Google Warns Against Large-Scale Guest Posting, Advertorials & “Optimized Anchor Text” In

[Getwhatchuwant]

Google Warns Against Large-Scale Guest Posting, Advertorials & ?Optimized Anchor Text? In Press Releases




http://searchengineland.com/google-...d64c30ab3bf1baca58fbb0b80a99f894b21e214a281eb

This is in reference specifically to Press releases, wasnt it just a few months ago that Matt Cuts stated the Press Releases held NO value in SEO?

Why the 2 orders? If Press releases have NO value in SEO then why should we worry about anchor text in Press releases?

Again, If press releases carry no value, why the need to add a warning about anchor text links in press releases.

 

[Hubba]

G sucks big time. It sounds like that will affect sites retroactively, which isn't cool at all. Another of the MANY link methods G used to encourage and now penalizes for.

 

[Bostoncab]

Stop listening to the guy.. thats it.

 

[Goal Line Technology]

Thanks OP
some good comments which I tend to agree with, although this first one is more than a little wayward...

1). Nick Thorsch ? 12 minutes ago wrote this... I'm surprised Google still even indexes torrent sites like PirateBay or BlackHatWorld,
though I'm sure many of us appreciate Google directing our attention there.
If Google wants to clean up black hat activities, Google's own SERPs would be a better place
to tinker with than a whiter-hat area like optimized anchor text links in press releases.

"torrent sites" he says does anyone know him, or could correct him in the nicest possible manner!

2). Google has gone bonkers and has lost its way.
Their technology -- which was once their success -- is now becoming their demise.
New privacy search engines from other countries are emerging to combat our Prism/Patriot Act issue and are skyrocketing in numbers.
Oh, how the might have fallen.

3). Google is gradually becoming a "portal", just like AOL .

 

[Getwhatchuwant]

I pay half an ear to what Google has to say, I just thought it was comical that there were 2 separate yet distinct "orders" regarding press release which then reminded me of one of my favorite scenes in one of my favorite movies where Tom Cruise caught a very smug and "above the law"(or so he thought) Jack Nicholson in a lie, a lie that was his undoing..

Anyway pointing out yet again why you should take everything the big g says with a grain of salt..

 

[Capra]

If Press releases have NO value in SEO then why should we worry about anchor text in Press releases?

Because unnatural patterns stand out (and over-optimization is a significant indicator of anyone who has not been paying attention to changes in the industry for the last 18 months). Even if that pattern is used in a technique which is a complete waste of your time in attempts at increasing the number of human visitors to your site.

There is no disparity in their information releases.

 

[Getwhatchuwant]

Because unnatural patterns stand out (and over-optimization is a significant indicator of anyone who has not been paying attention to changes in the industry for the last 18 months). Even if that pattern is used in a technique which is a complete waste of your time in attempts at increasing the number of human visitors to your site.

There is no disparity in their information releases.

there absolutely is google has no say so how I drive traffic OUTSIDE of their algo, there fore if they claim PR's have no value (negative or positive) then anchor variations make no difference, so by them coming out with this confirms that PR's do carry seo value despite their claims not long ago otherwise no need to warn against the anchors...

I would also argue that keyword anchors in the body of PR's ARE natural and helpful to the readers... If I have a PR about my jewelry stores and I end my PR with "Check out our WEDDING RINGS" and wedding rings is anchored the readers can assume that the anchor is going to take them to the wedding ring page... i.e. Good helpful content that the user would find valuable.

Again grain of salt, do your own research and come to your own conclusions. We dont all have to agree.

 

[Goal Line Technology]

Been reading through todays update which was aimed at getting more clarification on what Google meant by the new example
around keyword-rich anchor text links within articles or press releases.

https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/66356?hl=en

The specific line in the link schemes document found above is:


Links with optimized anchor text in articles or press releases distributed on other sites.

...the outcome was to nofollow links within press releases.

John Mueller, a Google's Webmaster Trends Analyst, equated press releases to advertisements.
It was specifically asked if all links in press releases need to be nofollowed or just "links with optimized anchor text" in press releases need to be nofollowed.
While John said it would be somewhat okay to have direct URLs linked within press releases that are followed, he did say to be safe,
he'd recommend nofollowing even those links (i.e. the links that are not even optimized anchor text).


The goal of the press release is to get the word out to the press about your new service or product.
When the press hears about what you have to offer and if/when they decide to write about it on their own sites, those links do not need to be nofollowed.
In fact, those stories written editorially are the links that Google values the most.


Google's Matt Cutts has said that links within press releases do not pass value.
Although SEOs have proof that this is not true,
it does seem that Google is taking even more direct action against abuse of links within articles and press releases that are paid.


full story here

http://searchengineland.com/google-links-in-a-press-release-should-be-nofollowed-like-advertisements-168339

I still think that press releases have some value, if done correctly, no puffery etc.... both offline (obviously) and as part of an overall marketing campaign.

