Do backlinks with good anchor text from bad sites help?

[AnnemiekevH]

Hi,

In the Netherlands, the SEO competition for terms like loans is very competitive. I see a website in this industry that seems to be doing very well based on links with good anchor text from sites that seem quite worthless to me, such as: http://www.online-colleges-helper.com/ and http://www.alohapath.com/

My question is: is it worth pursuing this type of links? I assume these must be paid links, or am I wrong? I'd really rather not go down this route but I don't want to be outranked by someone who is using these types of links...

Many thanks in advance for any type of insight!

Annemieke

[division1]

In our experience: if link is coming from the website with BAD reputation it is better not to have it (even with good anchor text) However if it is neutral website with GOOD reputation (even if it is not in the same industry) we don't mind to have link from them with RIGHT anchor text.

I hope it helps and of course it is up to you to decide to get this links or not. Good luck.

[NextDigital51]

Hi Annemieke,

Looking at the websites you mentioned, they seem like paid links to me. This seems like a JC Penny scenario http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/13/business/13search.html where they got a lot of links with good anchor text. I strongly advise you not to go down this path, you can report this website using Google Webmaster Tools, this might help speed up the process for Google to find these links.

Clement

[KeriMorgret]

Hi Annemieke!

I'm following up on some of the older questions in the Q&A area. Did you decide to try to pursue these links, or skip them? Is there anything of interest that you learned that you're willing to share with other people watching this question?

Thanks!

[AnnemiekevH]

Hi Keri,

I decided not to pursue these links - I don't really want my client to be associated with junk like this, even if it would help them in the short run. So I can't tell you what the effect of those links would have been...

Annemieke