Q: Why won't you accept my offer for a link?
We get a lot of requests to add text links in our articles to other websites, usually in exchange for money, content or favors. We don't do this, for the reasons outlined below.
NOTE: We are talking about text links that appear in the content of articles, in such as way as to appear to be "organic" links. This is not the same as genuine advertising links, which are completely different.
Why we don't do text links:
- Google knows about this strategy and they don't like it because it artificially manipulates search results (that's the whole point, after all). That means Google is working to identify offending pages and penalize them.
- It's not honest. When we include a link in our articles, it's because we think that link is the best resource we can find for the situation. We value our readers too much to be sending them to websites that paid for a link rather than earning it organically.
- We have built a successful website based on our integrity. Our followers know we are 100% honest, genuine and transparent. We are not prepared to risk our reputation and become known as a website that sells recommendations to the highest bidder.
A few more things to note...
- Most people ask for a "permanent" link. That's a lot to ask - what happens if we sell the website? Does the new owner have to permanently maintain the link they didn't get paid for? What if we want to dump the article for some reason? A permanent link is too much of a commitment.
- It's becoming more common for people to offer to write us an article that we can use, as long is it includes a link to their site. From our point of view this is exactly the same thing, with the same answer.
- Often, people want a direct link from our homepage, which is simply ridiculous.
- Often the amount of money people offer is insulting. If you think $1000 for a permanent link is generous, you're wrong.
So we're very sorry, but it doesn't matter how much money you offer for a "discreet text link" (almost everyone uses that exact term), we're not going to accept. Ever.