Are paid links on your brand name considered bad by Google?

[aqueous]

I've been intrigued recently by the penalty applied to a site we have just started working with. They were penalised back in summer last year as their previous link builder had built 60,000 links all with the same hard to get keyword anchor text....we're still sorting it out.

My question now is that if the client pays for inclusion on some relevant sites, such as niche directories and those sites automatically produce 'follow' links, would the client be penalised if they link on their own company name? For example if they manufacture blue widgets and the anchor text on the link is 'ABC Manufacturing' rather than 'Blue Widgets' would Google see that as a reasonable link?

I appreciate that if they linked back on the keyword anchor text 'Blue Widgets' it would be wrong but I'm seeking clarification on using the company name. Any thoughts?

[firstconversion]

If you are already penalised, I wouldn't touch paid links of any kind, especially directory ones

[aqueous]

Thanks, good advice. We're slowly trying to undo the harm already done and build good relevant backlinks, hence the question. I think that we will need to take almost everything off and start again with this one.....

[irvingw]

if your brand name is your domain name then you should already rank for that. don't build links while trying to recover from a penalty.

[aqueous]

Thanks Irving. Just wondering though, the client naturally attracts links anyway so surely that can't harm them? Or can it? There's no way to stop that. They regularly blog and get shared on social as they are an 'authority' and spent years on page one of the results so people in the industry know them and we don't want to diminish this activity which, irrespective of links, is what they are known for. Any further thoughts from anyone welcome here!

Thanks all....

[irvingw]

The difference is naturally occurring links from regular non paid diversified sites vs paid links from directory type sites that Google has already flagged as being bad neighborhoods used for SEO, and these sites are most likely linking to a lot of penalized sites as well which makes you guilty by association.

So it has more to do with the places you are linked on than it does overusing your brand name in the anchor text, plus naturally occurring links will have their own keyword mix and match diversity.

brandname

brandname.com

http://brandname.com

http://brandname.com/

www.brandname.com

www.brandname.com/

http://www.brandname.com

http://www.brandname.com/

visit brandname

visit brandname.com

go to brandname

some will be do follow, some will be no follow, some might be image links

[jhinchcliffe]

in my experience, ALL paid links should be no-folow. Also they may have penalized you for having all the same few keywords. A good link building strategy Must look natural to Google. Otherwise it's just a matter of time before you get penalized.

Sorry this happened to you, i feel your pain!

[aqueous]

Thanks again Irving; we're advising the client to stay away from directories anyway, and concentrating on providing a useful service for end users. Links, if they happen, will be a bonus we hope!

Thanks guys...;-)

[aqueous]

Thanks so much, but without this pain we would never have got the client! We're the good guys, just trying to unravel a tangle of American .edu links and sitewide footers from other American sites for a business based firmly in the UK. What the last guy was thinking we've no idea...

Thanks for taking the time to contribute