Paid links that are passing link equity from a blog?

[danatanseo]

We have a well-known blogger in our industry with whom we've had a long-standing relationship. We've had inbound links from his blog for many, many years. Today I noticed that we are running a banner ad listed on all pages of his blog under a heading that says "Sponsors."

He has dedicated an entire page of his site giving full disclosure of all advertising. However, all of the links on his site pointing to us are passing link equity. To my knowledge they've been this way ever since they were first established years ago.

I am fairly certain this fellow, with whom we have an excellent relationship, neither knows nor cares what a "nofollow" attribute is. I am afraid that if I contact him with a request that he add "nofollow" attributes to all of our links that it will damage our relationship by creating friction. To someone who knows nothing and cares nothing about SEO, asking them to put a "nofollow" on a link could either seem like a technical request they don't know how to handle, or something even potentially "shady" on our part.

My question is this: Considering how long these links have been there, is this even worth worrying about? Should I just forget about it and move on to bigger fish, or, is this a potentially serious enough violation of Google Webmaster guidelines that we should pursue getting those links "nofollow" attributes added?

I should add that we haven't received any "unnatural" link notifications from Google, ever, and haven't ever engaged in any questionable link-building tactics.

[SEO5Team]

Hi Dana,

In our opinion that would technically be treated like a paid link and is in violation of Google guidelines. Link below:

Link Schemes (especially the part that says "Widely distributed links in the footers or templates of various sites")

Better to be safe than sorry:). Our suggestion in this case would be to set up call with the blogger (a more personal discussion) as opposed to an email and then get your views across to him. I'm sure he will appreciate your proactive approach in doing this before you get into any issues with Google. Also the fact that you do have a reputation to protect with your clients and in the industry, so why put that in jeopardy.

Cheers,

SEO5..

[anthonydnelson]

Hi Dana,

While technically a paid link and against TOS... I wouldn't recommend changing it or worrying about it. And I'm a pretty conservative SEO. Every backlink profile has some bad links. Old bookmarking sites, comments on random sites, scraper sites, whatever the cause may be. If this link has been there for years without problem, don't worry about changing it.

Now, if you had 10-50 similar paid links, I would recommend actively changing them to nofollow as it would look like you were trying to be manipulative to the rankings and would be a good preventative measure.

[Andy-Halliday]

I would have to agree with SEO 5 team and get them changed, why take the risks of a ticking time bomb that could hit you at any time and without knowing your actually site potential destroy your listing.

I would go about the call slightly differently I would go about it in the sense of how by not doing this google could penalise his site and destroy his rankings and visibility. He is more likely to help and change his site, if he thinks he has got something to lose, which technically he has.

So explain to him, that Google are penalise site which take paid links and put "nofollow" on them.

It might hurt your rankings in the short term - but at least your then not worried about every update Google does.

If your playing by the rules, then you will actually come to enjoy Google updates as your competition suffers and you improve.

[MoosaHemani]

Dana, I have been through this situation and it was very easy for me to make then no follow the paid links that are pointing back to my client’s website.

Obviously Paid Links are against the Google terms and you know you cannot take that easy so you have to go with adding no follow attribute.

When I was facing this issue, I tried to setup a physical meeting (may be a dinner and a coffee) and then slowly tell him how Google is reacting these days and how business should take care of small details that ideally they shouldn’t. Plot the problem and let him know the solution… If he is not technical enough just offer him your technical services for free and if he/she is really in a good connection with you, he probably will say yes to it (keep your services free)!

And you are done!

[danatanseo]

I really like this Idea. I think diplomatically approaching it is key. We do have one person at our company who is good friends with this particular blogger. I need to use him as my emissary, but it will be a hard sell. Within the first month of me coming on board here he introduced himself to me this way: "Hi, my name is xxxxxx and I don't give a crap about SEO."...so I will have an uphill battle there, LOL. Ah well, 50% of SEO is diplomacy isn't it?

Thanks for responding. I appreciate it very much.

[danatanseo]

Anthony, thanks so much for chiming in. My gut instinct is to agree with you. I think I'm going to sit on this one and think about it for a little bit. It will also give me some time to formulate the best approach if I do decide to ask him to change the links to "nofollow."