Please be wary if someone approaches you and wants to pay you for links or "advertorial" pages on
your site that pass PageRank. Selling links (or entire advertorial pages with embedded links) that
pass PageRank violates our quality guidelines, and Google does take action on such violations. The
consequences for a linkselling site start with losing trust in Google's search results, as well as
reduction of the site's visible PageRank in the Google Toolbar. The consequences can also include
lower rankings for that site in Google's search results.
If you receive a warning for selling links that pass PageRank in Google's
Webmaster Tools,
you'll see a notification message to look for "possibly artificial or unnatural links on your site
pointing to other sites that could be intended to manipulate PageRank." That's an indication that
your site has lost trust in Google's index.
To address the issue, make sure that any paid links on your site don't pass PageRank. You can
remove any paid links or advertorial pages, or make sure that any paid hyperlinks have the
rel="nofollow" attribute.
After ensuring that no paid links on your site pass PageRank, you can submit a
reconsideration request
and if you had a manual webspam action on your site, someone at Google will review the request.
After the request has been reviewed, you'll get a notification back about whether the
reconsideration request was granted or not.
We do take this issue very seriously, so we recommend you avoid selling (and buying) links that
pass PageRank in order to prevent loss of trust, lower PageRank in the Google Toolbar, lower
rankings, or in an extreme case, removal from Google's search results.
[[["Easy to understand","easyToUnderstand","thumb-up"],["Solved my problem","solvedMyProblem","thumb-up"],["Other","otherUp","thumb-up"]],[["Missing the information I need","missingTheInformationINeed","thumb-down"],["Too complicated / too many steps","tooComplicatedTooManySteps","thumb-down"],["Out of date","outOfDate","thumb-down"],["Samples / code issue","samplesCodeIssue","thumb-down"],["Other","otherDown","thumb-down"]],[],[[["\u003cp\u003eSelling links that pass PageRank is a violation of Google's quality guidelines and can lead to penalties.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eGoogle takes action against websites involved in link selling schemes, potentially resulting in reduced PageRank, lower search rankings, and even removal from search results.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eWebsites found to be selling links will receive a warning in Google Webmaster Tools and should take immediate action to rectify the issue.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eTo address the violation, remove paid links, ensure paid links have the \u003ccode\u003erel="nofollow"\u003c/code\u003e attribute, and submit a reconsideration request.\u003c/p\u003e\n"],["\u003cp\u003eGoogle strongly advises against both buying and selling links that pass PageRank to maintain website integrity and search engine visibility.\u003c/p\u003e\n"]]],["Google prohibits selling links that pass PageRank, as it violates their quality guidelines. Consequences for link selling include loss of trust, reduced PageRank, and lower search rankings. Sites warned via Webmaster Tools should ensure paid links do not pass PageRank by removing them or using the `rel=\"nofollow\"` attribute. A reconsideration request can then be submitted for review. Google emphasizes the seriousness of this issue and recommends avoiding the selling or buying of such links.\n"],null,["# A reminder about selling links that pass PageRank\n\nFriday, February 22, 2013\n\n\nGoogle has said for years that\n[selling links that pass PageRank](/search/blog/2007/12/information-about-buying-and-selling)\nviolates our\n[quality guidelines](/search/docs/essentials/spam-policies).\nWe continue to\n[reiterate that guidance periodically](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFcJ7PaLoMw#t=1m29s)\nto help\n[remind site owners and webmasters](https://www.mattcutts.com/blog/why-did-my-pagerank-go-down/)\nof that policy.\n\n\nPlease be wary if someone approaches you and wants to pay you for links or \"advertorial\" pages on\nyour site that pass PageRank. Selling links (or entire advertorial pages with embedded links) that\npass PageRank violates our quality guidelines, and Google does take action on such violations. The\nconsequences for a linkselling site start with losing trust in Google's search results, as well as\nreduction of the site's visible PageRank in the Google Toolbar. The consequences can also include\nlower rankings for that site in Google's search results.\n\n\nIf you receive a warning for selling links that pass PageRank in Google's\n[Webmaster Tools](https://search.google.com/search-console),\nyou'll see a notification message to look for \"possibly artificial or unnatural links on your site\npointing to other sites that could be intended to manipulate PageRank.\" That's an indication that\nyour site has lost trust in Google's index.\n\n\nTo address the issue, make sure that any paid links on your site don't pass PageRank. You can\nremove any paid links or advertorial pages, or make sure that any paid hyperlinks have the\n[`rel=\"nofollow\"` attribute](/search/docs/advanced/guidelines/qualify-outbound-links).\nAfter ensuring that no paid links on your site pass PageRank, you can submit a\n[reconsideration request](https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/35843)\nand if you had a manual webspam action on your site, someone at Google will review the request.\nAfter the request has been reviewed, you'll get a notification back about whether the\nreconsideration request was granted or not.\n\n\nWe do take this issue very seriously, so we recommend you avoid selling (and buying) links that\npass PageRank in order to prevent loss of trust, lower PageRank in the Google Toolbar, lower\nrankings, or in an extreme case, removal from Google's search results.\n\n\nPosted by\n[Matt Cutts](https://www.mattcutts.com/blog/?rel=author),\nDistinguished Engineer"]]
