Do Backlink Advertising Networks Really Work?

When I first heard of backlink advertising networks, I have toadmit I was more than a bit skeptical. Of course backlinks are probablythe most important tool in the search engine optimization kit, butbuying or acquiring backlinks in an unnatural way has always beensomething Google and other major search engines do not condone. I tooka look at a few networks hoping to find some answers.

Digital Point Solutions

The firstnetwork I looked at was DigitalPoint's Coop Advertising Network. DigitalPoint's network allows you tocreate either banner or text ads that will then be displayed on variouswebsites in the network with an active backlink. Websites receive a"weight" which determines how often they appear on other sites,although it wasn't exactly clear on how a site gains weight. Furtherreading explained that certain factors such as Alexa Rank and number ofpages showing ads may contribute to weight. It was even possible totarget your ads by category. I was very impressed with the setup. So, Iinstalled the ad network on a few websites and, sure enough, the systemstarted to churn out backlinks.

After testing out the network, Idecided to read what others were saying in their forums. Sure enough,my worst fears were realized. As I suspected, churning out links canhave a negative impact on search engine rankings. Various sitescomplained of being completely dropped from Google or Yahoo's index.The problem, it seems, was that links were not permanent.DigitalPoint's network rotates links as you reload a page so you haveno permanent backlinks. I immediately removed the links from my sites,and moved on to analyze the next network.

The next backlinkadvertising network I found was AdCaliber. Iquickly read over their FAQ and was pleased to find that they promisedpermanent backlinks that only get removed when I choose. Other thanthat, the system seemed similar to DigitalPoint although it was a bitmore flexible in ad targeting. After creating an account, I received100 credits which I could use to bid for backlinks. Apparently,AdCaliber works on a bidding system. You bid a monthly amount ofcredits to obtain links on certain sites. For example, I bid 50 creditsto obtain links on sites with a Google Pagerank of at least 5 and AlexaRank of at least 500,000. Then, when an open ad slot appeared on a sitematching those qualifications, the highest bidder would get the link.In my case, I would be debited 50 credits per month. I was veryimpressed with the system. I liked having the ability to target my adsprecisely. I was also impressed with the ease of installation. WithAdCaliber, you don't have to upload any files to your server. You justsimply paste a short PHP code on your website. It was very simple. Theonly negative thing I have to say about AdCaliber is that it is muchnewer than DigitalPoint and its network is not as large, therefore notas many backlinks are available yet.

To sum it all up,DigitalPoint is a very effective backlink advertising network when youare looking to acquire backlinks quickly. I would not use DigitalPointfor long term SEO, though. AdCaliber seems to be your best bet for longterm SEO and seems to give you better control over your backlinks.

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