I am a strong believer in transparent and ethical behavior in paid reviewers. Every reader should be informed clearly upfront if a review he is reading was paid. He shouldn’t have to wonder or ask this question in a comment.
People, it’s high time we make clear and upfront disclosure a priority.
I am starting a (non-violent) movement today to further this cause. The Support Paid Review Disclosures Manifesto has been crafted, along with badges you can use to tell the world at your websites.
So spread the word if you think it’s a worthy cause. Please give your comments below.
Like this post? Buy an ad and drive visitors to your site
About the author
I'm Alex Choo and I live in sunny Singapore. I'm also the developer of WP Text Ads, a WordPress plugin that lets bloggers sell ads directly to advertisers so that they pay 0% in commissions and earn 100% in profits.
Feel free to drop me a note anytime you wish. You should also subscribe to the low volume email announcement list for WP Text Ads below.
Comments 4
So can I ask if you are also asking for the “no follow” attribute to be added to paid reviews?
Posted 25 Aug 2007 at 5:30 am ¶Steven,
No. I’m asking for a clear indication at the start of a review. There’s no need for nofollow. I see value in reviews, paid or not. But honesty and transparency are important too.
Currently, some disclosures are at the bottom of reviews. And most people do not completely read a long review, so it’s not helpful.
Other times, ‘paid review’ is a technorati tag, or it’s just mentioned in passing somewhere in the review. That’s not helpful either because most people skim sentences.
Then there are also times when it’s not mentioned at all.
Posted 25 Aug 2007 at 2:53 pm ¶But surely as far as Google is concerned a paid review is another way of buying a link?
The way you structure your argument for paid reviews could be applied to sponsored links… as long as you’re being ‘honest and open’ about it being a sponsored link and it’s a relevant, related resource for your readers then what’s the difference?
I can’t make up my mind as to whether or not a paid review is just a slightly lighter shade of grey hat SEO or if it’s Google that needs to understand we’re not living in a police state.
Posted 25 Aug 2007 at 3:32 pm ¶>But surely as far as Google is concerned a paid review is another way of buying a link?
Hi Steve, I am not sure what Google thinks of paid reviews.
I believe Google is not against paid links as long as they are not used to inflate PR. That’s why nofollow should be added to paid links. They also encourage such links to be properly labeled.
http://www.wptextads.com/blog/2007/05/17/does-google-hate-paid-links-not-really-says-matt-cutts/
Paid reviews are not bad. But they might not be entirely objective because the reviewer feels he has an obligation to ‘earn his keep’. That’s why I’m asking that each review starts off with ‘This is a paid review’, so that the reader can decide to what degree of belief he wants to give to the review.
Steve, I don’t think paid reviews and links are bad things. The ‘honest and open’ argument is there because it is wrong to mask a paid review, and the implicit trust that readers give to an article is violated.
To put it another way, I wish reviewers would support this movement because they also would like to know if they’re reading a paid review.
Posted 26 Aug 2007 at 1:46 am ¶Post a Comment