Hi,

How do I tell if a site is a link farm or Search engine?

I have used a few Per per click and paid inclusion programs etc 
and this seemed to be OK as we are getting orders (customers quote
where they saw the site etc), however I now realise that some of the
sites are not as helpful as I thought, and are what you refer to as
part of a "Bad neighbourhood"

Example:-

http://domains.911.biz/ this link has been placed by Mirago (Page rank
7/10)which we have a pay per click campaign with etc and not directly
by ourselves.

Is this link a problem?

Can you tell from their PageRank?  e.g 0/10 = to avoid, 1 or 2 /10 =
OK,  5/6 etc /10 as a good directory.  My site is
www.discountdomains.ltd.uk.

We have no outgoing links at all, so I had expected to benefit from a
link on a 7/10 site - but it looks like we might be suffering as a
result of an attempt to advertise our site on a seemingly reputable
and highly ranked directory?

Should I cancel the campaign on Mirago or am I on the wrong track etc
etc?

Thanks,

Clare

Hi Clare,

First of all, I am certain that Google has no problems with paid
advertising, based on the following:

1) No mention for or against paid links in Google's webmaster
guidelines

2) Googleguy (a Google search engineer) in response to a query about
whether being listed by small PPC sites will improve PageRank:

"...you have to remember that the pagerank for a site is divided
between all the outgoing links from that site, plus a decay factor
(and to be technical, this happens at a page level). So it might be
nice to say "I have a link from a PR5 site just by doing ppc" but
realistically, the sheer number of outgoing links from that ppc site
is going to make that link close to useless. ppc is not a shortcut. "
http://www.webmasterworld.com/forum3/5241.htm

He does not mention any negative aspects.

3) Google run Adwords, a PPC program that now has ads on tens of
thousands of ordinary websites. There is no way they would let PPC
listings negatively affect the PR of their customers' sites.

Regarding domains.911.biz, it is quite likely that Google doesn't
follow the link, because it is dynamically generated. The link in the
HTML actually points to:
http://domains.911.biz/Link.asp?URL=009617082812790664%3Dx%266%3Dr%26PS%3Dt%262535358%3Dkn%26sniamod%3Ddrowyek%2650%2E0%3Ddib%267731%3Db%26119%3Ddis%26697801%3Ddic%3Fxpsa%2Etcerider%2FshguorhtkcilC%2Fmoc%2Eah%2Dha%2Erentrap%2F%2F%3Aptth


How to tell if it is a Link Farm
================================

Keep in mind that Google is run by a computer program, and any
decisions regarding PR and link farms are automated. We need to ask
ourselves what could a computer use as indications of link farms.
These are what I would look for if I was programming the software, to
find the culprits and the sites using them:

1) Keywords like "link exchange", "reciprocal link" "swap links" or
"link trade"

2) Forms for entering in link details

3) Reciprocal linking actually occuring! This is easy for Google, for
link relationships are a very important part of the Google system. The
easiest way to pick up on link farms is to look at whether there is
direct reciprocal linking occuring (I link to you, you link to me), or
circular reciprocal linking (a large group of sites that all link to
each other in a roundabout way)

4) The sheer size of link pages. They typically have 50, 100 or more
links on them. They are often part of a directory of links, with the
pages having file names like gambling-poker-hotel-links.html - such a
filename has been designed to increase search engine ranking, and only
link farms would optimize pages full of outgoing links.

5) Many sites using link pages that have the same design. That means
wording, layout, filename, images and link descriptions. Often they
change the order of the links to try and fool Google, but it isn't
enough.

6) Un-natural link pages. Most sites that take part in link farming
stand out because they are a regular site, plus they have some link
pages tacked on. The links are not integrated into their regular
content.

7) Links to sites of a different topic. If I have a site about deep
sea fishing, and I have a page of links to casinos, it is suspicious.

Google would take all of the above into consideration, and would be
unlikely to penalize a site based on just one of them. You should look
for all the above.

Regarding PageRank. Many link farms have a good PageRank, and you
should not rely on it as an indicator. It merely means that Google
hasn't caught up with them yet, but you can be assured they soon will.
A PageRank of zero (completely white bar) means the page has been
penalized. That is definitely a warning sign.


What do they look like?
-----------------------
This is a good example, for they menti8on "swap links", which leads to
a form, and you can be sure that the pages that are linked to, link
back to this site:
http://www.leehayward.com/links_fitness.htm

Build-more-pages.com were the cause of most of the "why has my site
been penalized by Google" questions I have answered in recent months.
Unfortunately I can't show you their site - it has closed down. Here
is an example of the type of page they generated:
http://www.flowerlinks.net/link_directory/golden_tulip_barbizon_palace.htm


Good luck and best wishes,
robertskelton-ga