual actions in the last 3 weeks due to un-natural link building both for incoming and outgoing links, and its possible these links could contribute to that. To be safe, make all linky buttons no-follow.
April 24, 2014 @ 8:28 pm
Hi Deby:
Thank you so much for the helpful reply! I had one additional question for you. I was wondering what plug-in this website it using for replying to comments. I really like the format. Thanks!
April 25, 2014 @ 8:58 pm
I’ve done a blog post on this very subject – the plugin is called Reply me, and you can find it here – http://moms-make-money.com/replyme-plugin/
April 25, 2014 @ 2:19 am
Such great advice here, Deby-thank you so much! I just changed my link party button but had a question that I’m hoping you can help with re my party page? All of the link party buttons for parties that I link to are on an inlinkz link up that I created-is that ok do you think? Thank you!
Best wishes,
Natasha in Oz
April 25, 2014 @ 9:05 pm
Kelly beat me to it Natasha. I was going to say the same thing.
April 26, 2014 @ 1:49 am
I thought that was the case so that’s why I used it but just wanted to see if you agreed. Again, many thanks for the great post! x