A troubling trend has emerged with Australian SEO and web development service providers are placing hyperlinks referencing their own websites from the front pages of their client’s projects, leveraging the client’s website authority for their own benefit.

Let’s talk about the shady practice of agencies putting their own website hyperlinks on the front page of their clients’ sites. At first glance, it seems harmless, right?

Here’s the twist: clients pay these companies for services like web design or search engine optimisation, expecting to receive value in return.

However, these unscrupulous practices involve the service providers taking advantage of their clients’ trust and investment by embedding do-follow hyperlinks to their own websites to leach from their authority.

This maneuver effectively siphons off the client’s website authority to bolster the service providers’ own domain authority. In essence, it’s a deceitful exploitation of the client’s resources for the service providers’ gain.

The unethical and outright rude practice not only undermines the trust between clients and service providers but also tarnishes the reputation of the entire industry.

Clients often remain unaware of these actions. In reality, they are unwittingly contributing to the enhancement of the service providers’ online presence without any compensation or acknowledgment.

And the audacity? The client is literally paying the agency to do this. They’re forking over cash to improve their rankings, only to have the agency sneakily use their site as a stepping stone for its own benefit.

It’s the ultimate double dip: agencies get paid to “help” while they quietly milk the client’s authority for their own gain. This isn’t just unethical—it’s a betrayal of trust that hurts the very people funding their pay check. Agencies like this aren’t partners; they’re leeches.

To compound the issue, if a link is going to be placed on the client’s website indicating the SEO service provider website, it should be made “nofollow.”

This means search engines will not follow these links and attribute any ranking value to the linked website, preventing the unfair manipulation of search engine rankings.

Absolutely infuriating. Can you believe the audacity of SEO and website developers who think it’s perfectly acceptable to use their clients’ websites to create hyperlinks for their own benefit?

It’s beyond comprehension how these so-called professionals have the gall to exploit their clients’ trust, websites and hard-earned money in such a shameless manner.

Let’s break this down: clients are paying these service providers their hard-earned money to build them business websites, provide SEO services and build hyperlinks.

Yet, what do these conniving developers and SEO agencies do? They turn around and manipulate their clients’ websites to bolster their own online presence by placing a do-follow hyperlink on the front page.

Think about it – these clients are investing their time and resources into growing their businesses, only to have these supposed experts leech off their success for their own gain. It’s despicable and downright wrong.

And what’s worse is that these developers and agencies have the nerve to justify their actions as some kind of “industry standard” or “best practice.” Well, let me tell you, there’s nothing standard or best about deceiving your clients and using their websites as your personal link piggy bank.

It’s high time we call out these unethical practices for what they are – a blatant betrayal of trust and a gross misuse of power. Clients deserve transparency, honesty, and fair treatment, not to be treated as pawns in some greedy developer’s game.

So, to all you SEO and website developers out there who think it’s okay to exploit your clients’ websites for your own benefit: shame on you!

You’re not only damaging your clients’ trust but also tarnishing the reputation of the entire industry. It’s time to put an end to this unethical behavior and start treating your clients with the respect and integrity they deserve.

If you want that hyperlink from your client’s website, you let them know what it means by putting it there. See if they allow you? Or, at the very least, use the nofollow attribute.

It’s crucial for businesses to be vigilant and thoroughly scrutinise the actions of their web developers and SEO companies.

Contracts and agreements should explicitly outline terms regarding hyperlink placement and ownership of website authority. Any suspicious activity should be promptly addressed and rectified.

It’s imperative for the industry as a whole to uphold professional standards and ethical conduct. Placing hyperlinks on clients’ websites without fair compensation is not only unethical but also damages the credibility of legitimate service providers.