So you want to FFA... But you don't really know what it is... Or what it does... So you don't even know if it's a good thing or a bad thing? We'll, let's explore FFA a bit.

FFA stands for Free For All. An archaic concept that still lives today. FFA sites allow website owners, spammers, get quick rich geeks and the general web populace to plaster their web links over their sites. Some at a cost (usually for premium links), but most for free.

But, why, Richard, why?

Back in the 90's when the internet was young and search engines were novel and quite stupid, people found that the FFA sites helped get the word out about their sites. It was a way (which later even became automated) to quickly get a link to your site without having to spend much money, only time.

As time progressed, search engines started becoming "aware" of this streak of evil doing and starting banning FFA's from their index. They also started ignoring any links indexed on these sites. Some of the bigger search engines (it is rumoured) to have even penalised sites for submitting their links to FFA sites. Yet, still, people would submit to these sites.

So, let's debunk the myth of FFA being good.

1. Google cares about FFA sites and boosts your ranking because of it.

Well, honestly, Big G refers to these FFA sites as artificial and illigitemate ways of to promote link popularity. In other words, you're cheating. So Google actually ignores all links on these pages and even penalises you for it. So no increase in indexes from this area.

2. The time is spent worth well and visitors will flock to my site.

Read point 1 again. Google doesn't care about these sites. They've got algorithms that analyses these sites and, if they're hosting to many URL's, they get classified as URL farms. And URL farms are a big no-no for Google. To the point that sometimes they move these links to their secondary index... basically the night watch. A place where it's extremely hard to get out of.

3. Buying link submission to FFA sites will give good RIO (Return on Investment).

Read points 1 and 2 again. If this question is still unanswered, read them again.

4. This is quality work, not quantity.

Well, sorry, but firstoff, the link you just submitted will be gone in a few hours. Days at the most. Secondly, you can't choose which link is before or after yours. It's a first come, first serve environment. Third, sharing a page with 500 other links really doesn't inspire a surfer or search engine to index it.

5. My link will be noticed by someone.

Nope, never. The huge majority of people visiting these sites are? Other people submitting their links.

So, what is FFA really good for?

1. Catching porn.
2. Finding "made for Adsense" sites.
3. Finding "white branded" websites. People who have purchased a domain, put somebody else's "get quick rich" product onto it and expect to make millions.
4. Wasting a huge amount of time.
5. Getting annoyed.
6. SPAM! Lots of SPAM! See, what the FFA sites are really about is gathering email addresses. It's the mentality of "Mohammed and the mountain". Rather than crawl every single site out there, let the site owners come to them, submit their links and verify that their emails work. Bingo, they can send you SPAM.

In a nutshell... don't waste your time with FFA. You're wasting your time, money and reputation doing it. Rather spend some time on getting your content SEO'd.

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