If you want to bring all of your critics out of a slumber and be simultaneously counterproductive with your attempts to keep quality inbound links high, just post some draconian inbound link policy on your site. Don’t believe me, just ask Cingular or Verizon Wireless. TechDirt explains:
Stupid linking policies are largely a thing of the past, though some people still get upset when the likes of Google link to their sites. But the stupid link policy isn’t completely dead, as mobile operator Cingular illustrates (via Broadband Reports), with its legalese saying “you are granted a limited, nonexclusive right” to link to the site’s homepage (that’s right, no deep linking!), which can be “revoked” at any time. It also says links can’t portray Cingular in a derogatory manner, so things like Cingular sucks or Cingular’s cellular coverage isn’t so hot are apparently against the rules…read more
Digg recently had a reckoning with Internet users when their prudent decision to kill a popular story started a crusade. Perhaps the same thing will happen when Cingular and Verizon notices an unusually high number of undesirable inbound links, such as “Cingular and Verizon Wireless’ inbound link policies are moronic”. But, something tells me that companies that create such policies won’t care much about the backlash or understand how it might affect their brand.
Here are excerpts from the Verizon and Cingular policies:
