Dropping Text Link Ads

Some time ago, I decided to add the "nofollow" tag to the link ads I had running from Text Link Ads. Why, you might ask? Well, I had a hunch that something might be happening with regards to how Google treats sites that sell text based links for PageRank. As I really don't want to play with my relationship with Google, adding a simple nofollow to the links would then indicate to the mighty GoogleBot that I don't want to transfer any PageRank to the advertisers. I'm not the first one to do this, Ryan Jones over at dotcult.com did the exact same thing back in January, and got suspended from TLA (only to be let back in later). Like Ryan, I looked for a ToS on the TLA site, but could not find one. I therefore modified the raw PHP plugin that they provide, to add the nofollow tag. Everything seemed fine, until I got an email from TLA a couple of days ago stating that my account has been suspended due to the modifications I had made. My reply was to send them the link to Ryan Jones' post, and asking them to show me the ToS I was violating. The reply was:
But Christian, please know, if you don't remove the nofollow, we will be forced to remove the advertisers and refund them their payments. This is not up for discussion, you must remove the nofollow.
And I have yet to see any ToS that forbids me from doing what I did, and the representative from TLA (which I talked to on IRC), then came up with this little gem:
I spoke to patrick on the matter already and he said publishers are not allowed to use nofollow, there's no way to validate what that guy said actually came from patrick
Who should I believe? Some random blog posting, or the company that makes a living by cheating the Google rankings. For me the choice was easy in the end; TLA has proved to me that they sell text based ads purely for PageRank and nothing else. Text Link Ads actually say it on their own front page:
Improve your traffic and search engine rankings. Only TLA can deliver an ad that does both.
That is clearly something Google will penalize at some point, probably sooner rather than later. So, as far as TLA is concerned they are now officially removed from my site, and my TLA account has been suspended. I have no intention of removing my nofollow and helping TLA game the search engines for money. Rumour has it that Google will start penalizing sites that do sell links like this, and I'm sure Matt Cutts "Whitehat SEO Tips for Bloggers" session at WordCamp 2007 will be really interesting in this regard. My guess is that sites that sell text ads for PageRank will lose the ability to enhance other sites PageRank. I might be wrong, but lets see what happens.

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Published July 22, 2007 01:06
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22 Responses to Dropping Text Link Ads:

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  • JTPRATT’s Blogging Mistakes - Learning everything about blogging the hard way!
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    that if you buy text links (directly or through a service) you are “buying votes” - or indirectly buying a higher rank in search results. You might say “just rel=nofollow the links”, but with TLA that’s not possible. Read this post about “Dropping Text Links Ads by h0bbel, where he talks about his recent experiences with TLA. He added the rel=nofollow tag in himself, and Text Link Ads told him to remove it. He references Ryan Jones at dotcult.com and his post

  • Ryan
    2007-07-22 01:31:40

    Hey, it’s Ryan from dotcult

    Just to clarify… I was running the ads on txt2day.com To make matters worse, I was only showing them on pages that my robots.txt forbid search engines from seeing (a thank you page after sending a text message).

    when they let me back in, they put text in all of my ads that said they were nofollowed. Nobody re-upped for the advertising the following month, and I closed my account with them.

    I since moved on to cost per action ads - as they’re fair to both the publisher and the advertiser.

  • h0bbel
    2007-07-22 01:42:50

    Well, I never got an offer from TLA to label my links as nofollowed. Nor did they ever provide me with a link to the ToS they claim I am violating. I was showing TLA powered ads on basically every page on this site, and it must have been good for the advertisers as they kept renewing every month.

    Now, Google seems to be gearing up to penalize links like that, thus I’m removing them. If someone wants to sponsor my site with a nofollowed link on my pages, they should get in contact with me directly. Frankly, TLA does make a lot of money on this (they keep a 50% cut), and it seems very clear to me that the only intention of TLA and of their advertisers, is to harvest PageRank where ever possible.

    TLA even claims, in my correspondence with them, that Patrik Gavin might not have contacted you. To be honest, at this point I trust your posting a lot more than I trust TLA.

  • University Update - Google - Dropping Text Link Ads
    2007-07-22 02:48:53

    […] Link to Article google Dropping Text Link Ads » Posted at h0bbel on Saturday, July 21, 2007 […]

  • WordPress Advice
    2007-07-22 03:01:24

    Great Stuff.

    If they really don’t have this on their terms of service, how could they do it. This post might start a chain reaction. Though its been sometimes Ryan posted his account of the game he played with TLA, your case actually may resound in the blogosphere. Lets see what happens next.

  • Advertiser Watch » Blog Archive » Dropping Text Link Ads
    2007-07-22 06:39:10

    […] more: h0bbel Filed in […]

  • Alex Choo
    2007-07-23 08:09:19

    It’s not surprising that more bloggers would consider adding nofollow to their paid links.

    The reason is that Google wants to come down hard on those sites that sell links for the sake of increasing the PR. They see it as dishonesty.

