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Actually, Google does care deeply about paid link spam. A very relevant example is the exposure of JCPenney a few months ago when the NYTimes investigated how

Actually, Google does care deeply about paid link spam. A very relevant example is the exposure of JCPenney a few months ago when the NYTimes investigated how they were getting so much traffic from Google (http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/13/business/13search.html http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/13/business/13search.html). Subsequently, Google penalized their rankings. @fleitz - I agree that it's not "illegal" but unethical, probably. I disagree regarding "why would Sequoia care?". If they are earning a significant amount of their revenue and growth by relying on Google, then once they get caught their growth will slow and if due diligence in this arena wasn't done, Sequoia may have invested with an inflated valuation. Of course, if I were a VC, during due diligence something like "Google drives 75% of our inbound traffic + revenue" would set off all types of alarms and require further digging.

dhimes 16y ago
It's "unethical" in Google's world where everybody[1] is trying to play by a fair set of rules. But taking a step back, it is really no more unethical than any other paid endorsement. [1] Google excepts itself from time to time apparently, so I speculate that it also excepts others- probably for reasons that ultimately benefit G itself. So I'm alert to the idea that G's world may not be all that ethical in this particular department.
powertower 16y ago
Historically, Google has made little effort to combat any type of spam which generated revenue. When I used AdWords, I would say that 30% of the clicks where fraudulent and 90% of those came from Google "content" partners who where nothing more than link farm pages. This has existed for the last 8+ years and Google has absolutely done nothing about it, except for odd case here and there. They even went so far as setting up their own domain parking service (Google Domain Parking) to allow this type of behavior (and monetize it). For the most part, Google only penalizes those who make Google look stupid... JCPenney.

dhimes 16y ago

It's "unethical" in Google's world where everybody[1] is trying to play by a fair set of rules. But taking a step back, it is really no more unethical than any other paid endorsement. [1] Google excepts itself from time to time apparently, so I speculate that it also excepts others- probably for reasons that ultimately benefit G itself. So I'm alert to the idea that G's world may not be all that ethical in this particular department.

powertower 16y ago

Historically, Google has made little effort to combat any type of spam which generated revenue. When I used AdWords, I would say that 30% of the clicks where fraudulent and 90% of those came from Google "content" partners who where nothing more than link farm pages. This has existed for the last 8+ years and Google has absolutely done nothing about it, except for odd case here and there. They even went so far as setting up their own domain parking service (Google Domain Parking) to allow this type of behavior (and monetize it). For the most part, Google only penalizes those who make Google look stupid... JCPenney.