The next backlink advertising network I found was AdCaliber (http://www.adcaliber.com). I quickly read over their FAQ and was pleased to find that they promised permanent backlinks that only get removed when I choose. Other than that, system seemed similar to DigitalPoint although it was a bit more flexible in ad targeting. After creating an account, I received 100 credits which I could use to bid for backlinks. Apparently, AdCaliber works on a bidding system. You bid a monthly amount of credits to obtain links on certain sites. For example, I bid 50 credits to obtain links on sites with a Google Pagerank of at least 5 and Alexa Rank of at least 500,000. Then, when an open ad slot appeared on a site matching those qualifications, highest bidder would get link. In my case, I would be debited 50 credits per month. I was very impressed with system. I liked having ability to target my ads precisely. I was also impressed with ease of installation. With AdCaliber, you don't have to upload any files to your server. You just simply paste a short PHP code on your website. It was very simple. The only negative thing I have to say about AdCaliber is that it is much newer than DigitalPoint and its network is not as large, therefore not as many backlinks are available yet.

To sum it all up, DigitalPoint is a very effective backlink advertising network when you are looking to acquire backlinks quickly. I would not use DigitalPoint for long term SEO, though. AdCaliber seems to be your best bet for long term SEO and seems to give you better control over your backlinks.

Just a tad sneaky, don’t you think?

While I understand very well that web site owners want to elevate their site to top of natural search results, I sometimes wonder if they ever think about how their site got to that top position? And, if they ever think that if they create their site with their visitor’s tastes, needs and desires in mind, they’ll achieve more success in long run? Perhaps not.

But what they should think about is this: if search engines discover this trickery they’re at liberty to remove site from their index. And no amount of begging, pleading or bribery will get site reinstated until search engines say so. It’s got to be much safer to stick with straightforward, persuasive, you-oriented, visible copy, written for your visitors, and not just for search engines.

Just in case you’re tempted, or you think your web developer might be, here’s a snippet from Google’s guidelines.

Quality Guidelines - Basic principles: •Make pages for users, not for search engines. Don't deceive your users, or present different content to search engines than you display to users. •Avoid tricks intended to improve search engine rankings. A good rule of thumb is whether you'd feel comfortable explaining what you've done to a website that competes with you. Another useful test is to ask, "Does this help my users? Would I do this if search engines didn't exist?" •Don't participate in link schemes designed to increase your site's ranking or PageRank. In particular, avoid links to web spammers or "bad neighborhoods" on web as your own ranking may be affected adversely by those links. •Don't use unauthorized computer programs to submit pages, check rankings, etc. Such programs consume computing resources and violate our terms of service. Google does not recommend use of products such as WebPosition Gold™ that send automatic or programmatic queries to Google.

Quality Guidelines - Specific recommendations: •Avoid hidden text or hidden links. •Don't employ cloaking or sneaky redirects. •Don't send automated queries to Google. •Don't load pages with irrelevant words. •Don't create multiple pages, subdomains, or domains with substantially duplicate content. •Avoid "doorway" pages created just for search engines, or other "cookie cutter" approaches such as affiliate programs with little or no original content. Follow them. Your business will profit in long run.