Paid link buyers and sellers are nothing but black hat spammers (though you’ll never catch me saying spamming is right or wrong - to quote Vlad from Max Payne 2, “you have to do what you have to do.“). Now I’m hearing alot of noise and alot of repetition, so I compiled a list of 21 major compelling (and not so compelling) anti-Google-paid-link-policy objections I came across on the Net in the last few days.
Why Matt Cutts is Wrong

1. Innocent sites will get penalized if Google guesses wrong.
2. There’s no other way for some niche sites to link build.
3. Google is telling webmasters to build for search engines, not for people.
4. Paid links are whiter than other spam tactics like cloaking or hidden text, so why doesn’t Google go after more nefarious tactics first?
5. Small site owners who make a living off selling links will go broke. You don’t wanna see them get evicted or something, do you Matt?
6. This is all FUD. Google is lousy at paid link detection.
7. Most links involve some sort of compensation, even if money doesn’t exchange hands.
8. I aint’ worried. Some paid links are impossible to detect.
9. Google, you’re not being realistic. You can’t expect dishonest people to be honest.
10. Google makes money off link sellers like Text Link Ads.
11. Pay Per Action doesn’t offer disclosure until you mouseover.
12. Reporting paid links is snitching.
13. What’s a paid link? How about charities that links to a list of donors. Are those paid links?
14. You can damage your competitor by buying links to his site then reporting those links to Google.
15. Using paid link reports to spot spam introduces a human factor in Google’s algo.
16. Google, why are you cramming the 10th commandment down webmaster’s throats?
17. If a link points to a relevant, quality site then compensation is irrelevant.
18. Paid links make results more relevant. Successful companies with quality products and the highest buying power desereve top rankings.
19. Google, you made PageRank a commodity by displaying it in the Toolbar.
20. Google, you’re being hypocritical. You said Yahoo Directory is ok because people pay for the review, not the link. So if someone pays me, I review his/her link, and then add the link to my site, why should I get penalized?
21. Aren’t Adwords and adsense paid links?
22. It’s not our job to police the internet..

I see glaring flaws in many of those objections. You want to see me try to counter them, right? I might later, but its Monday and I got alot of other stuff to do. *ducks*
For now, here’s my off-the-cuff advice - something you already know. If you’re shopping around for links, buy them under the radar. There are some paid links Google will never be able to detect, but a service like Text Link Ads isn’t one of them. Those links scream “paid links”, and the company is too visible. Assuming Text Link Ads links still carry some juice, they’ll be the first sinking ship among many if Google has its way.
Technorati tags: seo nofollow paid links


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Very well put. Incredible that people are boasting about reporting others for so-called 'offences' over paid links. Google created the playing field and then gets sniffy when users start playing the game.

very well put.