Does Link Juice Flow From Banner Ads.

[RankStealer]

Hi Guys

I have been checking out a couple of my competitors and noticed that in site explorer there were sites that were passing what I would consider strong amounts of link juice for their banner adverts.

I checked the anchor text which was always (Img ALT)

Also the links are follow and placed on the home page too.

So I wondered how google view this Im sure adverts were supposed to be no follow and if so then do you think there is a benefit from me taking one of these banner adverts to increase the level of link juice passing to my site.

[MoosaHemani]

Well According to Google, Advertising links if passing links should contain a no-follow tag on them or else they are violating the Google advertisement laws…

I don’t think it’s a good idea because if caught, the punishment can be a hard hit… putting a no follow link on banner ad seems to me as a safe option.

[RankStealer]

Hi Moosa

But what I am asking is it good for my site (I would be advisting on the site)

From what I have seen in my industry no one is using no follow for their banners.

Presumably if google found out they would punish the site selling the banners.

(btw I dont think they have done this on purpose, as with everything alot of people dont follow google guidelines and for these guys I doubt very much serps are that important)

[MoosaHemani]

Honestly, I would prefer to stay white hat in that case and put a no-follow tag because playing outside the Google guideline will always a risk as you never know when Google see you, find you and take you down!...

I have seen many people don't do it by purpose but Google punishments sometimes are hard to stand! Obviously everything depends upon if Google see this but still it's better to stay on the safe side!

[RankStealer]

Hi Moosa

I do not have the option to put no follow, I do not own the site I would just be advertising on the site???

[MoosaHemani]

you can always request the web-master to put a no follow tag, i don't think there will be an issue with that! (if you explain them the consequence of not adding a no-follow tag)

[MalcolmGibb]

A banner ad can be a legitimate link source, it will be an arrangement between the site owners and not done through an ad network. It would just be like you coming to me asking for a link on my site, but instead of anchor text using an image. Not using a no-follow tag is against guidelines, but you could argue it's not a banner ad and a legitimate link.

Link juice is definately not passed through banner ads on ad networks such as adwords/doubleclick or affiliate banners as they bounce over an adserver first.

[RankStealer]

Thank you Malcolm that answers what I wanted to know.

[dohertyjf]

Hi Nicola -

Great question here. As Malcolm said, ad networks do not pass link equity. However, a banner advertisement that is not part of an ad network is technically a paid link (unless it's an embeddable badge or something). Often these will have referrer numbers on them as well. I think that Google devalues these when they see the referral code, but that is not for sure.

But, to be safe, I would add the rel="nofollow" to these links.

[RankStealer]

Hi John

Thanks for the answer I think you are correct.

My competitors have been advertising on these sites and I was absolutely sure they were getting some benefit from doing so (more than just brand awareness) and now I think this thread had confirmed it for me.

Alot of people have websites and many of them are not interested in seo and therefore dont read up on google guidelines so it is easy to understand how these things can be missed by some web owners.