Warning: PayPerPost May Be Hazardous To Your Google Ranking

12/28/2006

Google_logo High search rankings are a big deal for a lot of bloggers - especially those who use their blog as a marketing /business strategy.  Be careful if you're in the pay per post mode.  Seems that our friends at Google don't like pay per post. In fact, paid text links can cause your blog to be devalued.

Matt Cutts of Google -  "Google wants to do a good job of detecting paid links. Paid links that affect search engines (whether paid text links or a paid review) can cause a site to lose trust in Google."

Heard it from: Rusty Brick, Search Engine Round Table who has an interesting post about  Paid Blog Reviews: ReviewMe & PayPerPost from multiple perspectives: search engines, advertiser, SEO and the blog writer.

As for me, unless clearly stated, paid posts muck up the issue of trust and credibility; and I can't help but think that it hurts using social media/blogs as a research tool. Wonder what the folks at the social media research firms think.

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» Web Marketing Pay Per Post - where do you draw the line ? from Sante's Blog
As blogs increase their audience share and blogging is at the center of attention, there is an ongoing debate on the issue of pay per post - should bloggers accept money to review products and services ? ... [Read More]

Tracked on Jan 6, 2007 10:20:23 AM

Comments

The whole concept of PayPerPost just grosses me out terribly. It strips us of our credibility and reduces us to a bunch of shills who can be paid to say anything for a dollar. The thought of it just makes me feel dirty and cheap. That's not good...

Posted by: Tim Jackson on Dec 29, 2006 1:54:18 PM

Where is the line drawn between things like PPP and affiliate marketing, though? I've never used PPP, but I love to read, and I write a lot of book reviews and use my Amazon affilate link. Do those posts make me a "shill"?

Posted by: Leigh-Ann on Dec 30, 2006 9:21:41 PM

My thoughts would be that affiliate marketing is usually just a link while PPP is opinion/review. In true bloggy style I would think that both should be disclosed. We're all figuring this stuff out together. I think if you keep the blog mantra top of mind: honesty, transparency, authenticity and a throw in that passion .. you'll never be too far off the mark.

Posted by: Toby on Dec 30, 2006 10:02:29 PM

Your thoughts are right on the money but I think that there is a lot more that can be added to it. One of the best resources that I have found has been an article published by Jason Ryan Isaksen about pay per post and affiliate marketing. I have a copy of his article on pay per post and how it is going to effect the internet in 2007. I can post it here if that would be legal. I would really like you to read it to give me insight on the validity of his views. Have you ever hear of this Jason Ryan Isaksen person? Your insight would be greatly appreciated.

Sirjesse

Posted by: sirjesse on Jan 4, 2007 12:12:07 PM

Hi Guys, I work in insurance marketing but I definitely have an opinion when it comes to bloggers and payments for comment. I just think it's pushing things. I mean blogs really should be editorial, not advertorial. If blogging just turns into an advertising push, people are going to turn off it altogether. Just my thoughts of course though! Love this blog by the way!

Posted by: Michaela Roberts on Feb 16, 2007 9:30:57 AM

http://tinyurl.com/3yb5qq

Michaela -
I stated out with very strong feelings about PPP; however, slowly my thoughts are changing towards .. it's not going to go away so let's put the emphasis on transparency and honesty.

By the way have you seen that our British cousins have passed a law that prohibits people from posting reviews of their own products under false names. The law applies to all types of product postings, ranging from those of authors who review their own books on Amazon.com to marketers who create phony blogs to promote their products. http://tinyurl.com/3yb5qq

Posted by: Toby on Feb 16, 2007 9:46:46 AM

I think their is a difference between true affiliate marketing which is pay-per-performance, as opposed to pay-per-click. With pay-per-click, publishers can take advantage of what could have been a sincere marketing strategy. With pay-per-performance, advertisers are only profiting when a step has been taken, such as requesting info or signing up for a product. Let's not knock affiliate marketing just yet.

Posted by: Becky M on Apr 3, 2008 7:11:53 PM

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