Last week Google took its most aggressive swipe at paid links so far by wiping out the visible PageRank for sites in the Pay-Per-Post network. From an objective point of view, this is a pretty smart move by Google. In effect, Google is breaking PPP’s business model by broadcasting that they’ve been devalued. I’m sure it’s not the last time we’ll see Google target specific linking schemes with a total PR smackdowns.

This is yet another warning to SEOs that if you are going to buy links, you better be covert about it. The days of the open, visible and public link buying are over my friends. The underground link market will become the mainstream link market. Link buyers are going to find themselves having to sign NDAs to get into the underground, and many linking programs will become invite only. Luckily, it’s in the link seller’s best interest to send out a lot of invites…so if you aren’t invited to the party yet, chances are you will be soon.

Google is on a rampage folks. Who do you think will be the next to face the GoogleWrath?

For coverage on the Pay-Per-Post and link buying story, refer to the following posts:

Is Google Going to Expand its Punishments of Paid Links? – Eric Enge
Are SEOs Still Buying Links? – Barry Schwartz
Google Goes After the Everyday Blogger – IZEA Blog (the PPP company blog)