To Paid Link or Not to Paid Link, That is the Debate

Search Engine Watch just posted a rant about paid linking. One of many since SES San Jose (I’m still mad that I didn’t go. Matt told me to, I should have.)

After everyone in the SEM world harking on Google for their initiative to go after paid linkers, I really hope they don’t drop it. Paid linking is the source for many bad sites being ranked just because they have money.

This whole thing is like file sharing. When it’s a random person (or site in this case) doing it, it’s not a big deal. The music industry doesn’t lose a ton of money really. People will continue to buy CDs, but sometimes its nice to get something free from a friend, which is how this started.

Paid linking in general is not horrible, but Google is saying if you do it in excess, and they see that the site is not bringing anything to the end user, those paid links will not count. Guess what, they still count in Yahoo and MSN and Ask. They have not said what Google has said. So calm down. It’s Google’s search engine. They get to do what they want. That may be a good or bad thing, but as with all Web 2.0, if you don’t like it, don’t use it. The mass drop of Google will make them change their minds. Not just bitching about it.