Surprised that no one is talking about this. Halifax, for those that do not know, is a bank that is worth billions. It's one of the largest banks in the UK and I believe it is the largest seller of mortgages in the United Kingdom. They were recently slapped with a penalty that saw their search visibility drop on the 30th of January, last month. This should show you scale of their keyword drop: I've posted about this here: http://vlexo.net/blog-tips-tricks/search/big-seo-exposing-halifaxs-link-schemes/ But you'll be able to see the full analysis that Link Research Tools has done: http://www.linkresearchtools.com/case-studies/halifax-bank-google-unnatural-link-penalty/ It's quite a fascinating case, and is definitely a case that every SEO should be aware of for 2014. I wonder how many other big brands will face similar issues? Perhaps, Business Insider, will be next?