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Matt Cutts: What are the links that will stand the test of time?
Matt Cutts has illustrated in his latest post "Review: Kitt-In Box" (http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/review-kitt-in-box/), what he meant by "links that will stand the test of time". And he mentioned in a comment on the same post (http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/review-kitt-in-box/#comment-129224):
" I only review stuff that I genuinely want to, and accept no payment. Just to be clear."
Matt mentioned the term "links that will stand the test of time"" in a latest interview with Eric Enge (http://www.stonetemple.com/articles/interview-matt-cutts-061608.shtml). Matt defined the said links as:
"Those links are typically given voluntarily. It is an editorial link by
someone, and it’s someone that’s informed. They are not misinformed,
they are not tricked; there is no bait and switch involved. It’s
because somebody thinks that something is so cool, so useful, or so
helpful that they want to make little sign posts so that other people
on the web can find that out."
That means, when Matt gave a backlink to the vendor of Kitt-In Box (http://www.therefinedfeline.com/kitinbox-cat-perch.htm), he did that:
- Voluntarily.
- Matt was Informed (not misinformed. not tricked).
- There was no bait and switch involved.
- Matt see the Kitt-In Box so cool, so useful, or so
helpful.
- Matt wanted to make little sign posts so that other people
on the web can find that out.
And now we know "What are the links that will stand the test of time?".
Thanks, Matt.
2 Comments
Comments
At what point does Matt's, or anyone's blog become spam? What if he reviewed sites and the site owner sent a gift for thanks, would that be conscrewed as payment and therefore be spam?
The slope gets slipperier. So what if Matt did a review per day, with the understanding that no compensation or a fixed compensation would be accepted. Could he do 2 reviews per day? 3, 20, 100?
Where does one draw the line. At what point does a blog become spam? And would 'nofollow' fix any perception of spam from Google?
johnbeagle
Matt made what Google considers "links that will stand the test of time" very clear, IMO:
- links are typically given voluntarily.
- It is an editorial link by someone, and it’s someone that’s informed.
- They are not misinformed,
they are not tricked; there is no bait and switch involved.
- It’s because somebody thinks that something is so cool, so useful, or so helpful that they want to make little sign posts so that other people on the web can find that out.
As to payment, Matt mentioned: "I only review stuff that I genuinely want to, and accept no payment."
I guess Matt considers "gift for thanks" as a kind of payment too and he rejuct them ;-)
Please don’t send me free stuff
"The title pretty much says it all. A while ago, someone saw my call for good summer vacation reading and the resulting pile of Amazon books that I bought, and they sent me a couple free books, maybe to get a review or a mention. I appreciate the creativity, but please don’t send me any books or other free stuff. If you’ve got a new book coming out, I’m happy to hear about it, but if I decide to read or review it I’ll buy my own copy."
Moreover... Matt mentioned in a comment on that post: " I’m always happy to hear about cool gadgets — just don’t offer to get them for me"