How does G treat image backlinks?

Specifically the 1x1 pixel ones where no alt tag can be used? Wouldn't G look at the image, see that it is a 1x1 and then think, hold on, wait a minute, this is suspicious, why is the image so small?

Could you get a penalty for such backlinks?

I'm afraid I can't speak from experience mate, but I would generally stay away from anything which appears 'hidden' to users. Perhaps someone will suggest otherwise, but that's just my speculation since I know Google don't like invisible/small text etc. As far as I'm aware, regular image backlinks work just fine and I actually use them quite a lot to disguise my backlinks on moderated forums/profiles.

ShadeDream said:

Specifically the 1x1 pixel ones where no alt tag can be used? Wouldn't G look at the image, see that it is a 1x1 and then think, hold on, wait a minute, this is suspicious, why is the image so small?

Could you get a penalty for such backlinks?

Click to expand...

Mate, what image you r talking about? Your signature image ?

Yes, you can get penalty cause image blacklinks are treated as BH method. And you guys you know that if you caught by G then what happens?

Now its your decision, dude......................

queenmery said:

Mate, what image you r talking about? Your signature image ?

Yes, you can get penalty cause image blacklinks are treated as BH method. And you guys you know that if you caught by G then what happens?

Now its your decision, dude......................

Click to expand...

No, I'm talking about forums where posts are moderated well, and users whose first post contains a backlink get removed. Most people/mods won't hover over a small image.

And that's false about being penalized. Image backlinking isn't BH at all - it's been used all over the web by legitimate webmasters for years.

queenmery said:

Mate, what image you r talking about? Your signature image ?

Yes, you can get penalty cause image blacklinks are treated as BH method. And you guys you know that if you caught by G then what happens?

Now its your decision, dude......................

Click to expand...

Where on earth did you get that information from? You must be having a laugh?

Image backlinks are just..............links(in a way) I like them as they just variate my link building

To Shady - Do you mean you are paying for a image on one of those pixel adverts?

Google clearly state that you can buy links(adverts as they say) but you MUST use a nofollow tag!

If you are on about maybe using a smiley face on a forum(hotlink from your own site) then I reckon big G would just ignore it if they saw a pattern

Abstroose said:

I'm afraid I can't speak from experience mate, bug I would generally stay away from anything which appears 'hidden' to users. Perhaps someone will suggest otherwise, but that's just my speculation since I know Google don't like invisible/small text etc. As far as I'm aware, regular image backlinks work just fine and I actually use them quite a lot to disguise my backlinks on moderated forums/profiles.

Click to expand...

Would forum smilies qualify as regular backlinks? The forum I am targeting has BB Code disabled in signatures and profiles are not viewable when logged out. The only way of getting a link would be by posting a URL within a forum post. But then again the forum is a small one hence it's not easy to do so without it being removed. Plus the editing time for posts is about 5 minutes after which you cannot do anything with it. The reason I asked about the 1x1 pixel image is because this would be extremely easy to hide compared with a forum smile or an actual image. But then again I've got the same feeling as you do hence I was wondering if anyone has any experience with such backlinks. I guess I'll have to try with a regular image and if it doesn't stick then I'll just move on.

wannabie said:

To Shady - Do you mean you are paying for a image on one of those pixel adverts?

Google clearly state that you can buy links(adverts as they say) but you MUST use a nofollow tag!

If you are on about maybe using a smiley face on a forum(hotlink from your own site) then I reckon big G would just ignore it if they saw a pattern

Click to expand...

Well I was actually speculating whether or not to create a 1x1 pixel background image which I could use as a backlink within forum posts. Because it would be a 1x1 pixel image it would be very unlikely that anyone would hover over it.

One of the affiliate programs we use at work makes use of Tracking Cookies. So I imagine you should be ok (otherwise the affiliate network and all their members would be penalized to hell!)

Image links = 0 points

@ Shady -

If its the odd ones then go for it, but I wouldnt invest/spend time doing it!

The odd image link will just variate your links And that's a good thing!!

wannabie said:

Where on earth did you get that information from? You must be having a laugh?

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He got it from the same place most posters on BHW get their "facts", straight out his ass..

I've never had a problem using image backlinks.my sites have never suffered.as long as you mix them in with other backlinks they can only help.why don't you use places like Flickr and Photobucket to share some pics and use those to create backlinks. I have lots of image backlinks showing up in majestic seo so I don't see the problem

Just look at a white hat website with no artificial linkbuilding. they have tons of image backlinks, along with "website" , "click here" etc anchors.

I think hald of my "natural earned links" fall into the above 3 types, along with my company name, none of which I consider worthless.

That is infact a lovely idea. I don't know if you are going to implement it or not, but I am going to implement it from today onwards, Thanks for the bright idea mate...