Text-Link-Ads.com - Yeah or nay?

[Czar]

Hi all,

I was just in the process of experimenting with the placement of an unobtrusive and potentially lucrative Text-Link-Ads.com link panel on Geek/Talk, but was interrupted by some comments I found about the service.

While the company itself is reputable and stable, having a long and strong presence within the Blogosphere, at WebmasterWorld and elsewhere, I happened across several discussion threads in which Google watchers and SEO devotees claimed that the placement of Text-Link-Ads.com ad spots on a page could result in penalties from Google.

The argument behind this is that Text-Link-Ads, unlike many other text-based ad brokers, actually embeds their links within a page, rather than using a Javascript insert like other ad networks. They also don't use the "nofollow" tag, but rather market their links as a way for advertisers to enhance their own organic search placement through effectively buying PageRank.

Obviously, the practice of selling links for the sole purpose of increasing PageRank has been frowned upon by Google for some time - and rightly so - but do any of you have insight as to whether or not Google really does frown on sites that use the Text-Link-Ads (TLA) network to sell links?

[praveen]

i havent seen anyone from G say for sure that they dont approve these.

i have some sites which do run TLA and couple of them have it for more than 6 months now and some rank for competitive phrases in the top 5 and they still continue to rank in that range.


And i havent seen any sort of issues with Google or with any others.

Also you can also take control on what links you want to allow and what not to allow so u have that "editorial" right even if its for only 24 hrs from the time someone wants to place a link with you.

[AhmedF]

Google has never directly stated it doesn't like TLA, but has definitely alluded to it. From my own experience, the seller is usually not penalized.

[EmpyreMediaGreg]

Hey Czar,

TextLinkAds is owned by a very reputable company, Media Whiz Holdings. Nothing they do is wrong in anyway.

However, after many different tests on many of my company's internal projects, we have found that TextLinkAds are somewhat penalized by Google and cause our serps to decline greatly.

If you are doing it solely for traffic value, by all means, go for it! You should also test this yourself for SEO value. Every website and niche is different. It may work really well for a non competitive niche.

Good luck!!

[Czar]

Welcome to Geek/Talk, Greg, and thanks for this excellent update.

Your comments reflect my fears to a large degree. I have no doubt that the company behind this network is reputable, as they are well established and broadly used, but the risk of being penalized by Google (however slim) reduces their appeal.

Kind regards,

[Jan]

I haven't tried them since they immediately rejected a site of mine as soon as I hit the submit button. I have however noticed many use them along with adsense. Maybe a letter to the big "G" could get you an answer?

[TrustNobody]

its seems they have a strictly policy to add new sites under the publishers tab , I think maybe they just trying to refine the marketplace ...

[Jan]

They didn't even look at my submitted site. I got the rejection message after I had filled everything in and hit submit (2 seconds tops)

[Czar]

Maybe you were punished for being an evil Aussie. Many English-language ad networks tend to treat those from the southern hemisphere as second-rate citizens.

Or, maybe they just have an oversupply of inventory now and not enough advertiser interest to fill it. It could be that they're rejecting all publisher applications at the moment, though an autoresponder would seem to be a strange way to handle that (unless they were trying to hide that perception from advertisers).

[Jan]

I didn't get an autoresponder. The rejection was on the site after I hit submit. Ahh well, their loss

[masm50]

I use them on a blog of mine and certainly haven't been penalized as to actual SERPS (the blog is in the top 3 for all the key words I target with it).

The displayed PageRank may have been slightly affected though (-2 max), although it is impossible to be sure as I have nothing to compare it with.

[Arie]

Originally Posted by Czar

They also don't use the "nofollow" tag, but rather market their links as a way for advertisers to enhance their own organic search placement through effectively buying PageRank.

I was looking at them too, but that is a big fat red flag for me.

http://www.google.com/support/webmas...n&answer=66736

[Jack]

This is an actual case of someone being penalized for selling links (not with Text-Link-Ads, but selling links himself):

http://www.liewcf.com/blog/archives/...-results-page/

This penalty is still in place for that site. I have a feeling that his blog was specifically targeted by Google to be made an example of due to the large webmaster following. The blog was quite blatant in selling links for PR/anchor text.

[prettywoman]

I heard about many blogger with selling link on his site. By some broker like TLA or by him self. However their PR was stay on. It could be reason they could balance with number of in bound link.

[jimb12345]

i think they are good but it is very hard to get accepted there. they do not take any website.