Myth busting: Links in Gmail

November 14, 2006 @ 9:25 am · Filed under Google/SEO

Someone recently suggested that a link sent to a Gmail account equals one link on one page. Also not true in any way.

42 Comments »

  1. Brian Mark Said,

    November 14, 2006 @ 9:27 am

    File that under common sense. The bots can’t read your email.

  2. remo Said,

    November 14, 2006 @ 9:34 am

    I heard that if I wear I red heels and click them 3 times saying “google, google google” my sites will get ranked in the top 10 for all my keywords. Is that not true also?

  3. Brian Mark Said,

    November 14, 2006 @ 9:38 am

    What about the myth that adding Google Analytics to your site can (in/de)crease traffic from Google? I hear that too often yet.

  4. JLH Said,

    November 14, 2006 @ 9:40 am

    Thus why I suggested a MythBusting category! It would be a great resource to point people to.

    Though my comments are not being approved for some reason, did I offend you ?

  5. Philipp Lenssen Said,

    November 14, 2006 @ 9:52 am

    Sigh, my Gmail inbox is a PageRank 8. :)

  6. Michael Said,

    November 14, 2006 @ 9:53 am

    remo that is an actual fact is backed by scientific theory. :P

  7. Brian M Said,

    November 14, 2006 @ 9:54 am

    How about the myth that submitting a Google sitemap can (in/de)crease traffic from Google? That’s another one I hear all the time...

  8. D Said,

    November 14, 2006 @ 10:07 am

    Is it true that gmail infects user’s pc with a virus?

  9. Matt Cutts Said,

    November 14, 2006 @ 10:10 am

    remo, that depends. Do your sites rank in the top 10 for all your keywords without the red heels? :)

  10. Ben Said,

    November 14, 2006 @ 10:19 am

    Here’s one you may be able to confirm or bust....

    I run a web firm in Country A, and to support my country, I host client sites in Country A, though often the client’s target audience is Country B.

    If I search for a phrase from Country A, the sites rank well, but if I search from Country B, the sites don’t rank so well.

    Is Google ranking my client sites lower in their *target* country simply because they are not *hosted* in that country. (i.e. penalizing sites for supporting their own country’s economy)

    Myth or Fact?

  11. M. Just M. Said,

    November 14, 2006 @ 10:28 am

    And to think, I just bought some red heels.

  12. Ryan Said,

    November 14, 2006 @ 10:33 am

    Why do I sense red heels becoming the next SEO meme.

  13. agaton Said,

    November 14, 2006 @ 11:12 am

    I have another related question. When you send an email in Gmail, or when you get an email, things like “domain.com” or “domain.net” been an link, even it´s not www or http:// before.

    My question is therefore: will Google see text like this as links but theyre not links? Give it a small “point” because somebody actually have written about the site but doesn´t want to link to the site. Gmail does..

    Or is it just Gmail?

  14. Michael Weber Said,

    November 14, 2006 @ 12:13 pm

    Brian Mark: Gmail in a way does analyze what your message might be about to place contextual ads. If that can be called bots “reading” is a different question.

    What get’s me laughing every time, are the contextual ads by Google on my Gmail Page with the spam filtered messages: they’re for recipies of tasty dishes with SPAM meat as the main ingredient!

  15. 100 PR4 Minimum Links Said,

    November 14, 2006 @ 12:36 pm

    DOH!

    Memo: Scrap GMail Link Building.

    :)

  16. Multi-Worded Adam Said,

    November 14, 2006 @ 1:18 pm

    Is this all building to a grab bag or a series of mass debunks?

  17. JohnMu Said,

    November 14, 2006 @ 2:00 pm

    Ok, so it doesn’t work on gmail. What about hotmail? Yahoo-mail? :-)

    What about parasite hosting on .gov domains?

  18. Keith Said,

    November 14, 2006 @ 2:17 pm

    REDHEELSSEO.COM is available! any takers...just a matter of time..

  19. corey Said,

    November 14, 2006 @ 2:19 pm

    JohnMu,

    Matt never said it “doesn’t work.” He said a link in a gmail message is not equal to a link on a webpage in the index.

    Was this a carefully worded post? Could he have said “Google does not use links in gmail messages to influence page rankings at all” or was the “one link on one page” a calculated statement?

  20. FunnyGuy Said,

    November 14, 2006 @ 2:21 pm

    You want to tell me that all my link-building efforts were in vain??

  21. Rwandes Said,

    November 14, 2006 @ 2:34 pm

    It seems links whether good or bad as long as they are irrelevant, dont affect a website, e,g somewebsites still have traffic power stuff but are not banned.
    visit this link , http://www.abacusvacations.com/safari/
    Google has not banned all Traffic Power Clients. A link to traffic power doesnt matter, or does it??

  22. Coupon King Said,

    November 14, 2006 @ 8:04 pm

    How about comments on blogs?

  23. graywolf Said,

    November 14, 2006 @ 8:42 pm

    I can confirm that buying graywolf a ferrari will get you more that one link that will count as a backlink

  24. Pillangószív Said,

    November 14, 2006 @ 8:50 pm

    As far as I heard JS is bad for SEO but Analytics is using nothing but JS! (doesn’t make sense)
    Now what?
    Is Google about revise it’s attitude concerning JS or whoever uses Analytics is in for a penalty?
    Or is the “Google hates JS” is another myth too?

