Google; Publishers Not to Accept Bribes for Links

Google; Publishers Not to Accept Bribes for Links
In response to a controversial article published by The Outline, Google has reminded publications to refrain from accepting bribes for links. The article in question claims that major publications on the web, including New York Times, CNN, and TechCrunch, have accepted payments from companies in exchange for positive coverage.

Several writers, who remain anonymous, admitted to The Outline that they accept money for links. Some have done so for years, and people within the industry are well aware this is going on.

Bribing journalists for links is becoming so common that it’s now the new norm, which makes it challenging for publications to weed out such links despite their best efforts. The Outline does not go into much detail about the motivation behind buying links for prices that can soar above $1000 a piece.

Obviously, these unethical “journalists” are motivated by easy money, but The Outline doesn’t mention why links are being bought in the first place.

Companies are not buying links just to be featured in a one-off article. As SEOs, we know that being linked to from a high authority domain has the potential to influence search rankings.