3-Way Links
Jonathan Leger (who was last mentioned in my Instant Article Wizard 2.0 review) has just released a new service called 3 Way Links, touting it as the latest way to get boatloads of search engine traffic. I was offered the opportunity to join the beta, but I didn’t have the time or energy to do it, plus I needed to think about the implications of this technique, which is what we’re going to do right now.
What is 3 Way Links?
3 Way Links is a link-building service sold by monthly subscription. To join, you must meet the following criteria (taken verbatim from the 3 Way Links site):
- Only sites on their own domain are accepted (no subdomains).
- No free-hosting sites.
- Sites must be professional in quality and appearance.
- Only family-friendly sites are accepted (no adult, gambling, warez, hate, etc.)
- No sites related to link networks or similar linking systems are accepted (not because of conflict of interest, but to ensure network security).
- No ‘under construction’ sites — they must be ready-to-go when submitted.
- Sites must have at least 2 pages indexed in Google.
- Sites must support PHP.
Most AdSense sites meet these criteria, the big exception would be blogs hosted on other domains (like blogspot.com). The sites will be manually reviewed before they’re allowed into the 3 Way Links network.
There’s a flat $47/month fee to join the network, which allows you to list up to 20 sites with PageRank (PR) of 3 or less. You can add an unlimited number of PR4+ sites to the network. (Think of the network as a stereotypical bar/pub: the PR0-3 sites are the “males” and the PR4-10 sits are the “females”… you can never have too many of the latter, but too definitely have too many of the latter… but I digress…)
How 3 Way Links Works
The basic idea idea behind 3 Way Links is to use three-way reciprocal linking between related sites to increase search engine rankings. Instead of using two-way reciprocal linking, which looks like this:
A links to B and B links to A
3 Way Links uses uses one-way links between three different sites:
A links to B, B links to C, and C links to A
Here’s the little diagram Jonathan uses on his site to demonstrate this:
In graph theory, this kind of linking is known as a directed cycle.
Why is this kind of linking better? Because too many people have abused two-way reciprocal linking. Search engines are giving less credence to two-way links and would rather see one-way links between two sites, because that indicates that the site doing the linking is “voting” for the other site without any special consideration. Or so they hope!
You use 3 Way Links by placing PHP scripts on your sites. The scripts go and create links to other sites in the network. The service is well-designed: you can specify the anchor texts you’d like use for links back to your site and they ensure that your own sites never interlink. There is no link back to the 3WayLinks.net site nor any obvious “footprint” left by the linking code. (Or so they think…) Each site will have no more than 250 links pointing back to it, which apparently is enough to boost search engine rankings significantly in most cases.
3 Way Links and Google
Let me start by quoting Google’s webmaster guidelines:
Don’t participate in link schemes designed to increase your site’s ranking or PageRank. In particular, avoid links to web spammers or “bad neighborhoods” on the web, as your own ranking may be affected adversely by those links.
Obviously, 3 Way Links violates this guideline. Google is on the record as being against any kind of artificial link-building schemes. They don’t even like sponsored links like those offered by Text Link Ads. The other search engines haven’t been as explicit about paid links, but I think all agree on the general sentiment, that you want to distinguished sponsored results from unsponsored results. (Or at least they say they do… but that’s another kettle of fish…)
If you’re an AdSense publisher, please note the following statement in the AdSense program policies:
AdSense publishers are required to adhere to the webmaster quality guidelines
My interpretation of this rule is that it forbids AdSense publishers from participating in link-building schemes.
Use It Or Not?
While 3 Way Links claims that there’s no detectable footprint on any of its member sites, I doubt that’s actually the case. All it takes is for one site in a 3 Way Links network to be flagged as such and immediately all sites that it links to are suspect. I’m thinking it won’t take the brains at Google a lot of time to figure out a way of sniffing out these networks. They probably already sniff out directed cycles already. The question is, do they do anything about it?
If you read the testimonials on the 3 Way Links site, you’ll see that the beta participants have been very pleased with the results so far. That’s great. My question is whether these results will last, at least in Google (they probably will in MSN!). If you plan on giving it a try, be careful. Don’t start with your most important/precious sites so that you don’t lose your income stream because they got banned for participating in a link scheme.
There’s nothing wrong with directed cycles in linking, of course, and they can be very serendipitous when they happen. But artificial link-building schemes should always be considered short-term plays and you need to have some backup plans in place for when the rug gets pulled out from under you.
Sponsored Link: Learn more about the ins and outs of AdSense by reading Uncommon AdSense, my latest book about AdSense.
Eric Giguere is the author of Uncommon AdSense and the award-nominated (that just means it lost!) blog Make Easy Money with Google and AdSense.
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AdSense, 3 way links, Google, Jonathan Leger, link building, links, program policies, search engine optimization, traffic
Comments
10 Responses to “3-Way Links”
Funny that you should bring this up, Eric. I just wrote an article on linking today (more of a general introdction on anything in depth). This was the part I wrote on 3-Way Linking (the concept, not this company):
Three-Way Linking – “He scratches my back, I’ll scratch yours, you scratch hers.” No, it’s nothing kinky. It’s just another technique that helps to break the obviousness of a straight reciprocal link trade by involving a third party (or at least a third site). This isn’t illegal, or immoral…and it’s harder to spot…but there is still a level of manipulation involved. If you do it, again…do it with those who have relevant sites…and don’t do it often.
