Dafydd Lewis | In house SEO

EDIT

OK, I wrote this post some time ago and to be honest that was how i felt.  Having talked this through with a big name or 2 in SEO I felt I was ahead of the curve and comfortable with my behaviour.

Things change and our world moves on and even though paid links are still a big part of the SEO scene I personally have rethought my whole approach to link acquisition, and actually my whole approach to search marketing.

There are stronger more encompassing methods out there for securing links and the value that they bring.  Going back to the good old days when a link was given because of the value it provides is just one way.  I think the majority of SEO’s/online marketeers are seeing this trend and hopefully pulling their paid link strategies as I have.

END EDIT

We hear it all the time, paid links are blackhat, paid links are whitehat, unethical, part of the normal marketing operation of any business blah blah blah.  The discussion is irrelevant whatever you think about paid links they are here to stay.

Now before Googles witch hunt it was a free for all, people throwing money at paid links, loads of sites selling links and to be honest alot of the links were junk, ad blocks or irrelevant placement.  With paid links (no condom!) being “illegoogle” the world of buying links has completely changed.  It has put off a great many webmasters for fear of Googles hairy side (backhand slap :-).  Buying links (and not being caught) is now a lot more difficult because we all have to operate under the radar and we have to make certain demands on the way the link is presented.

I personally like this situation, buying links has become much more of a skill than it used to be and with many a webmaster unwilling to risk it, the power and value of expertly sourced paid links has increased significantly.