I have seen numerous threads with people getting heavily penalized by Google for using the Co-Op and those who got a great boost in PR. Then there are those who seemed to not get affected. I will end it here (hopefully). I hope this thread will be a reference for times to come.
Co-op used to work amazing for me - simply amazing. After what happened to me (as you will read) I still think it has its application. Everything was going fine for me and my sites until one day (last week) every single site with co-op on it dropped ranks (multiple pages). The sites w/o co-op remained the same. It was clearly a penalization due to the co-op. I had sites ranked #1, #2, #3 and many other high ranks for keywords. About 20 of my sites got penalized severly. It's devistating to me and i'm removing the co-op now from my sites. I never quite understood why it works for some people (as it did for me) and others not - and I still don't. I'm removing the co-op network from my sites and hoping google will push up ranks. edit after removing co-op: ranks allready increasing for some sites (atleast i'm hoping - doing alot of dancing), my prediction is that they will slowly move up (most likely never to their previous ranks yet). I have some hope!
Here is the basic problem with this Poll. You will only hear from those webmsters that perceive the Co-op to have caused them harm. The vast majority of Co-op members who are perfectly happy with their results are less likely to publicize it. I am afraid the Co-op suffers from the "squeeky wheel" syndrome - you will only hear about the problems.
When I was getting succesful results from the co-op - like Phynder said - I was keeping my mouth shut. Its obvious google found out I was using the network and hurt my sites. I own over 70 sites. 25 of them had the digital point co-op network on them. 25 of them got severly penalized. I removed the co-op and i'm moving up ranks. It works great, dont get me wrong, but just dont get cought like I did (somehow). I was hurt severly by the co-op network, but if my sites regain ranks (as they are) as quickly as they are trust me - i'm going to experiment with the network again in the future. Its all luck. Some people get cought. Some don't. I love the co-op network in the end =). It worked for months and finally I get cought. A week or two of downtime and PSH i'm back up again - i'll take it. I'm not bashing the co-op network. I'm just saying that google penalized me severly for being part of it. I think they catch on with time (or with jelousy of other webmasters reporting me?).
You also have to have control sites for the data to actually mean anything. A lot of people are also complaining about non coop sites being "penalized" for no reason. Google is seriously messed up still and it seems to get worse with each update (Fixing one serious problem and creating 3 more) I have no doubts that some peoples sites are dropping in the rankings but it could be a case of "despite the coop" instead of "because of the coop"
I know for a FACT that my sites got penalized because of the co-op. I operate over 70 sites. Sites w/o the co-op kept ranks. Sites w/ the co-op ended up on page 5. A lost a few #1 too... thats part of the risk I took when I joined it. I have enough sites to have a test group and a control group. My test group got penalized as my sites w/o the co-op remained the same. I just got unlucky and got cought. Now that I removed the co-op form the sites, within days my sites have allready moved up two pages. End of conversation - its a risk.
... lol. Didn't mean for this to be taken literally. It is what it is - when using it its simply a risk. I got hit. Plenty of people don't. I say try it out and reap the benefits of it (while understanding the risks). My sites are still dancing around. I hope that someday my sites will be placed back up again on the pages... but who knows.
I've never been hurt by the co-op. SERPS fluctuate for all my sites, not just those serving co-op ads. If you use the co-op wisely I don't think you will ever be penalised. By wisely I mean make the backlinking look natural to the search engines. Don't try to outrank myspace.com for the keyword myspace with 5 days of your site's existence.
I agree to a certain extent. Being that Google is the leader in search engine technology it makes sense to factor their presence into the weight formula, but Google is fluctuating drastically right now making the weight seem unstable. P.S. Nintendo can we get a Google's on crack post here???
No, you don't. You can't know for a 'fact'. If you had the co-op links ON your site I'd argue it's possible. If you're just pointing links at the site then how can you be banned? Else now I have a lovely weapon to point at my competition...
I agree - you can't get penalised for links to you - otherwise we'd be all knocking each off the SERPs. Don't you think though that you could get penalised for linking to a bad neighbourhood? The discussion on does or does not the Co-Op work will go unfortunately, go on foreever.
I own several several sites - over 65. 25 of them used the co-op. 25 of them ALL got placed on page 5. Sites that didn't use co-op kept rank. I'm 95% sure I was penalized after using it. Almost 10 days later i'm still dancing between pages 3-5. Mostly 5. Its a scary thing what happened =/ The co-op is an extremely powerful tool - but it's risky. Also, as people said above. Don't point too much weight at something. It'll get you penalized for sure.
Googles on crack!!!! As long as Google site: results are screwed up, the co-op fat will be screwed up!!!!
I had the co-op on a couple of my sites, they dropped in the SERPs and I lost many indexed pages. Also, some of my sites that DIDNT have the co-op on them dropped in the SERPs and lost indexed pages. So I don't know for sure if having the co-op on the first bunch of sites caused these problems. I do know for sure that the co-op drank my last beer and took $20 out of my wallet. Then it kicked my dog and insulted my wife. I'm missing my favorite Motorhead CD, I have a feeling that the co-op is responsible for that too.