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I'm not understanding something about the whole paid link crackdown

Discussion in 'Google' started by pholpher, Apr 22, 2007.

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nddb Peon

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#41

rainborick said: ↑

There is, of course, at least one way of detecting paid links that is 100% reliable. You simply log into a link selling site like www.text-link-ads.com and start going through their inventory of sites. Google could have a contest for the first programmer whose script goes through the entire site and compiles a list of domains. The winner gets to park in Sergey's parking spot for a week.
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Ridiculous. First, text-link-ads.com is not the only place that sells links. Second, IF they somehow broke their TOS (I'm sure they have a little legal thing about creating accounts to screw over their customers) and scanned all those sites for links that were sold. I've bought links off sites through text-link-ads before, and the sites I was linked off linked to many other sites. So say google has information that domain A sells links. They have two options, devalue all links from domain A, or try to pick and choose. Both are horrible attempts at killing paid links. It would be a total mess.

PLUS they will just drive link selling into a black market, where everyone just sells their own links via paypal or something. (I'm sure there are plenty of sites that do that now, and none of us have any knowledge of it.)

rainborick said: ↑

All of the search engines have a policy against selling links for ranking purposes. If you've been selling links for the rankings benefits, then you have to know that your site is a target. Google doesn't have to have a foolproof method of detecting paid links. First, Google has no legal obligation to be 100% accurate in designating a site as a link seller. Second, just as you are free to post whatever links you want on your site, they are free to use whatever method they choose to assign penalties.
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Going after link sellers is easy, going after link buyers, which cutts has been going on about since 2004/2005 will never happen and will never work.

And of course they can assign arbitrary penalties if they want. They do that now, but their system is still manipulated heavily, and always will be. No matter what algorithm or method they come up with, there will always be a large segment that will learn how to slip under the radar.

rainborick said: ↑

Third, the fear factor is going to be more effective than any automated system they come up with for finding paid links. I've been seeing sites that are no longer able to pass PageRank for several months, so its not as if there's anything new going on here except that it sounds like they're trying to automate the detection of paid links. So they make a bot to round up suspects. The blatantly obvious might get their PageRank poisoned automatically, and the rest get a hand check of some kind. A few months of that and the word would get around that selling links is a serious risk.
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Fear factor is all they have, and a bunch of jealous/greedy webmasters who all report on each other (hello nazi germany). It's all matt cutts has ever had. Like I said, read his site, listen to his videos and see what you REALLY learn - nothing. Nothing except google MIGHT do this... google MIGHT do that. Better watch out... they MIGHT devalue your site. Shit, you'll be lucky if they VALUE your site at at all... lol.

rainborick said: ↑

Openly selling links for rankings was a business that has always had an inherently short shelf life. Sooner or later, the search engines were bound to target the practice. Paid links distort the rankings, and it skews the online advertising market. Google can't kill paid links, but they can make it a very risky proposition. If you have a site whose rankings are important to you, the time is coming when you're going to have to decide if the money is worth the risk. You can switch to selling search-engine-legal links for traffic and live with the change in earnings, or you can go underground by making private deals to provide links that look legal, or you can ignore the risk by doing nothing and waiting for the hammer to fall.
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That is what will happen IF the hammer falls, it will go underground, and people will manipulate the rankings regardless. But like I said, cutts has been talking about this since like 2005 at least, it's really very old news, and I don't see text-link-ads shutting down. So, in my opinion, cutts is just toying with everyone again. When will people stop listening to that guy... GOSH.

nddb, Apr 24, 2007 IP

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