Is this a 'real site' or a spam site for backlinks

[Llanero]

I have been asked what type of site this is?

What kind of page is this?
[http://www.gotocostarica.com/](http://www.gotocostarica.com/)

In my opinion it is site put up to create back links and should be avoided

(especially in the light of the new Penguin and Panda updates coming).

But I don't want to give wrong advice. What are your opinions?

[AJPro]

Looks like a "parked" domain with ads on it.

Some web hosting companies put up search pages with ads hoping to make some cash on not used domains.

[Llanero]

But the question is .. if you advertised on this would google see it as spam links?

[Perfect007]

You can avoid the penalty by intermediate URL creation like Google Ads(Double click URL). It will not pass any juice to your website and your advertisement will also continue.

Otherwise it is great possibility of penalty.

[underscorelive]

If they are paid links, then it would almost certainly hurt your rankings to advertise on there. This is because they are not marked as sponsored links - Matt Cutts' article should shed some light:

http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/why-did-my-pagerank-go-down/

However, we should note that those links aren't specifically paid links, but are automated links to pages with advertisements on there so there may be some ambiguity.

My advice would be to look elsewhere for quality, related linking domains.

[LynnPatchett]

Hi Rose,

As Stefan says it is a parked domain (a domain which is either for sale or just not being used right now). The links in it are cpc ads which are likely sourced from adwords (and maybe elsewhere also). If you click through to say 'yoga retreats in costa rica' and then do a google search for the same phrase, you will see most of the same ads on both pages.

So basically, it is neither a real site nor a spam site, it is a parked domain showing ads. In that respect, you would have to set up an adwords account with the relevant key phrases and targeted to search partner networks to try to get a link on it, and as far as I know these links would never show up as backlinks in your site's profile. So apart from the (low in my experience) possibility of conversions from users finding your site through the parked domain, the value of the link is pretty much zero, but there is no danger of getting a penalty from having your site show up in the list since they are in all likelihood sourced from google's own adwords system.

[Llanero]

Thank you!

My site recently went down, as I has a problem with the payment renewal and  meanwhile Verio put a similar site up, whilst my site was being restored.

So it seems some hosting companies could have a stock of these advertising sites when a new site is being built or is down?

[LynnPatchett]

Hi Rose,

Indeed some hosting companies will throw up these ready cpc templates as soon as a domain expires and/or a hosting account goes into arrears. Bad form if you ask me, but it happens.