How does Google treat paid image adverts
Google has made it abundantly clear that we should not be selling links. Their stance has made a lot of webmasters rethink their
position on the subject and most are trying linkbaiting and other
methods to get around the issue.
One thing Google has not been quite as clear on is what their position is
surrounding image adverts. If you look at the square adverts on sites
such as BlogStorm, TechCrunch, Search Engine Journal, Marketing
Pilgrim all have direct links to the advertiser along with some
descriptive alt text. These links will be passing weight to the
advertiser and with some keywords in the alt text will help the site
rank higher in Google. Sites such as ProBlogger pass the links through
a Valueclick redirect so they will not pass any link weight to the advertiser.
Obviously the aim of buying an image ad is primarily for branding
purposes but with the current crack down on paid links many are
looking towards image ads as a viable alternative.
I assume that we should be placing the nofollow attribute on banner adverts as well but I’m not sure whether Google is as worried about devaluing these links as they are about paid links.
What do you think?
Post category: Google, Link Building Tweet
Patrick Altoft is Director of Search at Branded3, a Leeds SEO & Digital Agency specialising in SEO, Web Design, Development & Social Media.
Comments
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Assuming paid image is wrapped in an anchor, it’s still a link. Not sure what the difference is…
I think Google will treat text ads and image ads the same. A link is a link.
Although I think Googles only real aim is toward link farms. I think Google check the amount of links on a site, then check the amount reciprocal. If it is similar (or really high) then Google punishes them.
For example:
A site with 1000 links and 965 that link back = Google punish
A small website with 50 links and 15 that link back = Google leaves alone
This theory of mine is due to the fact that the PR algorithm encourages links from similar sites. So there is bound to be some that link together. Why punish these? They offer value to the user as they link to related content.
Link farms and directories don’t really add any value to the user other than finding a site. so why should these hold PR? Hense why Google dislikes them.
Just my thoughts.