Google wants to punish for paid links now
They said paid links weren’t a problem as long as they didn’t violate other good linking practices. That makes sense, since Google really has no way of knowing that someone hasn’t paid me (or promised me something) to write this very post.Now they’re saying not only will they be cracking down on those godless link sellers, they also invite webmasters to turn each other in. Google says it’s not fair to visitors who may not realize links are paid.
Now, honestly, this is just so bone-headed my guess is it’s some kind of scare tactic. My guess is they feel that services like TextLinkAds are in danger of kicking Google’s ass by using Google’s PR system against them – if Google assumes, as I do, that people who buy text link ads use pagerank as a guide. But let’s consider the amazing levels of hypocrisy in all this:
- The most deceptive ad currently available for your website is Google’s AdSense link format. People blend those right in so they look like the site menu. How many visitors do you suppose find themselves on some other site entirely, thinking they were clicking an inteneral link?
- If people are buying text ads in order to get pagerank… well, let’s remember a time pagerank didn’t exist. What did people buy for back then? Relevant links. And remind me once again where people get pagerank. Would it be… relevant links? For the most part, at least.
- Google advises using no-follow to correct this situation. Hmm. I thought they didn’t want our links out disguised so that visitors couldn’t tell which links had our trust and which ones were "just ads"? Wouldn’t the solution in that case be to avoid no-follow tags, so webmasters are forced to link to site outright, or not?
- And Google’s solution is for us to out each other if we think maybe a link is paid? Awesome – I’m going to go make a list of all my niche competitors and tell Google they’re all selling paid links, I just knowz it.
Seriously. I don’t even find this plausible. I think people should stop worrying. Google pulls these scare tactic stunts once in a while, and then it never happens. Will they crack down on truly sleazy hidden links that take people to porn sites? Hey, I hope so. But all paid links? It doesn’t make sense. The only way to tell a good link from a bad one is to judge its relevancy. If they’re relevant, visitors won’t care if they’re paid and neither should Google.
Subscribe to 