Why Google just slapped thousands of bloggers' review sites.
Why Google just slapped thousands of bloggers' review sites, and what you should do to avoid lost traffic and search engine position now!
What happened?
Google disapproves of bloggers giving standard follow-links in exchange for their review of a free product or service. Earlier this week, exactly one month after a "best practices" post on their blog (1), Google placed manual action penalties—en masse—on blog reviewers who apparently did not get the message.
Google holds, in this case, that the external link to the gift benefactor must be a "nofollow" link.
Six steps to take if this happens to you:
Hopefully you were not slapped with this penalty. Because it's a big one. But if it happens to you, 1) remove paid links, 2) remove exchanged links, and 3) mark links to the sites for which you reviewed a product or service given to you free, as "nofollow". Also 4) make any affiliate links to the product under review (even if it is on Amazon) "nofollow". (Be sure to catch Google's John Mueller's April 11, 2016 comment on this point, further below.)
There is one more thing that you may not at first consider: what about the other guy? This brings up: 5) make certain that any link to your site, from "the other guy" (your benefactor bearing free gifts), is also a "nofollow". An email explaining the situation, and that it is important for both of you to have nofollow-links to the other, will probably do the trick.
Once you have cleared the deck, you can 6) request Google to reconsider your site. Do this through Google's Search Console tool. (2)
How do you make links "nofollow"?
Simply add rel="nofollow" within the "a" tag of the link. Like this (sort of):
<a href="http://example.com" rel="nofollow" alt="my good buddy who gave me freebies to say this">The whizbang bing boom! product</a>
"rel" is considered an "attribute" of the link; it stands for "relationship", as in relationship to you, the site owner. Just keep a space before it and at the end, to separate it from other attributes like "title", "alt", and "href".
Preventative measures:
Google's John Mueller addressed what in effect is a sponsored post like this:
"It's fine to keep these kinds of posts up, sometimes there's a lot of useful information in them! However, the links in those posts specifically need to be modified so that they don't pass PageRank (by using the rel=nofollow)." (3)
In response to one person in particular, he also brought up "disclosure". Listen to how he cautions other bloggers:
"Obviously, it's also good to disclose this kind of relationship to your readers too -- on the page I was looking at, you did that already, but others might not be doing that. (4)
Going forward, for all of us bloggers using affiliations to generate income; there are some lessons here. Are they lessons in morality— the subtler, little-bit fuzzy side? One could argue this.
Google is saying that, for their part, they consider links differently—in terms of ranking the linked site—if they were exchanged for goods or services. And as to the sponsorship itself, their point is that the viewer should be told if the post contains sponsored content. This translates to 1) nofollow links to the sponsor and product; 2) nofollow links from the sponsor to you; and 3) a disclosure in the post for the viewer. Fair enough?
But don't go "nofollow" crazy.
Mueller again cautioned, saying
"There's absolutely no need to nofollow every link on your site! " (5)
And again,
"You don't need to nofollow everything on your blog, just the links that are involved in an exchange like this." (4) (emphasis mine)
He also clarified Google's position, adding,
"However, those that are there because of an exchange (such as a product or service for a review) should have a rel=nofollow on links to the product, to their sales pages, and to any social media profiles that are linked because of the review. Also, it's always a good idea to clearly label these kinds of posts for your readers too." (5)
That about sums it up!
--Fran
Footnotes:
(1) Google warning to bloggers reviewing free products received from companies - March 11, 2016. https://webmasters.googleblog.com/2016/03/best-pra...
(2) Google's Search Console Tool (url shortened due to the query string) http://bit.ly/1W08rWd
(3) John Mueller - Google (as "JohnMu") - Webmaster Central Help Forum - April 11, 2016. https://productforums.google.com/d/msg/webmasters/...
(4) John Mueller - Google (as "JohnMu") - Webmaster Central Help Forum - April 11, 2016. https://productforums.google.com/d/msg/webmasters/...
