Sphinn - The "Google Payola" Issue Isn't Going Away Anytime Soon

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The "Google Payola" Issue Isn't Going Away Anytime Soon

Went Hot: October 4, 2007 - 8:53 pm
Posted By: kevgibbo 640 days ago
Topic Type: News Story (Jump to http://www.seomoz.org)
Category: Google SEO

Rand takes a look at sites selling sponsored links without using the "nofollow" tag.

11 Comments

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Comments

from tappingcreativity 640 days ago #

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While Rand's StumbleUpon settings might leave him open to a larger number of sites participating in paid linking practices, the percent he stumbled was still way higher than I expected. Wow. Nearly half?

from Skitzzo 640 days ago #

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The title should read "Rand rats on other Webmasters".

from randfish 639 days ago # - show/hide this comment

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Skitzzo - we used to get along so well. You were always one of my favorite posters on the forums. I wish that I had done things differently and kept you as a friend.

from lucia 639 days ago #

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I'm going to need to check my stats, but I'm sure I don't Stumble across 50% paid posts when I use Stumble upon. I'd guess the fraction is below 2% and possibly below 0.05%.

from lucia 639 days ago #

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Correction... I assumed you meant he was Stumbling across 50% PPP or ReviewMe posts. Paid TLA links? Private sponsors? Yes, that's likely 50% and will rise in time.

from Skitzzo 639 days ago # - show/hide this comment

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Rand, I agree. We did get along well and I respected you for a long time but as my most recent blog posts illustrates, I've been VERY troubled by your actions recently. Sorry, but that's how I see it. Besides, it's never cool to rat people out. Whether it was your intention or not, that's what happened.

from corey 639 days ago # - show/hide this comment

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i agree. didn't read skitzzo's post yet, but i felt a great deal of "oh man wtf would you make these enemies for?" when i read rand's paid link exposé.

from todd 639 days ago #

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@ Rand, even though everyone is saying that you "ratted" us out (one of my sites was in your post and at first I did feel a bit "ratted" out), I'll take it and hope that Google doesn't penalize me. I only make a few bucks from the links each month, they're all highly relevant links for my users, and well, they're clearly marked as sponsored links. anyway, thanks for the PR, but maybe next time I can get a link...? ;)

from billse 639 days ago #

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What has Google done to us? "Dogs and cats, living together... mass hysteria!!!"

from Skitzzo 639 days ago #

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Lol Todd's comment cracked me up. We get on Rand for "outing" the sites, Rand takes the links down, and then todd asks for the link back! LoL

from todd 638 days ago #

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seriously, lol, it's no secret who those sites are, you can see the cached article in google... and the article gets syndicated all over the web. the least he could have done is give me a link out of the deal. I'm a premium SEOMoz member, isn't that $50 bucks a month worth a link from a post where you call out one of my sites? come on, it's not like having 5 or 6 links from one page on your site out to "questionable neighborhoods" (hardly!!!) is going to kill rankings or skew the weight that your 8 billion inbound links gives you...