“What is a "paid link"?.
The
aim of the video is clarify the logic of the Webspam team when it comes
to assessing whether a link should be regarded as artificial, or
designed to manipulate PageRank, when money has not been exchanged.
In summary, he explains that most of the time it is clear when a link is paid, eg money changes hand. But in the instances where money doesn’t change hands, Google looks at five core criteria as to whether the link should be regarded as a "paid link":
- Changes behaviour – Was something gifted to gain the link which could have altered behaviour. The analogy given that going to conference and receiving a $1 pen wouldn’t change a persons behaviour. But being gifted a $200 voucher may change behavior.
- How close to money – If something close to money is gifted; gift card, voucher, free camera etc then this will be viewed as the same as paid.
- A gift or a loan – Something that seems to impact on links found in editorial blog posts. Was the gift permanent or just a loan for a specified period of time.
- Intended audience – Cutts admits it is hard to judge intent but if the intention of reaching out to an audience and acting was to generate a link then it would be paid. If the intention behind the act naturally generated links this would be fine. The example given was giving charities 12 months of free service. If this was to allow them to test your service then it would be fine if links eventuated, but not if a link was expected in return.
- Surprise – Would people expect a link or not?