Creating profiles just to get a link is black hat?

[de.tierno]

Hi, i have a competitor that is creating profiles in sites that passes ranks in links and putting some links with good anchor text in the bio field. This can be considered a black hat seo? This competitor is getting good rank up with these pratices and i dont know if i can use these same sites too. link to profile: http://interact.webstandards.org/member/89166/ There are a lot of more sites with profiles with no content and just a link to the site. Thanks in advance, Denis

[Volusion.com]

It shouldn't be. I just recommend not to over do them or over optimize them. Try to open relevant profiles from useful channels, such as Google profile, etc... Rand discuss great places to do this tactic on his last webinar Future of Link Building

Hope this helps.

[SteveOllington]

I didn't think profile links were worth so much anymore. Not from within forums, etc... anyway. I don't know if it's black hat but I wouldn't have thought it would be white hat either, bit of a grey area I guess. Unless of course it's done by spamming loads of profiles at random with software, rather than going for profiles that on sites that are relevant.

[kwoolf]

I'm going to take a stab at this one and try to stay as unbiased as possible. First thing to consider here is if those sites hosting these profile pages have noteworthy domain authority. I'm not sure how many reputable sites really allow link juice to flow in profile pages as you mentioned, but if this is the case, then it's reasonable to assume this link will count as a followed linking root domain. This has, indeed, been noted as one of the most important factors in search ranking, but there are other forces at work that limit the benefit of this kind of inbound linking technique. I wouldn't call this black hat per se, put I wouldn't focus my efforts on chasing this competitor on these sites either.

Watch some webinars here and you'll learn that links that never get clicked aren't contributing a lot to your ranking or the linking site's domain authority. And a sudden massive increase in linking root domains without an increase in traffic raises red flags that someone is trying to manipulate the system, ie. engaging in black hat SEO activities. Also note that Google loves fresh content, so I'd rest easy knowing that these links will go stale at some point in the near future, especially with no good copy to entice visitors to click the link.

So instead of worrying about your competitors who are focused on short term rankings, write some good articles about your products and services and start getting the word out; build trust and extend your brand. There is so much more you can focus on that will get people to visit your site and spend money, which is the whole point of having your Internet business. So I would try not to worry about cheaters. Even if these competitors are ranking higher for the time being, I'm willing to bet they are probably not putting much energy into selling.

[AaronSchinke]

I tend to agree with Steve. I think eventually the degree to which these profiles contribute to the quality of your site will depend on how well the account is utilized. Sooner or later (sooner) this will begin to reflect poorly on them.

[kwoolf]

As a note on forums, I've found Google does like these links, especially links in the signature that appear will all a user's posts. If that particular forum has strong trust and domain authority, this will surely impact a young site's rankings. To emphasize the importance of forums, Google even added a search option along side images, videos, shopping, etc. called discussions, where users can limit searches to forum posts and other discussion boards. Even SEomoz values forums, as we all get rewarded for posting and generating useful content.

[PeterM22]

It can definately help if you get links from high authority domains if its done in a non spammy way to a domain with some authority. If you blast out hundreds using automated software to a brand new domain, it's less likely to be effective.

[bemcapaz]

I would say that this type of link building is more like a gray hat area. For me, everything that wasnt created naturally by some user and is abused, even in a low level, enters that area. Ex. Lots of blog commenting, fórum profile linkback, lots of directory submit, lots of bookmark, etc And, to be black hat i would say all the above but with automated programs + lots of proxys to massem all, creating a really big distortion from reality. (and, of course, some other methods)

[deltasystems]

Can you link to the webinar you mentioned? I'll keep an open mind, but from everything I've experienced in the last five years, links that don't get clicked still work pretty darn well.

It would be hard for Google to track which links are getting clicked. In addition, the links boost the site's ranking and so they will gain traffic organically. (Maybe I misunderstood you)

I don't consider forum profile links to be spam or even grey hat when used appropriately. If you are using a tool like Dripfeed Blasts, then of course that's another story.

Much of grey hat SEO and a moderate portion of black hat is still in effect. I still see competitors from two years ago sporting a large number of links from terrible neighborhoods, and still ranking incredibly well. I've reported them countless times to no avail.

It almost seems like you have to get a competitor featured in a New York Times article for Google to do anything substantial.

Cheers.