  • Alex Choo
    2007-07-23 08:13:47

    Here are 2 posts I have written on this topic of adding nofollow to paid links.

    http://www.wptextads.com/blog/2007/05/17/does-google-hate-paid-links-not-really-says-matt-cutts/
    http://www.wptextads.com/blog/2007/05/24/we-dont-hate-paid-links-says-googles-seo-strategist/

    Christian, will you consider WP Text Ads? It has nofollow on by default, and you pay no commissions.

  • h0bbel
    2007-07-23 10:42:10

    I could possibly consider other text link ad services, and WP Text Ads looks interesting. I do see two problems immediate issues that might prevent me from using it though.

    • 1. I am switching from Wordpress to Habari, and WP Text Ads is a Wordpress Plugin. I think limiting it to Wordpress only is a mistake.
    • 2. Even if WP Text Ads could run on other platforms, I don’t see myself shelling out $127 to be able to sell more ads that the free edition enables. I would rather have the service take a cut of the income.
  • FreePress Blog » Blog Archive » Goodbye Text Link Ads
    2007-07-24 18:49:25

    […] Apparently that won’t work. […]

  • Alex Choo
    2007-07-25 18:25:49

    Hi h0bbel,

    I’m sorry that WP Text Ads doesn’t work on any other platform but WordPress. Guess I can’t help you with that.

    But I’d like to comment on your view on the price. $127 is not excessive since it is a one time payment. And you can actually display 2 + 2 + (2 * total number of posts) free ads. By that time, I hope you’d made far more than $127.

    Furthermore, WP Text Ads lets bloggers sell ads for the home page, whole blog and per-post. Being a self-service system gives it certain abilities you cannot get with a brokered system.

    Thanks :)

  • h0bbel
    2007-07-25 18:57:54

    Alex: I don’t claim that it’s excessive, I just think that having your service take a cut of the income, instead of a one-off fee, would guarantee that WP Text Ads still have a continued interest in selling ads on the sites in your system.

  • Alex Choo
    2007-07-28 15:07:16

    Hey h0bbel,

    Your concerns are entirely valid for any blogger. Thanks for those thoughts.

    WP Text Ads and the Marketplace does not sell ads on behalf of bloggers. It is just a tool to make direct selling fast and easy.

    If WP Text Ads has a hand in the sale of ads, then an transaction fee would be the more profitable way to go.

    The Marketplace tries to connect bloggers with advertisers. But advertiser still have to visit the blogs to buy ads from the blogger.

    Having said that, it is much harder to make the $127 sale than a transaction fee, therefore I’ll have to work harder to improve WP Text Ads and the Marketplace. :)

  • Around the web | alexking.org
    2007-07-29 23:54:44

    […] Dropping Text Link Ads - h0bbel […]

  • links for 2007-08-01 : Bob Plankers, The Lone Sysadmin
    2007-08-01 08:16:29

    […] Dropping Text Link Ads - h0bbel […]

  • Meike
    2007-08-03 14:39:31

    Probably very true, but as a small blogger, one likes getting the extra bucks at the end of the month, so why drop TLA?
    However, I do understand your reason for dropping them, but from the perspective of a small blogger, I will sell text links as long as it is possible…

  • h0bbel
    2007-08-04 00:58:32

    Well, I for one don’t value the cash from TLA as higher than being able to propagate PageRank and avoid being penalized by Google.

  • Vasken
    2007-08-05 18:09:46

    I recently typed up a long email to TLA asking this same question, but their stupid form crashed on submission (I always copy before sending, but not this time for some reason). I didn’t have the heart to re-type it, and now I’m glad I didn’t waste the time. I make $7 a month from TLA’s new in-post program, and it’s not worth messing with the AdSense money. Also, since I’ve been part of the blog post pilot with TLA, I haven’t gotten a single ‘regular’ link ad for my site, while several of my colleagues at work who blog have gotten the full 10 with similar sites.

    My real issue will be ReviewMe. I already use nofollow in any links besides the one mandatory one, but I’m going to email them asking where they stand. I make a good bit of money from ReviewMe, so leaving would be a lot harder than with TLA.

  • h0bbel
    2007-08-05 19:09:48

    I did make a few hundred USD a month on TLA, but it’s still not worth it if I get penalized by Google for it. I always counted that income as a bonus that could potentially disappear at any given moment, and that was also the end result.

  • JTPRATT's Blogging Mistakes
    2007-08-17 20:34:09

    Found your site through the FreePress blog, and I’m glad I learned of this issue before I started getting paid for TLA. I won’t be using them either, and I wrote about why other’s shouldn’t here: Google Penalty for Using Text Links Ads. I hope others read it (and your article) and do the same.

  • h0bbel
    2007-08-17 22:13:06

    I don’t want to make people run away from TLA, every site owner should make up their own mind about it. Make an informed decision, but beware of the potential consequences.

    John, you did get a couple of things mixed up in your post; My TLA customers didn’t stop renewing, TLA pulled my site out of the index since I refused to remove my nofollow modification and then reimbursed the clients who had already paid for links on this site.

    Fair enough, as I did break the ToS they have (although pretty well hidden) on their site. For all I know, they have changed the wording in the ToS since I signed up as I can’t remember seeing anything regarding changing the code they provide us with.

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