Sponsored links. Should you use them as a part of your link building strategy?

The power of word-of-mouth marketing

Word-of-mouth marketing has become an essential component of the modern business ecosystem. However, in an era where millions of people use search engines to find products and services, smart businesses have learned to utilize sponsored links. In today’s post, we’re going to discuss how these paid links can help you broaden your marketing reach and make your company more visible in a crowded marketplace.

SEO and SEM differences

Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of developing your website so that search engines deem it relevant to the searcher’s query. Properly optimizing your site can lead to higher rankings in search engine results pages, which may result in more traffic and a boost in business.

Search Engine Marketing (SEM), on the other hand, although it uses optimization techniques, it focuses primarily on paid search results. These are mainly Pay Per Click (PPC) ads, landing pages and sponsored articles. The SEM results are at the very top or the bottom of the search results and are labeled “Advertising”.

What are sponsored links?

Sponsored links are links to products, brands, or companies you don’t have a formal working relationship with. Generally speaking, these links come in the form of a promotional button that someone has manually added on their website. In some cases, they might be included in a company’s design from the outset.

Why should you consider using them?

When it comes to SEO, link building is often the most important part of a campaign. After all, the goal of SEO is for content to rank on search engines and have visitors find it when they’re looking for related information. Sponsored links are great because you don’t have to go hunting for links in other places and worry about possibly violating sites’ terms of service. You can also tailor your sponsored links to what kind of content you want your readers to engage with – this is particularly useful if you’ve got an event coming up or want them to sign up for something.

So what’s wrong with sponsored links? Some would argue that the paid links in these ads are keyword stuffed and designed to deceive search engines, which can result in penalties for webmasters who advertise with them. If you do go this route, do your due diligence and try to partner with companies that have a good reputation or have been in business for at least a year. Otherwise, you risk damaging your own site’s rankings by sponsoring less than reputable links.

How Google evaluate them?

Google analyzes the following to determine if a link is paid or not-payed: whether the anchor text was modified in any way, whether a strong keyword is used as an anchor text, how close the link is to on-page content, and how closely it’s placed to the on-page content. If you are using sponsored links in your link building strategy, try to do so sparingly. The goal of the post is to share why you should use them sparingly and when they can be effective. Link building can take a lot of time, but it doesn’t have to be all that difficult if you employ these techniques into your strategy!

Although it might now seem that Google will only appreciate dofollow links, it cares more about the natural profile of the entire link building. What does it mean? First of all, it is about keeping the balance between the types of links (their attributes). So it’s worth having not only dofollow links, but also nofollow, sponsored and UGC links.

Top factors that influence the success of rel=sponsored

1. Distribution of sponsored links.
2. Visibility of sponsored links.
3. Quality of clickthrough rate.
4. Percentage of queries that contain the sponsor’s brand name.
5. Amount spent on advertising.

How much do they cost? Are they worth it?

Content creators are turning to sponsored links, also known as rel=sponsored, as a way to generate more revenue. After all, businesses are more than happy to pay for quality content that fits their audience needs. But how much do these links cost? Is it worth the money? That’s really up to you. It depends on your goals and where you want your blog to go. It is important, however, not to overdo sponsored links or put them in places where they don’t belong just because you can make some quick cash on them – after all, what good is generating income if it damages your credibility?

Where should you place them?

The most effective place for a sponsored link is either the beginning or end of your post. After this, you should use what you’ve learned about user behavior to determine where else in your post the link might be beneficial. Keep in mind that the key to increasing readership is not always about having the most links or buying up ad space with an exact keyword match.

Remember: don’t sacrifice quality for quantity

When you are developing a link building strategy, it’s important to strike a balance between quality and quantity. Content, the substance of your blog posts, is an incredibly valuable piece of content marketing and should not be sacrificed to build quantity. If the quality is not good enough or isn’t relevant enough to target a certain keyword then you can invest more time in other pieces of content that will ultimately help grow your business as well as your web presence.

Final thoughts

One of the most important decisions a marketer will make is how to prioritize and execute their link building strategy. Historically, backlinks have been an essential signal for search engines and you need them if you want to rank in SERPs. However, with the advent of sponsored links and PBNs, there are more avenues for marketers to build links these days.