  25. Aaron Pratt Said,

    November 14, 2006 @ 9:08 pm

    When multiple people mark an email as spam in gmail does this cause Google to look further into who is doing the spamming?

  26. Luke Meshios Said,

    November 14, 2006 @ 9:29 pm

    No, Aaron. I don’t think Google would enter the fight. It’s also up to the person to mark emails as “spam”

  27. David Said,

    November 14, 2006 @ 10:33 pm

    [QUOTE]
    What about the myth that adding Google Analytics to your site can (in/de)crease traffic from Google? I hear that too often yet.
    [/QUOTE]

    This is the truth.
    Traffic increases when webmasters use the data from Google Analytics to optimize their website but it decreases when the webmaster spends too much time playing around with Analytics and doesn’t provide fresh content to his site.

  28. David Said,

    November 14, 2006 @ 10:56 pm

    Matt, I can see why you only needed to post one sentence to disprove it. Basically all that was needed was an official confirmation to what was already a Captain Obvious moment. While it is creative thinking, only a retard would believe that a link in an email would count for ranking purposes when the content is protected by a login screen and the page is mostly javascript-driven

    And Aaron Pratt, your question sounds interesting but is too easy to game. All you’d ahve to do is create a spam email with your competitors url in there...

  29. David Said,

    November 14, 2006 @ 10:57 pm

    comment 89611 is not from me, btw. guess ill have to use a more unique name next time :p

  30. Ant Onaf Said,

    November 15, 2006 @ 4:11 pm

    Matt,

    I am the author of the statment. Although, I highly respect your wisdom, intellect, and power I must disagree. I have actually tested my theory and currently is retesting with amazing results. I will no longer reveal the secret, even though the cat is out the bag :). Logging into a gmail account for Google is simple. Have anyone ever heard of an master account?? That is a simple task to pass through a script, so that definitely doesn’t dscredit anything!

    Much respect Matt!

  31. Ant Onaf Said,

    November 15, 2006 @ 7:15 pm

    Sorry to chime back in:

    But Corey, that is what I have been thinking, was this carefully worded. After I posted I took a second look at the comment by Matt, it was somewhat vague and it didn’t discredit my entire theory. So I am in wonderment, but as stated earlier I won’t reveal any more. But, Matt it would be great if you can tell me if this was a discredit to my entire theory and if so, why haven’t Google looked in this direction?

  32. Aaron Pratt Said,

    November 15, 2006 @ 7:35 pm

    “And Aaron Pratt, your question sounds interesting but is too easy to game. All you’d ahve to do is create a spam email with your competitors url in there…”

    Wrong answer, all it takes is to follow the URL and determine if it is spam or not. If 100 people mark it, ding ding time to check.

    If a “competitor” is spamming your domain and Google visits it and determines it is spam, it is spam right? How can you fake this reality?

    I hope Google is doing this AND if they are not I got a whole cargo area of a pirate ship full of ideas. =P

  33. zafar Said,

    November 17, 2006 @ 8:46 am

    Ant Onaf,
    Do you see these (alleged:) email backlinks in search results? Or you think these links are there because your PR seems higher that what it should be?

  34. Ant Onaf Said,

    November 17, 2006 @ 10:18 pm

    zafar,

    In regards to your question I’ll reiterate what I have on DP Forums to others.

    “Why would you need to see a backlink??

    Google already hides most normal website backlinks, but still credit your site even though you can’t find the same amount of backlinks as you would using Yahoo!, so you really think they don’t have the power to hide all backlinks coming from Gmail, but still use the data for value?”

  35. shuyinhe Said,

    November 18, 2006 @ 2:52 am

    comment 89611 is not from me, btw. guess ill have to use a more unique name next time :p

  36. babolo Said,

    November 18, 2006 @ 2:53 am

    REDHEELSSEO.COM is available! any takers…just a matter of time..

  37. Jonathan Said,

    November 18, 2006 @ 8:51 am

    I think Yahoo shows links much better than Google does, so I use that more often

  38. arindra Said,

    November 18, 2006 @ 6:54 pm

    i had heard some people ask abt their links in orkut , but in Gmail , :rolleyes:

  39. DEERAJ Said,

    November 18, 2006 @ 8:33 pm

    I don’t think Google would enter the fight. It’s also up to the person to mark emails as “spam

  40. Free Software Said,

    November 19, 2006 @ 4:27 am

    Free Software will raise Graywolf one link for the Ferrari.
    e-mail me dude ROFL ;=)

  41. Lord_Coder Said,

    November 22, 2006 @ 12:07 am

    Impossible , a bot can’t access your messages , it cas only access the gmail’s home page ( the login form ) , and the only bot who can access your messages is MediaPartner ( the adsense bot ) .

  42. Kaushal Said,

    December 15, 2006 @ 4:13 am

    Don’t go with this myth. Get your own quality backlinks.

RSS feed for comments on this post

Got a webmaster-related question or suggestion that is not directly related to the topic of this entry? Instead of posting it here, your best bet is our official Google forum linked from http://www.google.com/webmasters/

Also, I pre-moderate first-time commenters. Please review my comment policy before leaving a comment.