Link building is a savvy marketing tactic. Gathering links from reputable sites can boost your website’s authority and Google rankings. The way companies handle links and how they get more of them has changed over the years, however. Offering scholarships in exchange for links has traditionally been a common practice, but it recently backfired on one individual. Find out more about scholarship links and healthy link building strategies.
Scholarship Link Building
For years, law schools have offered scholarships to students who apply and are willing to write a contest essay. When the scholarship money is granted to one lucky student, their name and award is published, and the law school gets the credit, along with a backlink to their website. Although offering a charitable contribution like this is commendable, the link is not relevant, or truly earned. Because of this, there is always the possibility that the Google bots will find an issue when indexing the website.
Google and Scholarship Links
Offering scholarship links is widespread, and practiced by many law schools and other businesses. For decades, Google has been allowing these scholarship links to fly under the radar, ignoring them as they would other low quality links. Traditionally, Google has only penalized purposely aggressive and sneaky link building. But some people are wondering if this mindset — and the algorithm — is changing.
Recent Issue With Google and Scholarship Links
Jim Boykin, Founder and CEO of SEO Marketing Ninjas, recently reported an issue with a client who was actually penalized for using scholarship links. In December 2020, a client received a penalty from Google for “unnatural inbound links.” One of these was from a web page of a legal scholarship offered by a law firm. Boykin has seen hundreds of similar links from dot edu websites and law schools, and this is the first time he has seen a manual action penalty given for one.
Is Google Penalizing Scholarship Link Building?
Jim Boykin’s article stated that scholarship link building can be seen as manipulative, and throughout the early 2000’s, these charity links were commonplace. The law firm that received this recent penalty also had many paid links, in addition to the scholarship link. It is possible, according to Boykin, that the paid links are what initially flagged the site and brought it to Google’s attention. But, this situation concerns people who use scholarship link building. Is this the beginning of a strict new algorithm when it comes to this type of link?
The Truth About Scholarship Link Building
Although some law schools and other businesses use scholarship links, this recent article causes us to examine scholarship link building. Are these links really worth it? Here are some things to consider about scholarship links.
Scholarship Links Do Not Help Rankings
Scholarship links can boost rankings related to scholarships, but if your website is not focused specifically on scholarships, there will be a disconnect, and it may not help your rankings. The best scenario is to acquire links that relate to your website topic, so there is a relation between the link and the indexed website topic. Scholarship links do not fall into this category, unless your website is all about scholarships.
Scholarship Links Are Often Irrelevant
A proper link should make sense in the context of the website. If a link is not relevant to the website, it may be ignored, but sometimes these links are noted and this depreciates a website.
Surprisingly, Google’s bots can really understand the relevance of a link within a webpage.
Scholarship Links Do Not Have Extra Link Juice
It is a common myth that an educational website (.edu) has some kind of superpowers, and links from these sites contain extra “link juice.” Google does rank links, but gives no special points to .edu sites.
Should You Stop Using Scholarship Link Building?
You may be wondering if it is worth using scholarship link building. There may be value to it, and it is certainly connected with a worthy case. For marketing purposes, however, you may want to reconsider the value of the links and the potential they have to downgrade your site. Here are some things to know about scholarship link building:
- Scholarship link building is essentially a scheme and may flag your site.
- Scholarship links tell the search bots that your website is a scholarship site.
- This type of link does not connect with your main website topic (unless your website is exclusively about scholarships.)
- Using scholarship links could cause your website to be penalized.
Pursue Healthy Link Building
Building a structure of links can be accomplished a number of different ways, and without the possibility of penalty. Consider the following methods for healthy link building:
Write Relevant Content
One of the best ways to boost your website’s authority is through the quality content you provide there. The material on your website should add value to the lives of your visitors, and not be merely promotional. Make the content shareable and evergreen (useful for the long-term.)
Add a Law Firm Blog
Starting a blog is a solid way to build a stash of great content and build links. When starting a blog, consider the following helpful hints:
- Post quality content regularly.
- Create reader-friendly posts that include images and video.
- Add internal links that direct visitors to additional information on your website.
- Write blog posts for the benefit and enjoyment of your target audience, using conversational language.
Write Guest Posts Other Websites
Try reaching out to colleagues and fellow business owners, who may be willing to exchange blog posts (and accompanying links) with you. Another place to look for guest posting opportunities is on your law school’s website or newsletter. Be sure to utilize platforms like LinkedIn, where you can post articles that include a link to your law firm website.
Host a Podcast
Interviewing guests on a podcast is a great way to attract attention, and your podcast notes are one more place to insert links to your website. This strategy can boost your visibility and add variety to your stash of solid links.
Gain Links From High Domain Authority Sites
Domain authority is a Google ranking score that essentially predicts how well websites will rank on results pages. If you create a profile on a site with high domain authority, and insert a link to your website, this link has added value, since it originates from a high domain authority site. The best links originate from high domain authority sites, and here are some of the top ones to consider:
Consider Carefully Before Issuing a Scholarship
One recent issue with scholarship link building is not a reason to throw away the use of scholarship links. However, it may be wise to examine why and how your company uses them. Consider your unique marketing plan, as well as other solid strategies for link building that may bring better results, and without the potential ranking downgrades.
Annette Choti graduated from law school 20 years ago, and is now the CEO & Owner of Law Quill, a legal digital marketing agency focused on small and solo law firms. Law Quill is the only legal digital marketing agency that provides unique, SEO-optimized content, pre-packaged content, and courses for lawyers to learn SEO themselves through Law Quill Academy. Annette used to do theatre and professional comedy, which is not so different from the legal field if we are all being honest. Annette can be found on LinkedIn or at annette@lawquill.com
