Best practices for bloggers reviewing products they receive from companies
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Friday, March 11, 2016
As a form of online marketing, some companies today will send bloggers products to review or give
away in return for a mention in a blogpost. Whether you're the company supplying the product or
the blogger writing the post, below are a few best practices to ensure that this content is both
useful to users and compliant with
Google Webmaster Guidelines.
Use the nofollow tag where appropriate
Links that pass PageRank in exchange for goods or services are against
Google guidelines on link schemes.
Companies sometimes urge bloggers to link back to:
the company's site
the company's social media accounts
an online merchant's page that sells the product
a review service's page featuring reviews of the product
the company's mobile app on an app store
Bloggers should use the
nofollow tag
on all such links because these links didn't come about organically (that is, the links wouldn't
exist if the company hadn't offered to provide a good or service in exchange for a link).
Companies, or the marketing firms they're working with, can do their part by reminding
bloggers to use nofollow on these links.
Disclose the relationship
Users want to know when they're viewing sponsored content. Also, there are laws in some
countries that make disclosure of sponsorship mandatory. A disclosure can appear anywhere in
the post; however, the most useful placement is at the top in case users don't read the entire
post.
Create compelling, unique content
The most successful blogs offer their visitors a compelling reason to come back. If you're a
blogger you might try to become the go-to source of information in your topic area, cover a
useful niche that few others are looking at, or provide exclusive content that only you can
create due to your unique expertise or resources.
[[["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complicated / too many steps","tooComplicatedTooManySteps","thumb-down"],["Out of date","outOfDate","thumb-down"],["Samples / code issue","samplesCodeIssue","thumb-down"],["Other","otherDown","thumb-down"]],[],[[["Companies and bloggers should follow best practices for product reviews and giveaways to ensure content is useful and compliant with Google Webmaster Guidelines."],["Bloggers should use the `nofollow` tag on links provided as part of a product exchange to avoid violating Google's guidelines on link schemes."],["It's crucial for bloggers to disclose any sponsorship or product exchange relationships transparently to maintain user trust and comply with regulations."],["Bloggers should focus on creating compelling and unique content that offers genuine value to their audience, fostering a loyal readership."]]],["Companies send bloggers products for reviews or giveaways in exchange for blog mentions. Bloggers should use the `nofollow` tag on links to the company's site, social media, online merchant pages, review services, or mobile app stores. This is required because these links are not organic. Bloggers should also disclose the sponsored relationship within the post, ideally at the top. Finally, bloggers should aim to create compelling, unique content to attract and retain visitors.\n"]]
