How are links in ads perceived ?

[Dan-Lawrence]

Hi,

Please can someone remind me how links in display ads are perceived by G ?

A client of mine has purchased a display campaign with an industry related on-line publication that has lead to a massive spike in reported back links in Google Search Console (the new GWT).  Does Google automatically identify these as ads (due to tracker codes etc) rather than paid backlinks or should they, like links in press releases, be no-followed or other advice ?

Cheers

Dan

[CleverPhD]

All paid links should be no-followed.   Google is very clear about this

https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/66356?hl=en

The following are examples of link schemes which can negatively impact a site's ranking in search results:

• Buying or selling links that pass PageRank. This includes exchanging money for links, or posts that contain links; exchanging goods or services for links; or sending someone a “free” product in exchange for them writing about it and including a link

Can Google always tell if links are paid or not, no.  Do the eventually figure out things, yes.  If they figure it out in this case (and they might for the reasons you mention) that site could get penalized.   Even if Google did not penalize, when the ad campaign ends, those links go away and the value goes away.

I would stay on the conservative side and ask that those links get no-followed.  Try and find away to reap the benefits of the click through traffic from those ads.

[Dan-Lawrence]

cool thanks for confirming cleverphd !

so as far as you know (and practice) most seo's will tell their clients to 'no follow' any banner ad campaigns they are carrying out etc ?

also is it now standard best practice to expect publishers when selling banner ad campaigns to 'no follow' their ads as standard ?

all best

dan

[CleverPhD]

That would be best practice and the conservative approach to tell clients to no follow any banner ads pointing to the site.  If you call yourself a white hat seo that follows Google guidelines, then that is your route.  Not all SEOs are of this ilk, so what others do is up to them.

I would not expect that a publisher know to add a no follow.  They are not focused on SEO, they are just focused on selling banners.  As you are paying them for the banner, they should be able to accommodate this.

If they were not, you can have them direct the banner to a page on your site that is blocked via robots.txt and then (if needed) 301 redirect the page to the page that you want the user to see.

[Dan-Lawrence]

Ok thanks for the info !

Have a great weekend !

All Best

Dan

[Dan-Lawrence]

any tips for quickly checking if an ad has a 'no follow' on its link i.e. a browser based tool etc ?

much appreciated !

all best

dan

[CleverPhD]

Moz toolbar will do it.

[Dan-Lawrence]

Which bit of it will ? thought MOzbar just looks at the page (rather than specific elements of it, like a banner ad) ?

cheers

dan

[Dan-Lawrence]

Hi Clever PHD dont spose you can advise in regard to my last question (or anyone else in MOz team) ....That Moz bar can look at elements beyond the page level so i can determine if banner ads on a page have been 'no followed' ?

Also if these links are showing up in GWT/Search console does that mean that they are 'followed' or does search console show all links it finds ?

Cheers

dan

[CleverPhD]

Moz toolbar.  See top left.

Screenshot before toolbar is set to highlight no follows

http://i.imgur.com/05p5h0T.png

Screenshot after after toolbar is set to highlight no follows

http://i.imgur.com/YSGw1gK.png

Example of toolbar highlighting no follows

http://i.imgur.com/Xy4iL9i.png

Other resources to learn more about Moz bar

https://moz.com/help/guides/research-tools/mozbar

https://moz.com/blog/announcing-mozbar-v3

http://www.poweredbysearch.com/mozbar-seo-extension-chrome-firefox/

or you can Google "Moz bar guide"

https://www.google.com/search?q=mozbar+guide

Search console is link agnostic.

https://sites.google.com/site/webmasterhelpforum/en/faq--webmaster-tools

Q: I know I have [one / several / dozens of ] links that Search Console isn't showing. What gives?
A: Although the link reports in Search Console are more comprehensive than doing a [link:example.com] query in Google search, they may not include 100% of all links that you know about. This is normal and should not be cause for alarm. Search Console does not always show 100% of the links that Google knows about, so just because a particular link doesn't appear in Search Console doesn't mean that Google doesn't know about that link, or that your site isn't "getting credit" for that link.

Note that the link report in Search Console only shows whether a site is linking to yours; it doesn't show which links are most significant, and it can include links that are nofollowed, disavowed, or that don't pass PageRank.

[Dan-Lawrence]

Brilliant ! thanks so much for all that great info i really appreciate it !!

However the Mozbar highlighting doesn't have an effect on links in graphics like banners etc, only on text type links etc as far as i can see. Am i missing something here ?

All Best

Dan