Someone Else’s Shit On My Desk
A week or so ago, just before Link Love London 2012 (if you missed it, read these blog posts about Link Love 2012) a new website was launched. It is called ShitForLinks.com. Now, this may sound like a pretty terrible name for a site, but there is a reason.
As any seasoned SEO knows (or even most noobs), links are what webmasters affectionally call website hyperlinks, which is the code that is used to create a clickable link to allow you to surf the net.
What’s more, Google, everybody’s favourite search engine, uses web links as a part of is PageRank calculation (PageRank being named after Larry Page, not web pages). Finally, ever since Google started using links to help rank pages, websites owners and their marketing teams have spent their days (and nights) building more links to their sites.
A Little Link Building History
Let’s hop back in time …. there was a time, before PageRank, that the only people who linked to other sites were doing so because they personally liked other sites. This gave rise to “web surfing”. People would surf from one site to another, following the links. Google decided to put a stop to that by building a search engine that actually worked to help people find sites without having to find other sites first.
There was no Web2.0 stuff (you know, comments on blogs and social media sites where you can leave your links on other people’s sites). OK, there were news groups and forums, but these were heavily abused and probably ignored (I don’t know, was before my time – I am not young, I was just not very interested in computers back then). Anyway, the point is that in the early days of the Internet, people just linked to others.
PageRank made a lot of sense in these days as links were “votes” for the quality of other websites – people never link to websites that they do not like.
An SEO Was Born
However, with the rise of Google and PageRank, some webmasters realised that if they got their link, with the right keywords, on a page that is already ranking well, their page will also rank well. SEO was born.
As time progressed, the value of these links increased. Webmasters with nice sites realised that people wanted links so some started to charge a fee to have text links placed on their site. The is “link selling”.
Stop!
At some point Google said “stop it, this is enough!” and decided to crack down on people who abuse the PageRank algo by creating links automatically and by buying links. Google is still doing a lot of work in the area of link creation (recently we heard how it threw some blog networks out of its search index as people were using it to build link networks).
A while ago Google also set up Spam Reporting and Paid Link Reporting pages, where people (anyone with a Google account) can report spam and paid links. Paid links are a big no-no is Google’s books.
If you sell a link, it is advertising. If it is advertising, it should not pass PageRank – according to Google. Some stubborn SEO’s have chosen to ignore this, as have many people who make a business from selling links (obviously). Google punishes anyone caught selling links pretty harshly and treats people who buy links in much the same way.
The Rise of White Hat SEO Schemes
So, what does this have to do with my drinking problem? Well, ShitForLinks was set up as a result of one of those Friday afternoon conversations. You know, when people start to get a little “de-mob happy” before the weekend.
Some marketing people (who also build websites) started discussing new ways to try to get links without upsetting Google – these are White Hat SEOs, people who try to get web pages to rank better while abiding by all of Google’s guidelines.
Somehow the idea was put forward that they could give away old merchandise and other stuff in exchange for links. The argument being that they stuff was worthless and really should have been thrown away (a partially eaten Advent calendar was one of the early offers, as was some fish paste in a tin). If this stuff has no value, then exchanging it for a link back to their website could not be considered link selling / buying, so everyone is happy. At least, that is the plan.
So, to cut a long story short, I put a bid in for a cork screw. They had 2. I had one, but felt that I needed another.
The Drinking Problem
My Broken, and blurry, corkscrew
Now the freaky coincidence! Well, firstly, my postman decided not to knock on the door last Friday, so instead of giving me my package he assumed I was not in, filled out a “Sorry you were not home” card, or whatever, and took the package to the main post office in town. While the corkscrew was sitting there over the weekend disaster struck!
While opening a bottle of 2006 Rioja my trusty corkscrew, that I have had for as long as I can remember, if not longer, broke. Shear stress, I think is the mechanical term. Or is that when metal moves a lot over time? Anyway, it literally fell apart.
Lucky for me I had beers in the house. In fact, the Rioja was the last corked wine I had. Today the postman decided to knock and even waited for me to charge down the stairs, and I got the cork screw.
So there you have it. I can open Rioja again. Just need to buy some now. Corked wine is hard to find these days. At the moment the cocksucker is completely useless to me. I guess that is the whole point. Sort of.
Of course, all of this is a bit tongue-in-cheek really, just one of those silly Friday conversations that go too far. But it did manage to get a mention at London Link Love 2012, rated as the best new site of the month – not bad for a site created during TFI Friday time! See here; https://twitter.com/#!/matbennett/status/185856882525736960/photo/1
It is hard to see how this system can scale. They are reliant on:
- Finding more shit to send to people
- Finding people that actually want their shit ….
- … at least enough to link to their site for it
For me, well, I will link to just about any old shit really, so long as it is not spam or illegal. Besides, Mat is a friend so these links are all natural anyway 
