First things first – selling links is against Googles guidelines. If Google believes a site has links that have been bought, it can remove it from Google or devalue all links to the website by implementing a manual action penalty.
So in short, you should never sell links.
If you are working with a brand as part of a collaboration and they request a link, it should bet set to no-follow (rel=”sponsored” or rel=”nofollow”). (These are new ways to no-follow links – read this post about no-follow link changes by Elaine for more information.
Follow links should be links that are relevant to your blog and be from credible sources that add value to your blog post.
By now, you’ve hopefully changed your mind about selling links. But you’re still curious as to why links to adult and casino sites can harm your website.
Here’s why:
These type of sites are known as bad neighbourhood sites.
Bad neighbourhood sites are usually sites that:
- are link farms
- have lots of Adsense ads/other ads
- have copied content
- have spyware/malware
- have poor content
- have no clear information about the owner such as names, addresses and phone numbers
In short, they are just really spammy site. Google knows that.
So when you link to them, it can harm your site.
Not just that, but if you have a beauty blog and you link to a casino site, then this can also harm you site as Google puts an emphasis on relevant networking.
Obviously, it is up to you if you think the cash is worth it – but just know the risks.
this makes sense!