Allowing Hotlinking of Pictures - SEO Advantage? - GoFuckYourself.com

B.Barnato · 12-08-2011, 05:04 PM

Has anyone experimented or come to a definite conclusion with their own projects concerning allowing/disallowing hotlinking? What kind of impact does it have?

Besides the obvious advantage of gaining popularity though watermarked images of course.

If for any reason you do not want to or are not allowed to watermark the images you serve I can suggest the wordpress plugin "Watermark Hotlinked Images". This lets you impose your url or a message on to the images being displayed by the hotlinking websites.

(It costs 9 USD, I have no affiliation with this plugin)

alias · 12-08-2011, 05:07 PM

Bandwidth is cheap.

B.Barnato · 12-10-2011, 01:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by alias

Bandwidth is cheap.

It is indeed.

That being said, is the impact it might have on search engines worth my time/resources to encourage hotlinking i.e. give a copy/paste link to images for those less computer literate?

wehateporn · 12-10-2011, 02:08 PM

Good post!

I always allowed hotlinking as I thought it likely that Google would take it into account in their formula

Thanks for the heads-up on the plugin! I'll give it a try

leg4 · 12-10-2011, 02:13 PM

I allow it.... and always have a fat watermark... No wimpy Watermarks.

Black All Through · 12-10-2011, 02:32 PM

If your images are linked to from other websites of blogs, is good, its a link back.
Google will define if the hotlink was created for good purposes or not, good as in if the image is of any possible interest.
Make sure your images are quality, custom/exclusive if possible, and that the tags are the correct keys that describe that page or the whole site, let the spiders pick up these tags with your url, thats what they are looking for, don't go over 5 words and use both alt and title.
All this helps mostly image search, but consider that in 50% of the chances who's looking for a specific image will also take a look at your website or blog.

baddog · 12-10-2011, 08:23 PM

I would have to suggest that there are definite benefits.

B.Barnato · 12-11-2011, 10:24 PM

Thanks for your input everyone!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jesus H Christ

The main problem, sites that use hotlinked pictures notoriously have low/no PR that causes your site to retain low PR.

Talking mainstream here, what about people hotlinking from forum posts?

The bodybuilding.com forums for example.

B.Barnato · 12-11-2011, 10:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wehateporn

Thanks for the heads-up on the plugin! I'll give it a try

Cool!

Let me know how it works out for you.

12-08-2011, 05:04 PM	#1
B.Barnato So Fucking Banned Industry Role: Join Date: Nov 2010 Posts: 3,618	Allowing Hotlinking of Pictures - SEO Advantage? Has anyone experimented or come to a definite conclusion with their own projects concerning allowing/disallowing hotlinking? What kind of impact does it have? Besides the obvious advantage of gaining popularity though watermarked images of course. If for any reason you do not want to or are not allowed to watermark the images you serve I can suggest the wordpress plugin "Watermark Hotlinked Images". This lets you impose your url or a message on to the images being displayed by the hotlinking websites. (It costs 9 USD, I have no affiliation with this plugin)

12-08-2011, 05:07 PM	#2
alias aliasx Join Date: Apr 2001 Posts: 19,010	Bandwidth is cheap. __________________ https://porncorporation.com

12-10-2011, 02:08 PM	#4
wehateporn Promoting Debate on GFY Industry Role: Join Date: Apr 2007 Posts: 27,173	Good post! I always allowed hotlinking as I thought it likely that Google would take it into account in their formula Thanks for the heads-up on the plugin! I'll give it a try __________________ Sexy Girls Teasing

12-10-2011, 02:13 PM	#5
leg4 Confirmed User Join Date: May 2003 Location: Texas Posts: 4,429	I allow it.... and always have a fat watermark... No wimpy Watermarks. __________________ >>> Contact me here email me here

12-10-2011, 02:32 PM	#6
Black All Through Confirmed User Industry Role: Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: US Posts: 2,078	If your images are linked to from other websites of blogs, is good, its a link back. Google will define if the hotlink was created for good purposes or not, good as in if the image is of any possible interest. Make sure your images are quality, custom/exclusive if possible, and that the tags are the correct keys that describe that page or the whole site, let the spiders pick up these tags with your url, thats what they are looking for, don't go over 5 words and use both alt and title. All this helps mostly image search, but consider that in 50% of the chances who's looking for a specific image will also take a look at your website or blog. __________________ I want to buy contextual links on quality blogs For both Adult and mainstream niche - Small to massive packages

12-10-2011, 08:23 PM	#7
baddog So Fucking Banned Industry Role: Join Date: Apr 2001 Location: the beach, SoCal Posts: 107,090	I would have to suggest that there are definite benefits.