Paying for listing rather than a link

[TheZenAgency]

Hi

If you pay to have a website listed within a web page as it will be beneficial to have it there for both the business and website audience, is this considered a dangerous tactic? The link is relevant to the situation and its not being done simply for a link

Thanks in advance

[taryn_s]

Hi,

If you're paying to have a presence on a website and not doing it to pass PageRank, that's fine. You must, however, request that the website owner places a 'nofollow' attribute on the link to ensure no PageRank is passed. Google have a page here on how to do this and what it means.

If the link doesn't have a 'nofollow' attribute, you will be violating Google's guidelines and that is very much a dangerous tactic.

Here is some further reading so you can put your mind at ease:
Google's page on Link schemes
A reminder about selling links that pass PageRank Why do paid links violate Google's guidelines while other ads don't? (Video)

[donford]

Brendan's advice is pertinent if your are specifically buying a link, but there is a huge caveat to this information. It is not uncommon for other services such as Yahoo Local, or lead generating resources to provide a service of which includes a link to your website. In these cases you're not actually buying a link but a service.

Google has indeed cracked down on directory type listing websites because they really offer no value to anybody on the web. However when services are attached, such as lead generation, technical advice, consulting etc.. often times a link to your site is part of the service and shouldn't be lumped into calling it a purchased link.. per-say.

Hope this makes sense,

Don