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Somehow I missed the boat on a new backlinking method which apparently came out back in November 2008 called “Angela’s Backlinks.” What’s even more surprising is that it’s something I’ve been doing (somewhat) for well over a year or two now. This method involves creating backlinks to your website from free member profiles on other websites. Here’s my first impression of the actual program itself.

For starters, this is a paid program. The good news is that it’s merely $5 per month, and you’ll get an email with a few handfuls of sites in which you can register on and point a link to your site from. To get the first month free, be sure to register through Warrior Forums post on Angela’s Backlinks rather than doing so directly though Angela’s website. When you register, you’ll have to wait until you’re manually added into the program, and sent your first packet.

When it finally arrives, you’ll get a few links that point to direct-download ZIP files, containing a description of the method, with screenshots of this month’s websites. The screenshots show you exactly where you have to go to create your account and set a backlink. Before you do anything, however, you’re warned not to be spammy. I think we all know that a fraction of everyone using this method are going to completely ignore that message and do whatever the hell they want, regardless (and they do).

How Angela’s Backlinks works

Some of the websites included in Angela’s Backlinks packets require a simple free membership account to be created, and your link to be included within the “My homepage” field. Other accounts give you a free blog with your account, which is where you can include a good 200-word post and a keyword-loaded link to your site. Lastly, other sites have forums where you can simply include a link to your website in your forum signature (you don’t have to write a post for it to work – just the link being there is enough).

I started off with five of these sites before I called it quits for the day, then followed up by pinging the profiles I’ve created — this was not in the directions for Angela’s Backlinks, but something I took upon myself to do. Since I have an affiliate site that has been suffering for two years in regard to ranking for a particular three word keyword, I was more than willing to try out Angela’s method and see what it can really do.

Where does Angela get these links from?

It’s probably not rocket science. I’m sure that all she does is search the web for terms like “Create an account” or “Register,” and make a list of sites that have the highest PR. In fact, I can bet you money that this is what she does. It’s really something you can do on your own for free, unless you’re incredibly lazy and are willing to shell out $5 for someone else to do it for you.

Do I have faith in backlinks pointing to my site from free member profiles? Hell no. Are these valid PR6 adn PR7 backlinks? Let’s be real. They’re gray-bar PR (that’s less than PR 0). The home pages of these sites are PR6 and 7, but that’s neither here nor there. Angela herself claims to have made page 1 of Google for highly-competitive keywords using this method…not to mention, the endless forum posts that have actually praised their own results…so, who the hell am I to say it doesn’t work! I can’t argue with results.

As with any backlinking campaign, you won’t be seeing results instantly. Monitor them over the course of a month, and take note of how many SERP positions you’ve jumped. One testimonial claims to have gone from SERP #100 to the 20′s after thirty backlinks from Angela’s Backlinks packages.

Think About What’s Happening Here…

Something about Angela’s Backlinks sets off my spidey senses. There’s no way that this method will last forever – I think that deep down inside, we all know that. Google is far too smart these days, and there’s no doubt that if you had a room full of Google engineers and muttered the words “Angela’s Backlinks,” you’d get immediate facial expressions. Many have claimed this method to be “grayhat”, and I agree. It’s the act of creating accounts for the sole purpose getting a backlink, and never returning again. It’s annoying to website and forum owners. It annoys me when people do it to me. How does that differ from spam bots who mass-target vBulletin forums? It doesn’t. That’s why I don’t envision this method lasting long.

It’s not without saying that the method is already popular. Here’s a similar article on SEOmoz that also describes the process. I’ve even attended a presentation at SMX East this fall, where a speaker explained a concept called “barnacle SEO,” which involves getting 3rd party sites to “glue themselves” to page 1 of a Google result that include backlinks to your site.

One thing I’ve noticed about Angela’s Backlinks is that you’ll have to act fast when her packets are delivered to you. I’d say that 40-50% of the sites in her packets catch on to what’s happening (most likely, these poor webmasters are seeing that they are getting inexplicable “spikes” in their registrations) and will turn on manually-approved registrations, or remove their blog or “my website” fields in user profiles.

Regardless, enjoy it while it lasts. I can’t see how it can result in a Google penalty; if anything, these links will most likely water down to nothingness with a new Google update.