On a personal level, I’ve done a lot of reciprocal linking in the distant past…but in reviewing those that I linked to…they were not on topic, and many of the links were exchanged with people who were in it for a quick buck. The sites were gone a year later, and I was left to clean up the mess and with no lasting benefit. Again, I will argue…the place to put your effort is in helpful content. Uniqueness and value make your site or blog a prime target for linking, because Page and Brin were right…we DO link to what we like (thereby, referring it to others). Linking games are for those who don’t have anything unique to offer. So artificial links ain’t the worst thing in the world…especially for your early efforts. But they are a lousy long-term strategy.
Oh, by the way, the link to Part 1 of that article is here:
http://street-buzz.com/articles/13/1/Keys-to-Web-Site-Traffic/Page1.html
I wonder how much will it take until Google will be able to figure 3-way linking schemes.
Take a look at John Chow that lost his “make money online” and “john chow” from the SERPs.
I don’t think something that is not natural, will work.
Great article, Chuck. I look forward to reading part 2. I like the bio boxes you give the authors, it’s very prominent and SEO-friendly….
Alex, I think Google can already detect directed cycles in their link graph, but they may not be doing much about it right now. If enough people start participating in 3-way link schemes then they will. That’s why these things are always short term strategies. Get in early and make your money now is my advice if that kind of business model appeals to you…
Eric you’re so right!
I’m not choosing that model because Google may put a STOP sign tomorrow
but I agree make your money and get off the train!
I understand the “make your money and get out” philosophy. Many people have gotten rich going this route. On the other hand, it’s a lousy strategy for building long-term value…and the opposite of building long-term value leaves you with nothing but a short-term score. But even that path assumes that you’re way out ahead of the crowd.
Three-way linking was brand new 3 years ago. At least, that’s when I first heard of it…and I don’t play in these waters, so I’m sure it was going on well before that. If you’re going to go the “first in, first out” route, you need to be a lot closer to the thought leaders in this area in order to make it work.
I don’t go this route at all, because it’s ridiculously time-consuming and the idea of using my time to make my little corner of the internet worth something for ourselves and future generations is not a game to me. There’s plenty of money out there to be made by doing it the right way.
If you’ve been paying attention at all in this life, one lesson that comes pretty easy to those that are listening is that “seeking quick and easy paths to become rich almost always leads to a bad end”. So… if you choose to live that way, don’t be surprised and pissed at the world if you get cut off at the knees. That’s your bed…you made it…now lie down and enjoy it! LOL…
Hi.
I’m a little cautious about such a scheme. TLA is a nice brokered-program that got into ‘trouble’ with Google too.
But you can manage your own ad campaigns by using WP Text Ads.
I’m the developer of this free WordPress plugin that lets bloggers sell directly to advertisers, so they pay no commissions and get paid instantly.
Advertisers can buy ads for the whole blog, the home page, or per-post.
And you’re not likely to get into trouble with Google since the links have the rel=”nofollow” attribute on by default, although it can be turned off.
Do consider this alternative
http://www.wptextads.com
http://www.wptextads.com/blog
I have no issue whatever with buying or selling ads. Advertising is a respected tradition worldwide. But I agree with Google’s intent here (even though I don’t know how they are going to enforce it yet)…just differentiate which ones are paid, rather than also trying to scam some extra results in the SERPs from it. We ALL lose if someone can BUY their way to the top position on Google (not that it hasn’t happened many times before…but they are certainly trying to weed out that kind of stuff over time).
Sounds like your plugin has that covered with the nofollow. I’ll definitely take a look at that!
Chuck, N-way linking is by no means new, experts have been practicing it for a long time now. But it requires a lot of effort and expense to do yourself. What 3 Way Links is doing is automating it to reduce the barrier to entry.
Alex, thanks for mentioning your plugin here. I’ve noted it before and meant to look at it at some point, maybe now’s the time. After all, it’s not like my regular readers click AdSense ads anyhow…
Understood, Eric. I guess my point is that…by the time a “tactic” like this gets systematized like this, it’s way too late to be far enough ahead of the curve to really gain from it… assuming that’s the way one chooses to operate in the first place.
And, since this service isn’t free to begin with…it seems a lot smarter to me to outsource link acqusition for that same amount of money or less. And you don’t have to worry about reciprocating or making anybody mad going that route.
Lastly, this kind of linking is really the lowest level of available linking options. Swapping content for links makes much more sense to me. In my view, it’s well within the spirit of what “a web” should be about. Yes, it’s time-consuming… but even the most time-cosuming aspects of creation of decent content can be outsourced for those who have no time of their own.
This seems to be another example of a scheme that won’t take Google long to figure out (If they haven’t already) and put an end to. But there is no shortage of folks who will buy into it regardless of the cost.