If google punishes link buyers Darren should be penalized

Google want us to give away the “cheaters” (?), I think it’s stupid and so “Big Brother”.

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like you say in your post – this post was written some time back – about a period in my blogging that was 2-3 years before that. The blog bought a couple of links for doesn’t even exist any more.

I think you’ll find that reporting someone to Google is something that requires you to give a few more details than them writing a post about buying a couple of links two or so years ago.

They require you to show them where the bought links are and who it impacts their search results – not something this vague.

Added to that the context of the post you’re talking about – which tells people not to get obsessed with building links and I think Google would have to be stupid to bring a penalty for that.

To be honest I’m a little miffed by this post – what’s the point of it Mani – are you attempting to cause trouble, is this link bait, what are you up to?

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I guess I just fail to see what’s remarkable about it or why you’d suggest someone should report me.

I work hard to build a quality site that shares the lessons I learn (both the successes and the mistakes) and I guess get nervous when someone writes something that could ‘inspire’ people to report me for something that I actually don’t do these days.

While I’m confident that there would be no reason to penalize me for this – I guess I get worried that this type of post might be misinterpreted.

I guess all I’d encourage you to remember is that when you write this type of thing you’re actually writing about something that could impact the livelihood of another person.

Let me use an example – what if someone were to crawl back through your own archives and find a place where you seemed to be looking for link exchanges – something that breaks Google’s webmaster guidelines too.

Now you wrote that post quite a few months back – asking for links to another blog (one that seems to be a dubious looking site these days) – but does that mean you should be reported?

Not really sure what else to say about it – but I guess I feel uncomfortable with your post here.

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why didn’t my last comment go up yet Mani – it’s been a couple of days?

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Hi Darren, I’d not write anything like it if it negatively affects anyone (forget someone who makes a livelihood out of it, but anyone).

I haven’t reported you to Google nor do I think anyone should. I was trying to make a point here that – Googles policies are often ineffective as it fails and cannot stop “anyone and everyone” who tries to manipulate the system.

I have tried for link exchanges(even a John Chow kinda operation), and just like you, quit it once I came to know about it’s ill effects.

I don’t think that anyone should report anything like this to Google, unless it affects you. Like a site ranking higher on the SERPS than your site, which does(the other site not your’s) blackhat SEO techniques and link buying by mass.

In this case, my sincere wish was to let people know about the failure of Google policies by taking a popular example – that’s you. People would not find it interesting if I gave my example or any non-popular blogger.

Bottom line – This post was not meant to hurt anyone but educate the normal reader that Google’s policies can be ineffective, even in the case of a popular site like Problogger.net. I strongly urge the readers to take this as an example/case study from which you should take lessons and not as something to act upon.

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Mani, it became personal when you put Darren’s name in the title of your post. I find it hard to believe that you’re saying that’s not what you’re doing. Furthermore, you can kowtow to Google anyway you want, but brazenly saying above that you expect everyone to do exactly the same is unbelievable. Are you dense or just trying to get noticed? If the latter, this is NOT the way to do it.

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@ Beau – You are right. Though I think it’s not good to over do it, many readers find it interesting to read about these sites. And it’s interesting to see how Google deals with it.

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[...] spotted Darren’s comments here and there on some articles. Most interesting of them being this one, where he was a bit miffed about an article I wrote which according to me was wrongly interpreted. [...]