I know many of you have been waiting on my response to the recent announcement that Google has now admitted to penalizing websites that sell paid text links. Some of you have a smug looking on your face and can’t wait to leave me a comment saying “I told you so” but I still maintain that at the time of it’s writing, my initial post on paid links was accurate. But that is no longer the case.
So, where does that leave those of us who wish to provide a free service and support it via selling text links? Well, it seems you have just a couple options:
Say to hell with Google and do it anyway
Do it anyway, but try to hide it from Google
Don’t do it at all
As for myself, I’m making that call on a site per site basis. Some of my most profitable sites are those whose only income is through paid links. For those sites, I’m saying to hell with Google… sort of. I’m actually going to step up other SEO strategies in an effort to counter any possible shift in PR. But in the end, as long as people are willing to pay, I’ll sell. Then when I can’t sell links any longer, I’ll pull them all down and wait a few months for the site’s PR to go back up. Lather, rinse, repeat until I can find another way to monetize those particular sites. Of course for my clients’ sites I’m playing by Google’s rules as I, unlike a fair number of other SEO firms, don’t think it’s ethical to risk someone else’s income.
And for those of you who were buying the links, your options are pretty much the same as those selling them. My advice to you is to work on on-page optimization techniques and to try and get some good high quality links without paying for them. I’m currently reviewing some software and ebooks that claim to be able to help you in both of these areas. I’ll post more once I find something I like.
