Are you using a sponsored theme? Here’s some news that may be unpleasant for you.
Recently at the WordCamp 2007, Matt Cutts announced
- Don’t use sponsored theme - can lose all your trust in different search engines.
You can see this statement in the 25th slide, of his powerpoint presentation file, he released on the day.
Now, that’s not very soothing to the ears, especially for designers. Designers used to release sponsored themes because it was a source of income for them. Wondering what’s a sponsored theme? Well, sponsored themes are those themes which come with links to other sites ( probably in the sidebar ). These links are put into the theme by the designer and most probably are links to the sponsors who paid them for the link. Good designers make a fortune this way.
Now there are two ways of looking at it. Before we go into them, let’s see why one should use a sponsored theme?
Why use a sponsored theme?
- They are free to use
- ?
- ?
Honestly, I can’t think of another good reason why you should sponsored themes apart from the fact that they are free. The designers would allow free use of their themes provided that the footer/sidebar containing the links are in tact.
1 - How does it benefit the designers and sponsors ?
Of course, sponsors get links, a lot of them. And they should be happy indeed.
And the designers too should be happy, because they’ve got their share of the game as well.
2 - How does it affect a user?
Well, he get’s to use a cool theme for free. And what difference does two links at the footer make?
Why does Matt dislike sponsored themes ?
I think he has valid reasons to give.
- Google hates purchased links. They are artificial. According to Google and Matt, buying and selling links would only corrupt the algorithm. So when you are using a sponsored theme, you are indirectly helping someone to sell links and corrupt the algorithm.
- What if those links at your footer are totally unrelated to your blog content?
Again, you are helping corrupt the algorithm (search results would be better word ).
Google does not like totally irrelevant link on your site. In this case, knowingly or unknowingly, you are promoting link spam. - Due to unrelated links it is highly unlikely that your blog is authoritative. After all a crawler sees only links, it can’t make out if they are bought, sponsored or genuine.
I think these are solid reasons favoring Matt and his philosophy. Not sure if this is a fair decision, because if you see it from the designer’s perspective, it doesn’t sound good at all.
BeachBum | August 14th, 2007 at 11:06 am #
I am going to have to strongly disagree on part of your post.
I do database administration and analysis for a living. As far as I am concerned Google does not own the internet and has no business asking what links are paid and what are not.
As for corrupting the algorithm, any website with more then a couple pages will have a paragraph, link, image or something that does not fit the norm.
I’m not for sponsored themes, but I must disagree with Google’s stance on links.
BeachBum
Rhys | August 14th, 2007 at 12:12 pm #
It has been abused, and I think Google is taking a fairly noble stance.
I believe that it needs to distinguish between regular paid and abused paid links though.
I have text link ads on my site. I’m a blog in the UK, a number of my links have been for sites based in the UK. There is a true
However, if a theme says “Sponsored By: Casino and Viagra Sales”, then I would think “Why would they want to advertise this?”, then they should go against them.
Google have a right to protect their algorithm, that’s their business. However, they are going about it the wrong way. Supposed if people hated my blog. Would they say “He’s got paid links, knock him down!”, even though they have paid links.
It’s too open to abuse, and a lot of people will be affected. They need to stop sponsored links buried in the footer, but not for paid links in sidebars and able to be clicked.
Kevin | August 14th, 2007 at 12:13 pm #
Sponsored themes have a place in the blogosphere in my opinion. I dont think its much to ask for a link back to the original designers website in exchange for a good theme. There are thousands of bloggers who are good writers but just dont know how to code or develop a theme.
The main problem with sponsored themes in my opinion is that some people have taken the piss out of it a little ie. added 5 or 6 links to a theme and whatnot.
What does Matt think about the links which are placed in the default wordpress theme.
Not only does wordpress include a link back to wordpress.org, they have also added several links in the blogroll eg
* Alex
* Donncha
* Dougal
* Matt
* Michel
* Mike
* Ryan
Wordpress have also asked all users of the script to leave a link back to wordpress as its their only form of advertising.
Leroy Brown | August 14th, 2007 at 12:13 pm #
I’m agreeing with Beach Bum here. I don’t use sponsored themes ( I personally hate extra links that I’m not allowed to remove ), but I don’t like the idea of Google telling me that I can’t use a certain theme.
And before anyone says “you don’t *have* to play by Google’s rules”, we all know that’s ridiculous. Google has such a dominant market share ( and their traffic is so valuable ) that we have no choice but to play along with whatever crazy idea they come up with.
Kevin | August 14th, 2007 at 12:14 pm #
agreed Leroy - I believe in europe it’s over 90% that use Google as their main search engine.
Andrea_R | August 14th, 2007 at 12:46 pm #
Eh, I’ve been watching the debate for some time and honestly - many of the sponsored themes I’ve seen (and used) are released under GNU. Which means you can remove those links.
Just like you can edit the default blgoroll in Wordpress.
If there’s one discreet sponsored link in the footer, I don’t have an issue with that. Designers have to eat and pay bills like the rest of us. We can’t all work for free.
And sometimes a sponsored theme has a design I like and can’t get anywhere else (unless I code something simialr).
On the other hand, there are more themes coming out that are polluted with link and even had hidden ad code. Now THAT I have an issue with.
So bottom line: check the licens of the theme. If it’s GNU and they’ve asked you to keep the links in, you just plain don’t have to. Actually most other licences I’ve seen cover the end user being allowed to remove the links they don’t want. the heavy and underhanded ones are banking on the general public not realizing it.
The Buxr Widget | August 14th, 2007 at 1:30 pm #
Thanks Leroy - I didn’t you could remove those sponsored links under the GNU license. I have dumped many good themes because of sponsored links.
Jez | August 14th, 2007 at 4:17 pm #
Web designers have put their link in footers of websites for over 15 years, CMS systems, forum software, E-Commerce apps do likewise, if Google drops all these sites then Google will no longer be Google…. another engine that includes these sites will take over…
See how long it is before wordpress.net is no longer the number one repository for wordpress themes… give it a few months I bet sites like
http://www.wpthemesfree.com/
who (I believe) still include sponsored themes will be the no 1 theme site… google and WP are cutting their nose off to spite their face IMO…. unless your theme is sponsored by a porn site, in which case you would have to use a bit of common sense…
Kevin | August 14th, 2007 at 4:44 pm #
Andrea_R - People who hide links into the ad code deserve all they get. It’s a scummy way to promote a site
Mani Karthik (Post Author) | August 14th, 2007 at 10:47 pm #
I can understand the concerns raised. Indeed it’s unfair. But at this point I think Matt should clarify as to what he means by - “can lose all your trust in different search engines.”
Does he mean that your site will be knocked down from the index and the SERPs ? I don’t think so.
I think Matt should explain what he means by “Losing trust”.
Ruchir | August 16th, 2007 at 5:21 am #
I absolutely disagree with you. No matter what Mat Cutts says, sponsored themes are here to stay. Because if Google dislikes sponsored links, should we, as bloggers, stop making money from services Text Link Ads, ReviewMe and PayPerPost? After all, all that contains sponsored links…
If we were to actually follow your advice, we should also close all our money making services.
Mani Karthik (Post Author) | August 16th, 2007 at 6:18 am #
Ruchir..
I’ve given no advice here. We’re trying to discuss and find out what Matt actually meant by his statements.
Thanks for your opinion.
Cheers!
Mani