FreeYour siteAbout 30 min

Keep Badge Pages Out of Search

Many directories give owners a badge to put on their own site. The badge page, the verify page and the code you hand out all need rules.

By Anthony Limpert, founder of Clickflame

Why This Matters

A badge that points back to your site, handed out to everyone, can read as a link scheme, which Google lists as spam. A rating you made up looks like fake proof. Both can cost you trust with Google and with buyers.

✓ How To Do It

Write down what the badge means. If it says verified, list exactly what you verified, such as license checked on a date. Publish that list.
Give a badge only when the business meets the written rule. If you cannot show the check, there is no badge.
Make every verify page, the page a badge links to, noindex. Leave those pages out of your sitemap.
Mark the badge link in the embed code with rel nofollow so it passes no ranking credit.
Do not make up stars, scores or awards. Do not call a badge an award unless a real judging process with written criteria picked the winner.
Never add star markup to a listing from ratings you copied from other sites. Google says ratings must come from users and that a business cannot mark up reviews about itself for star results.
Never write reviews for a business, and never ask a business to write its own. The FTC rule covers fake and false reviews.
Open three verify pages in a browser and view source. Confirm the noindex tag is there. Check the sitemap does not list them.
Add a plain line on the badge page that explains how to dispute or remove a badge.

Done WhenA published badge rule, noindex on every verify page, a nofollow embed, and a source view screenshot showing the tag.

Reference List

Sources

Tips & Pitfalls

A badge is a claim. If you cannot prove it, leave it out.
Do not copy another group's seal, logo or wording.
Review your badge rules every few months.

Done with this step? Mark it complete to track your campaign progress.