Google Link Schemes Update Doesn't Change Much

Jan 13, 2014 - 8:58 am 7 by

google link schemesOn Friday, I broke the news that Google changed their link schemes guidelines on widget links. In short, they made a change that explicitly named what types of links within widgets were bad and that not all links within widgets are bad.

Google also made two smaller modifications to the link schemes document, which seemed very small, so I didn't cover them.

Truth is, even the widget topic was probably not worth covering because it makes no difference to Google's guidelines. Yes, it appears different but it was just a wording change to clarify what Google's stance was. Their practice didn't change - they only penalized sites with "keyword-rich, hidden or low-quality links" not all links within widgets.

How do I know this? Well, if you trust Matt Cutts, Google's head of search spam. He tweeted later in the day:

The reason the change was made to the guidelines page was to clarify the language after Danny Sullivan pointed out the confusion on the page to Matt and his team.

So again, nothing changed in practice but on paper it did.

Forum discussion at Twitter.

 

Popular Categories

The Pulse of the search community

Search Video Recaps

 
Video Details More Videos Subscribe to Videos

Most Recent Articles

Search Forum Recap

Daily Search Forum Recap: July 10, 2025

Jul 10, 2025 - 10:00 am
Google Updates

Google June 2025 Core Update Leading To Some Partial HCU Recoveries

Jul 10, 2025 - 7:51 am
Google Search Engine Optimization

Google Search Console Performance Report Average Position Bug?

Jul 10, 2025 - 7:41 am
Google Ads

Google Search Ads People Also Consider Carousel Format

Jul 10, 2025 - 7:31 am
Google Maps

Google Business Profiles Drops Utility Bill As Evidence For Appeal

Jul 10, 2025 - 7:21 am
Google

Google AI Mode Comes To Circle to Search and Lens

Jul 10, 2025 - 7:11 am
Previous Story: One-Line Google Reconsideration Request Worked