What happens when links become too important in search engine results.
Seems to me that if Google could've kept the details of PR 100% confidential and under wraps (ok, impossible) that it might have been a good reflection of the web. As it is now, they have, in succession:
1.) Implicitly encouraged everyone to spend very valuable resources acquiring links...
2.) But penalized, progressively stronger, linking to vague "bad neighborhoods" ...
3.) Which has resulted, just for one example, in a surprisingly large number of websites simply pulling the plug on their outbound links either by decimating them, or having their link page(s) conveniently not load.
So a company that, philosophically, would profess a desire for "natural" linking has inadvertantly caused much of the commercial web to be linked in the most unnatural ways at both extremes. Now, they're in a bit of a conundrum where they don't want people to sell PR but "naturally" a text link is not only intuitively ok to all casual observers, they often look nicer. Certainly the retro, green, hip Google would prefer a simple text phrase to a flashing neon banner. Of course, if they want to offer Adwords, THOSE text links are ok. Hmmmm.....
Bottom line? I think they can only, sadly, encourage and not refute various rumors of penalties when, I suspect, far fewer exist than many of us seem to think. If it IS the case that a few text links out are bad - paid or not - then everyone's in trouble. Seems they're caught a bit in their own trap. The sooner they admit that the effect of PR and links are being minimized (save the one OVERRIDING factor of anchor text), the better, or they risk looking a bit foolish. Of course, there's really no way to catch people selling text links if they're NOT in banners - damn, this is what they WANT, an integrated web.
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