The purpose of a press release is to provide journalists with details and information for them to make a story out of it.
If the press release is just to get backlinks to a website, and if it is not really a newsworthy story, then this will spell even more trouble.
However, this is what happens offline as well, in our newpapers and magazines everyday; but the damage this does to bona fide
press releases will become more focussed than ever.....
How the heck is the Google Algorithm going to detect and penalize (or otherwise) whether a human deems it newsworthy or not?


We all know that good quality content has become the benchmark for ages now, yet again Google is moving the goalposts,
not just to one side of center, but almost out of the field of play, IMHO.

This just gets so f8cking annoying.

@OP I think that was in the movie "A Few Good Men" by the way

 

[Getwhatchuwant]

@OP I think that was in the movie "A Few Good Men" by the way

Indeed it was, one of my FAVORITES

I DO think they did some devaluing of PR's already, not all together but enough to do some damage, I had a site I did no SEO too except for a couple of PR's and it ranked for dozens of low volume kw's since January, a few days ago traffic went down by 30-40%, but it still gets some google traffic and of course traffic from the pr's.

I guess its time to diversify, maybe get some Sape links, directories bookmarks etc...

 

[DunDidIt2X]

How the heck is the Google Algorithm going to detect and penalize (or otherwise) whether a human deems it newsworthy or not?


We all know that good quality content has become the benchmark for ages now, yet again Google is moving the goalposts,
not just to one side of center, but almost out of the field of play, IMHO.

This just gets so f8cking annoying.

@OP I think that was in the movie "A Few Good Men" by the way

Easy to detect human if its good content or not. They pull indexes for sites that are press release sites, then manually review if they are spam sites or not. If top of the line then anything placed in those sites are either not considered in the algo or just use this as your link profile and count their bad neighborhood links as your money sites ranking factors, counting it against you.

 

[Capra]

there fore if they claim PR's have no value (negative or positive) then anchor variations make no difference, so by them coming out with this confirms that PR's do carry seo value despite their claims not long ago otherwise no need to warn against the anchors...

Ok, I figured out where your confusions is.

> here fore if they claim PR's have no value (negative or positive) then anchor variations make no difference

This is correct as far as your SEO goes. You can put anchor text or urls here, and it won't give you a different result as far as boosting your rankings.

But what you are have to realize is that they will still look at the anchor text and see if you are over-optimizing. Putting in anchor text into a PR won't give a benefit, but if they think that you are over-optimizing in your link profiling, it will give you a penalty. It can never help you, but it can hurt you.

In summary, there are two independent issues here (press release anchors and link profiling). You are trying to create a relationship between the two but there is no evidence to support this theory.

I would also argue that keyword anchors in the body of PR's ARE natural and helpful to the readers... If I have a PR about my jewelry stores and I end my PR with "Check out our WEDDING RINGS" and wedding rings is anchored the readers can assume that the anchor is going to take them to the wedding ring page... i.e. Good helpful content that the user would find valuable.

Have you stopped and think who the reader of a PRESS release is? That's right, it is meant for the press. It is meant to communicate meaningful and newsworthy information to the news media. Not a single journalist will read your wedding rings anchor and find it useful.

This is why putting anchor text like this into a press release instantly classifies it as spam. You might as well as put **SPAM** at the top. This is why press releases have been fully discounted by the search engines for passing authority. Genuine press releases still do their job - they get the interest of journalists. Non genuine press releases that have no newsworthy elements are now filtered.

 

[goldendeli]

the funny thing is people give google way to much credit

most of the discussions on here are unneeded- the truth is that google is a stupid search engine that checks for the very basics of spam and thats it

if you arent a lazy bastard and put some time into taking the step to make things authentic then you are leaps and bounds ahead of the lazy fiverr linkbuilding "SEO" guys

homeys SEO is not hard just dont be lazy and try and build a layer of authentic diversity into a backlink profile

i have sites that are spammed to hell and back and rank like a boss. why? because i didn't use one keyword when linking and only only linked my homepage. i used massive diversity like you wouldn't believe. google cant fucking figure out whats real and not in my profile.

 

[seochris96]

the funny thing is people give google way to much credit

most of the discussions on here are unneeded- the truth is that google is a stupid search engine that checks for the very basics of spam and thats it

if you arent a lazy bastard and put some time into taking the step to make things authentic then you are leaps and bounds ahead of the lazy fiverr linkbuilding "SEO" guys

homeys SEO is not hard just dont be lazy and try and build a layer of authentic diversity into a backlink profile

i have sites that are spammed to hell and back and rank like a boss. why? because i didn't use one keyword when linking and only only linked my homepage. i used massive diversity like you wouldn't believe. google cant fucking figure out whats real and not in my profile.

I gotta give a "+1" to this. I've only been in SEO for about 18 months and after reading dozens of threads on this forum I was nervous as hell about building this perfect backlinking strategy for a big client's site when I first started. Considering some of the crap that's been built to it, I think people give Google a little too much credit.