Google defines link schemes as: “Any links intended to manipulate PageRank or a site’s ranking in Google search results may be considered part of a link scheme and a violation of Google’s Webmaster Guidelines. This includes any behavior that manipulates links to your site or outgoing links from your site.”
On the Google link schemes page Google says:
Additionally, creating links that weren’t editorially placed or vouched for by the site’s owner on a page, otherwise known as unnatural links, can be considered a violation of our guidelines. Here are a few common examples of unnatural links that violate our guidelines:
- Text advertisements that pass PageRank
- Advertorials or native advertising where payment is received for articles that include links that pass PageRank
- Links with optimized anchor text in articles or press releases distributed on other sites. For example: There are many wedding rings on the market. If you want to have a wedding, you will have to pick the best ring. You will also need to buy flowers and a wedding dress.
- Low-quality directory or bookmark site links
- Links embedded in widgets that are distributed across various sites. For example: Visitors to this page: 1,472 car insurance
- Widely distributed links in the footers of various sites
- Forum comments with optimized links in the post or signature. For example: Thanks, that’s great info! – Paul paul’s pizza san diego pizza best pizza san diego
The guideline pertinent to MyPR in the above list is this one: Links with optimized anchor text in articles or press releases distributed on other sites.
As with all guidelines and releases from Google the interpretations of the impact of the guidelines from site owners, SEO’s and users are as many as the words on this page.
At MyPR we follow these guidelines and manually check each and every press release for quality:
- We do not accept payment for placing of press releases
- If the press release looks like a thinly disguised ad it is deleted
- If the press release does not contribute to a discourse, answer a question, entertain or inform then it is deleted
- If it has no relevance to South Africa or any of the designated categories it is deleted
- If it contains any irrelevant links they are deleted (normally the entire release is deleted – we can be GRUMPY that way)
- We do apply minor edits and grammar checks
- The form allowing submission of press releases actively discourages the submitter from adding links in the body of a press release
- Designated areas for links back to the PR or his/her client help ensure that no unnatural linking takes place
- Links to get more information appear in the footer of each press release – the normal place where people look
- We are happy for URL’s to be provided so long as they follow our guidelines which are: “Provide URL’s so that your readers can discover more.”
In a nutshell we believe that, by being relevant to our target market, MyPR will not fall foul of the new Link Schemes guidelines as published by Google.
A tip: If you look at the source of this page (right click on the page and, depending on your browser, select Page Source or View Source) you will see that rel=”nofollow” has been added to each of the spammy link examples in this article.
More Info link:: http://mypr.co.za/free-south-african-press-releases/
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Author: Alan Straton from MyPR. Originally distributed by MyPR.co.za.