(5) John Mueller - Google (as "JohnMu") - Webmaster Central Help Forum - April 11, 2016. https://productforums.google.com/d/msg/webmasters/...
Recent Comments
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You don't _have_ to; as Matt Cutts has said that Google knows how to treat affiliate links, and they generally treat them as "nofollow" anyway.
It is generally considered "safe" to treat all affiliate links as nofollow. One thing that is pertinent to our reviews of WA is to be sure and disclose that we're members here. Of course that is our opportunity to give a great testimonial as to why we do call this home and how our own experience in making an income online might relate to that of our visitor's. So the disclosure can come off as very positive, rather than some dry statement.
If you are linking to your blog here, on the other hand; I would keep it a standard link.
:)
--Fran
LOL, yes. I was like alright she shares the same name as my grandma and my middle name so lets read her blog.
Erica, thanks for dropping me a line here.
I just went to check out your page and one of your trainings from February regarding FTC disclosures. You see, I wasn't aware of those.
It's very relative to this discussion though; because you know that Google had that in mind when they formulated their policy toward sponsored product reviews.
:)
--Fran
Blimey, I agree with PJ. exhaustive research, really well put together and relevant references, the hall marks of a PhD.
Nice work Fran
Your fan Keith.
Hey, Keith! Happy to see you. lol. Well, hopefully if ever the occasion arises to be on the receiving end of products to review, we now know the dos and don'ts of if all. Thanks!
--Fran
Thanks for the info...I've always wondered how truthful or unbiased these kind of reviews can be when I've come across them myself and was wondering when something like this would happen.
Again, thanks for sharing how to add the "no follow" to our links...an important reminder for all of us.
Best wishes :) ~Sherry
Sherry, thank you so much for reading and commenting on the article. I have seen disclosures before, by very popular bloggers who probably are offered free stuff, all the time, to review.
But I had really not thought about their links. It make sense!
--Fran
Thanks for the share! Awesome post.
Jay has been preaching nofollow links for as long as I have been here and there has been loads of talk regarding Googles views on gifts for links... so this really shouldn't come as a shock to anyone.... within WA anyway ;)
Keep up the fantastic work.
No doubt, receiving nice products for review has been a long-time perk for bloggers with large followings. And Google doesn't disparage such an exchange. They simply consider those links "exchanged" for payment, and thus the slap down of the standard follow-links. It follows on the heels of Google crushing the pay-for-link business practice, over the past couple of years.
You're probably right that it should not come as a shock to WA affiliates; but there are always people here who, like me, are new to blogging or new to blogging reviews in an affiliate capacity. I might not have even noticed the commotion, otherwise. Suddenly now, it's pertinent.
Thanks so much for your input, Marc. Really appreciate you coming by and commenting.
--Fran
Thanks, PJ! The situation is so fresh. It must have been under Google's skin, because exactly one month after their (very nice and reasonable) blog post, they took action. I just happened across it the other day. Whew.
Fortunately, this didn't happen to me. But, I do love the way you research! Impeccable citations too. If you ever get into freelance writing, let me know!
LOL, thanks PJ. It's so nice to meet another who appreciates citations and references. Sometimes my references take up half as many lines as the article. But this allows the reader to dig deeper and do their own research, instead of just taking what I write at face value.
See more comments
I got questions about pretty links. I was told that I should never click on no follow in the options. Since I was told that, I checked all my pretty links and made sure that the option was not checked. I will get a picture to exemplify. cos I am a numpty at the techy stuff.
picture 1 (good settings or not?)
picture 2 (why do I have gazillions of clicks but virtually zero signups? I think it is bots, right?)
Have I been advised correctly or have I been lead by the blind (yet again)
hope u can help!
Jimbo
Let's take this one item at a time.
On your first picture, you show:
1. Redirection type: 307 Temporary
- I like 301 Permanent.
However, while you are still experimenting with the link, it's a good idea to keep it at 307 Temporary.
- 307 Temporary Redirect Response does not pass link juice - something to keep in mind when redirecting to your own internal pages or external sites that you control.
