What are typical backlink disclosure policies for SEO companies?

[cappuccino89]

This post is deleted!

[KeriMorgret]

Hi Ming, Not disclosing the links does raise red flags. One way to look for links is to verify your site in Google Webmaster Tools and see what links show there. Open Site Explorer will show some links, but it does take longer to show up. I've asked another SEOmoz associate with more experience in this area to contribute additional comments.

[cappuccino89]

how long does it take for webmaster tools and seomoz to detect new links?

[Francisco_Meza]

Get another company. I agree with Keri!

Go to GWT and look at your links.. GWT > Traffic > Links to Your Site > Who Links the Most > More.

This will show you the domains that link to you. CLick on "Download More Sample Links" and you'll get a breakdown of the individual pages that have the links pointing to your site.

how long does it take for webmaster tools and seomoz to detect new links?

This depends on the crawler, but I have found that GoogleBot is pretty fast; I think a couple weeks.

[RyanKent]

I agree with Keri and Francisco but wanted to chime in and share a bit stronger wording.

My question is what are typical backlink disclosure policies for SEO companies? Is this common practice?

It is common practice for companies who use black hat techniques to build links to not disclose their techniques. If a company is using white hat techniques, their process should be fairly transparent.

Additionally, every link acquired should be disclosed. Period. No exception. Why? Because you can be penalized for manipulative links and the costs of removing that penalty are exceptionally high. Many companies are ignorant the links they create have no value and are viewed by Google as manipulative. For example, most links from free directories have no value at all and Google views many of them as manipulative, yet many "SEO companies" will build these links to your site.

My second question is whether there is another way to track backlinks? We have SEOmoz Pro, however, no additional backlinks are showing up (is there a delay)?

SEOmoz pro uses Open Site Explorer which is based upon the Linkscape crawl of the web. It takes approximately 60 days (depending on various factors) for the links to become visible. As Francisco shared, Google usually locates the links faster.

My third question is whether I should be concerned and any other comments about this practice you may have.

You should be highly concerned. Many SEO companies don't really build links, but rather they have complete control over various websites. When you pay them, they add links to your site. The moment you stop paying, those links are removed. You are not building value for your site. It is closer to paying for advertising. This tactic is black hat and offers no legitimate value to your site.

Another "technique" involves free directories, forum spam, blog spam, and links from low quality website. These links can trick most SEO link viewing tools which are not able to distinguish between a "good" link and a bad one. Google likely already devalues these sites and the links you are acquiring have no value. If you acquire too many of these links, your site is then penalized.

I am not trying to scare you. I am sharing authentic information. I have worked with multiple clients through the pain of penalties where their pages are removed from Bing's index and reduced to the last pages of Google's index where no one will ever see them. The days of this type of manipulation are quickly coming to an end.

[cappuccino89]

Good points, we are going to dump our SEO company and choose one without a contract and who will be transparent. Thanks for the good advice.