Reporting Paid Links - Still Mixed Feelings

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01.16.08

Reporting Paid Links - Still Mixed Feelings

By Scott Boyd

David Wallace has a nice write up about reporting paid links to Google this week, which is based on the back of a poll by Blogstorm.

Both posts have some interesting comments on them and while I don't agree with some of them, the articles are well worth a read.

The key areas that grabbed my attention were comments like "it's not my business" and "I don't taddle tale" - I find it incredible that in this day and age there are still businesses out there that still feel that somehow Karma will come back and bite them on the rear end if they do something like reporting paid links!

Why is reporting paid links to Google any different from reporting spam elsewhere?

Sphinn has a "report as spam" button for each post and only today they introduced a "Desphinn" button. Why is using that any different from reporting a competitor for buying paid links?

The Sphinn spammer is just another business trying to market their product or services - they just choose to do it a different way than you might agree with.

How about using the Digg bury feature? Lots of people use that, including many businesses who also use Digg to promote their business in one way or another.

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Askimet then? Comes as default in Wordpress and loads of people use that to stop spam. But the same people also promote their blogs by commenting on other blogs. OK, you may do it by leaving good comments and not just what we would call "spam", but the principle is just the same - you are commenting to promote your business.

Perhaps forums are different? Maybe every person who has run a forum and deleted some link spam suddenly doesn't have the right to post on other forums using their signature or profile to promote their sites?

Maybe some offline examples? Would you report a company dumping rubbish outside your premises? Or a competitor flaunting ASA guidelines in their adverts? Or a competitor using sub par materials in their products?

What about some extremes?

Perhaps your own personal ethics won't let you report paid links to Google, but where do you draw the line with your "I don't taddle tale" / "It's not my business" philosophy?

Continue reading this article.

About the Author:
Scott Boyd (aka Marketing Guy) is an Edinburgh based online marketing consultant with over 6 years experience in the industry. He is the founder of SEO agency eFlaunt, where he mixes a blend of traditional marketing and SEO.

Scott's musings relating to the marketing and SEO industries can be found on his blog - Fused Nation.

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