Google recently updated their Link Shemes/Unnatural Links document. They did it so quietly that almost nobody noticed. This is strange for Google as they usually have a ton of fanfare when they are making a change to the way their algorithm works. This change in policy didn’t even have a funny animal name to go along with it. Barry Schwartz, editor of Search Engine Roundtable, has a page change tool app set up for the exact URL Google uses to announce changes and it didn’t even catch this change for several days. Does this mean the change in policy is a sign of bigger changes on the way?
Google Links Policy Changes Again
What exactly did Google say with their new update to the links document? Here are the changes:
Under the Links to Manipulate Page Rank section Google stated, “Any links intended to manipulate PageRank or a site’s ranking in Google search results may be considered part of a link scheme and a violation of Google’s Webmaster Guidelines. This includes any behavior that manipulates links to your site or outgoing links from your site.”
Google didn’t have a lot to say about link exchanges, but here is what they said, “Excessive link exchanges (“Link to me and I’ll link to you”) or partner pages exclusively for the sake of cross-linking."
They even updated their article marketing and guest posting language, “Large-scale article marketing or guest posting campaigns with keyword-rich anchor text links.”
Here is what they said about automated linking, “Using automated programs or services to create links to your site.”
All of these changes sound very vague and leave a lot of room for Google to maneuver. This seems like a document that companies use when they know their service is questionable, but want a legal way out of being liable. But, why would Google need such a document? It also sounds like a politician using words, but parsing their meaning. There are several words that stand out to me including: low quality, excessive, intended, exclusively, large-scale, automated, widely distributed and may be considered.
These words seem like they can be left open to interpretation and an algorithm would not be able to decide on it’s own. Maybe that’s why Google changed the wording, they want to give themselves room to maneuver, knowing there will be exceptions to the rules. What do you think? Are the changes going to help Google and hurt the average SEO or is it the other way around? The fact is, Google makes these changes because there are so many black hat SEO companies out there and they are trying to move the best content to the top. This is why at Leap Clixx we only do white hat SEO, and don't rely on any tricks to move you to the top of Google's search results.
