If you’re deciding to purchase links to boost your link popularity (I know I know, its against Google’s rules, but hey everyone’s doing it!) make sure you purchase the links for a long period of time. The longer the better.

There are a few things to consider when purchasing links:

1. As mentioned above, go for the long haul, the longer the better.  This is good from two perspectives; 1) you guarantee that the search engines recognise the link and award you the benefit of it. and 2) you’re more likely to negotiate a better deal when buying for the long haul (12-18 months)

2. When buying links, don’t buy site-wide links (ie ones placed in the footer of the site or in the site’s site-wide navigation).  This is a sure way to alert Google et al that this is a link buy.

3. Ensure you buy the link from a relevant site.  An obvious one I know but again an even surer way to alert the search engines that this is a link buy is by purchasing links on non-relevant site (such as a link to a mortgage site from a Viagra selling site)

4. Try and purchase links that are in-context not (ie woven into the content of the site rather than in the navigation or breadcrumb.

5. Make sure that the anchor text of the link (the text used in the link) uses strategic keywords that you’re aiming to rank for.  This re-enforces to the search engines what your site is about and gives you a better chance of ranking higher for that keyword.

6. Monitor your link to make sure that the site who has sold you the link has not fallen out of favour with the search engines.  If it has, dump it regardless of how long you’ve had it for or how much you’ve paid for it!

In conclusion, I would like to state that I am not in favour of link purchases unless you do not have the time to promote your site naturally.

Good luck with your link purchasing!

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