Here's the plugin author, Brian Williams', explanation: http://bit.ly/1L5iIkB
2. Parameter Forwarding.
Leave this off.
Even though your jaaxy affiliate link has a query string with "parameter", a_aid and its value; this will already be sent to jaaxy when your pretty link is clicked.
Parameter Forwarding is for when you have similar links but you need to differentiate them only by something. For instance, you link to this one plaid coffee cup on amazon; but one is the tall cup style and one is the squatty cup style. Other than that, one parameter, "style", for example, amazon might give you the same link.
Pretty link has a way to do that, which you can read about here, in case you ever need it or want it: http://bit.ly/29emkVe
3. Track Hits.
Sure, keep this checked, if you want Pretty Link to continue providing data about your hits.
4. "Nofollow" this link.
Check it. I would check this for every affiliate link. Here's why:
- Once you change your redirect to 301 Permanent for any affiliate link then DO also check "nofollow". (Do NOT check nofollow for other kinds of 301 Redirects, though.)
Although Matt Cutts of Google has said that Google pretty much knows when you are linking to an affiliate site, and therefore treats it as a nofollow, even without you adding "nofollow", he said it can't hurt.
It's important to have your affiliate links "nofollow". Everything else should probably be _normal_ links (which are follow); because they help the credibility of your site.
Realize, this "follow/no-follow" stuff is only for the sake of search engine robots. It does not affect a visitor's experience when clicking the link, even one iota.
- Personally, even though you are using 307 Temporary redirect I would still check to add a "nofollow" to it, because it goes to an affiliate site.
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There's really no way to tell from Pretty Link data, whether these links are bots or bait or real. But see Pretty Link's explanation of their Hits data, here: http://bit.ly/29m3vi2
Bait links are, of course, usually bots, hoping that you will link back to them, or at least check the site out, after seeing it in your analytics page.
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Here's the way to know, according to Google:
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Go to your analytics page for this site (you have set it up, right?)
Google counsels that any bounce link that shows 0 for the duration is most likely a bot; because what person is going to show up to your site and stay for less than one second?
You should be able to download a Pretty Link CSV file with all your hit data, and may be able to research this more with Google analytics. Any site that shows up as a referral for link, should also appear in the Google Analytics info for your site.
With the Pretty Link report open in one tab (or the CSV filed open for comparison), and your Google Analytics property for this site open in another tab...
Click Acquisitions > Referrals to see if you can match up any URLs hitting your site (based on the hits report), with a "referrer" in the Analytics data. The info in Analytics will include number of sessions; how many new visitors, their bounce rate, and average duration per session. If it's 0, then you probably have your answer, regarding the bot. But if it's a few seconds or more than one page, it's probably a person.
Yes, this is tedious. If you have other analytical resources, or a plugin that provides more stats, you could study your hits a little better.
Jim-Bo, you might check out plugins like "WassUp Realtime Analytics" (can't use a caching plugin with it though); or "Better Google Analytics" (looks good on paper); or "Site Spy", which looks very promising for deciphering how users are using your site. Site Spy lets you create event triggers (like clicking on different links, registering, signup up for an email list, etc.), create page triggers, scoring, etc. I recommend you check that one out on http://wordpress.org/plugins.
The good news is that when you find a real site which is linking to you; you have an opportunity to build more links from that site by reaching out to the owner when you have a new post he/she related to their interests.
Gosh this is long, Jim-Bo. I hope it helps answer some of your questions. (Pardon any and all typos. ;)
--Fran
Awesome, Fran, will take a while for me to soak it up. My head is a shed right now, so many shiny objects, I think my brain is about to explode and fall on the floor into a quivering mass of jelly...lol
whoever said buiding a website is simple, is a liar! ha!
Ahhhaahaaaa. Yeah, I get that. LOL.
Well, don't worry. I think I answered each question though. So just read it one item at a time. You'll be finished before nightfall.
:)))