Yeah, another thread about this, but I've already read many articles including Matt Cutt's blog, hence I'd like to confirm my conclusion here. It's not like what some misleading articles and some of the threads in DP said (or gave an impression) that google is against or devalue or dis-count all the paid links, but google will penalize (means giving a low PR transfer) for any site which offers paid links to inflate seo ranking instead of traffic building. Thus, I think it's safe for paid links if: - it has rel="nofollow" - all the links are relating to the site's topic. is it correct?
A link with no follow has no effect on PR so they are not worth anything unless the sites sends you alot of traffic. Paid links from sites that advertise you will gain Page rank have no value anymore in my opinion. Google seems to be dropping those sites and rank from results. Paid for review of site for a directory still seems to be ok.
Or java script to make the link invisible. You can sell links to your heart's content, you just can't allow them to pass PR.
so, does it mean it's okay to sell / buy links as long as the links are no-follows, related to site topics or using javascript (despite of page rank won't be transferred) ?
@explorer11: Sure. Than it should be ok. But: Do not let Google dictate the business. They already have too much power.