Earned Links vs Paid for Links

Earned Links and Paid for Links are two different types of links available for online marketers. The acquisition of links is currently under scrutiny as to which links are better to use. The following takes a look at Earned links versus Paid for Links.

The Difference between Earned Links and Paid for Links

Paid for links are links that are paid for by webmasters but do not include directories or other paid for conventional online marketing such as banner ads and PPC campaigns. Search engines, such as Google in particular tend not to favour paid for links, and may even penalize sites that purchase these types of links. Earned links are favoured by search engines as they are seen as more organic than those of bought links and much more credible. Earned links are also harder to obtain.

Bought Links

• Google among other search engines use links to determine a website’s reputation.
• Your website is rated according to the search results that have been analyzed in terms of sites that link to these links.
• Webmasters buy and sell links in the attempt to pass Google’s page rank. However, they do this without thinking of the quality of the links provided on their sites.
• Many paid for links could lead a website to getting penalized in some way or another.
• Avoid paid for links on your site, especially if you are trying to up your ranks on Google.
• If you do use paid for links for your site, ensure that they are for advertising and not used for trying to increase your site’s rankings.
• However paid for links are important if they are good links. Quality is more important than quantity.
• These links do give you the opportunity of gaining credit for your website yet only if they are quality links.
• Credibility can be done if you buy channel sponsorship. This can be found on product or service specific websites.
• These websites are highly ranked on Google; by placing your link on these sites you will be able to obtain more traffic.
• Text link brokers work by providing websites that enable you to rent text link time; this is to get your site an increase on Google’s pagerank.
• This is not a permanent placing, it is a monthly service.
• Free based directories are a better option in terms of investment.

Earned Links

• Earned links are regarded as more reputable links than those of paid for links.
• These links are placed onto websites by the web owner’s own accord.
• Your websites credibility must be of some importance if your site obtains earned links.
• Search engines place certain amount of importance or value on your link; this does depend on where the link is placed however.
• The earned links on your site will accumulate over time with little effort made from the webmasters side.
• The links that are placed on your website should be from websites similar to your site in terms of industry, service and/or product.
• These links must also contain relevant keywords in order to get higher ranking positions for your site.