Forbes Penalized For Selling Links. Will This Effect Us Too?

It will affect you, but only if you get caught.

Google has said all along that they will penalize for buying/selling links but it is still done on a huge level.

My guess is that they don't spend a lot of time actively looking for this but if really depends on how much of a risk you want to take.

Lee

That's kind of what I thought. Well, I'm reluctant to just capitulate and reimburse my present 2 paid linkers, they have paid me a substantial amount (unless they get cold feet and ask to cancel of course), but I guess going that one step further and actually advertising paid links isn't going to happen.

Just curious,

How would google come to know that the link on my website is paid for or not ?

I might be placing links of my other websites in my pages, or maybe a local seller might be placing his links on mine and paying me in person.

How would google come to know that he is my neighbour and he paid me by buying a beer for me ? just curious..

That's a good question. I think for some sites it would be obvious but for the "little guy" that just has a couple of links on there then it seems like it would be hard to tell.

I mean they can hardly go around slapping everyone who has a link to another site on their site, right? So it seems it would have to be pretty obvious for them to take action. But that's just IMHO, I dont work for google so who knows?

Lee

P.S who is the biggest link seller on the planet?

If adwords provide link value, then Google has to slaps itself

Purchasing "advertising" is one thing. Purchasing a "paid link" is another, and Google doesn't like it.

I think the blogs getting caught are the ones that list on their sites that they will list your link for a fee.

Google, where can I buy back links? They aren't penalizing everyone, and many people are still there who were there months and months ago.

This is a bit lame, especially when Google sells links themselves!

So many sites sell advertising, surely this won't become a mainstream force?

Sam

This discussion has made me a bit confused on the difference in punishment/acceptance between paid links for link juice and paid advertisements appearing on a site which are nofollow.

To me it seems the former should be punishable, at least from Google's perspective of wanting the most relevant content on top which gets polluted when a crappy site can shoot up there via some paid for powerful link juice, whereas the latter should be totally fine; but it seems like you all are saying there are some shades in between.

As far as how Google detects this practice, maybe they recognize when a small site takes a big leap in general and further investigate and rule depending on how it comes out.

I read in the past Google just nuked sites which it caught doing this big or small, but now they are a bit more sensible and "compassionate", just slapping you down to the late 70s.

Bigger companies aren't affected as much when something like this happens compared to smaller internet based companies which aren't in the public conscious, so it especially sucks for the little guys who get caught and rely exclusively on search engines for traffic.

If you own a website about cats and someone emails you offering to pay you for a link to their website, also something to do with cats, then Google will never know - how could they?

Compare it to owning a website about cats, finding a great resource for cat owners online and linking to it.

There is no way to tell the difference.

However, if you have a website about cats and have a load of links to sites about World of Warcraft, Online Casinos, Bodybuilding supplements, etc. then some dubious linking is going on.

I wouldn't risk it, myself: Google's said too openly that they disapprove of of "paid links", for my taste, to be that open about it. I would imagine you'd probably be perfectly safe with what you've done so far, though?

Google against any manipulation of the search results. That being said, SEOs in general would be punished! lol.

I don't think there is much to worry about here. You just need to be smart about stuff. Don't go and spam irrelevant comments on an unrelated site. I make blog comments on sites out of my niche, and link back of course, but I make some sort of relevant comment.

Offer value.. YOU and YOUR SITE will be valued in return.

This act by Google is one of those issues where the industry giant is trying to smash the competition. In the name of "manipulating search results" they want to keep other people from making money in exactly the same way they do. I read the US Government is investigating Google for several unfair business practices, and maybe this ought to be another one.

There is nothing illegal about selling or bartering links, and the Federal Trade Commission covers this here: http://www.access.gpo.gov/nara/cfr/w...cfr255_03.html

It could very well be that Google is using its power to reduce competition. I've seen the Forbes page, and they look like ads. That's what the Internet is all about, and I think Google is going to generate some problems for itself on this. It is a type of unfair restraint of trade.

People you piss off, your competitors, Google fan boys, etc. will tell.

-g

Just out of curiousity, is there a price level for link?
I know they say that a PR 5 is 100 time stronger than a PR 3 (multiples of 10).
Would you estimate the price being the same, 10 times more expensive for higher PR?

Further to my original post, opening this thread, this morning I read a new article by the same author whom I initially referenced: Yes, I Sell Links, Google Penalizing Me, Don't Judge Me VERY interesting reading again.

Just make sure you dont leave any clue and footprints that you display paid links